Plextor today announced the launch of its newest NVMe PCIe SSD the M9Pe Series with 3D NAND flash memory designed for gamers.

The M9Pe family is using Toshiba's 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND and is the successor to the 15nm MLC-based M8Pe, which was their first NVMe SSD.

The M9Pe uses Marvell's 88SS1093 controller with Plextor's own firmware. Performance ratings for the M9Pe are mostly much higher than the M8Pe, especially for sequential transfers. The 256GB M9Pe has lower random read and write speeds than the M8Pe, and the random read rating of 180k IOPS also falls below the planar TLC-based 256GB M8Se. However, the higher capacities of the M9Pe promise much improved random I/O performance, with random read speeds of up to 400k IOPS for the 1TB model.

The drives are delivering sequential read/write up to 3,200/2,100 MB/s and random read/write up to 400,000/300,000 IOPS.

Aimed at high-level PC gaming such as eSports, the M9Pe delivers less lags and 20% faster boot up times compared to a typical SATA drive. The new M9Pe (HHHL/AIC version only) also sports a new design with its programmable 3-mode RGB LED lights. Similar to its predecessors, the new M9Pe features a thermal heatsink (M9PeY and M9PeG only) to help regulate SSD temperatures during prolonged gaming sessions resulting to stabilized performance.

The M9Pe comes in three form factors and capacities up to 1TB for an even better flexibility. It offers guaranteed MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of no less than 1.5 million hours and a 5-year service warranty.