PCIe 6.0 SSDs are coming, and the speeds are mind blowing

We're only just starting to see SSDs that push the limits of the PCIe 5.0 interface, but work on next-gen drives is already underway, with promises of speeds of up to a massive 28GB/s. That's nearly twice as fast as the WD Black SN8100, and it's thanks to a new PCIe 6.0 SSD controller that's just been announced by Silicon Motion.

Now, don't worry if you've already bought a WD Black SN8100 for your gaming rig - it's not going to be obsolete anytime soon. In fact, the head of Silicon Motion has already mentioned that it's likely to be at least five years before we see a PCIe 6.0 SSD sitting among your usual PC gaming hardware. This controller is currently solely targeted at the enterprise market, but cutting-edge storage hardware in the enterprise world often filters down to gaming gear at some point, particularly when it comes to high-speed SSDs.

The new controller is called the Silicon Motion SM8466, and tech site IT Home reports that it was unveiled at the FMW 2025 Global Flash Memory Summit. According to a slide shared by the site (a machine-translated version is shown below), the new controller enables an SSD to hit a sequential read speed of 28GB/s. As a point of comparison, the WD Black SN8100, which is the fastest drive on our guide to buying the best gaming SSD, tops out at 14.9GB/s, so PCIe 6.0 drives based on this controller could end up being nearly twice as fast.

The slide also states that the controller is built using TSMC's 4nm manufacturing process, which is more advanced than the 6nm used to make the current SM2508 controller, using smaller transistors. According to the slide, the controller can even support an enormous capacity of up to 512TB, although it's very unlikely we'll ever see PCIe 6.0 gaming SSDs support anything like this level of capacity.

Unsurprisingly, this controller isn't designed for the M.2 form factor either, with Silicon Motion saying it supports the SCSI SCA interface, which is designed for high-performance enterprise drives that are often housed in large metal cases.

Still, this is a glimpse of the potential future of gaming storage. I don't expect to see a PCIe 6.0 gaming SSD anytime in the near future, especially given the heat they're likely to generate, but the technology needed to make a high-speed PCIe 6.0 SSD is definitely on the way now.

In the meantime, check out our new Crucial T710 review, where we benchmark Crucial's latest flagship drive, as well as our full tutorial on how to install an SSD, if you're thinking of upgrading your storage.

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