XP208H023T84P324T0910 Phison Pascari X200P 3.84TB PCI-E 5.0 x4 NVMe SSD

Phison XP208H023T84P324T0910 Pascari X200P NVMe SSD

The Phison XP208H023T84P324T0910, commercially designated as the Pascari X200P 3.84TB PCI-Express 5.0 x4 NVMe ISE Single Port 15mm U.2 Solid State Drive, represents a pinnacle of enterprise storage engineering. Designed for hyperscale data centers, high-performance computing (HPC) clusters, and Tier-0 storage applications, this drive leverages the full bandwidth of the PCIe Gen5 interface to deliver unprecedented sequential and random I/O performance. Built on Phison's in-house controller architecture and utilizing cutting-edge 3D TLC NAND, the X200P is engineered for mixed-use workloads where both high throughput and low latency are non-negotiable. Its 15mm U.2 (2.5-inch) form factor ensures broad compatibility with existing enterprise server chassis and backplanes, making it a straightforward, high-impact upgrade for demanding storage infrastructures.

Core Specifications

At its core, the Pascari X200P is built to translate the raw potential of the PCIe 5.0 standard into consistent, reliable storage performance. The drive's model number, XP208H023T84P324T0910, encapsulates its key attributes, culminating in a 3.84TB capacity point optimized for enterprise provisioning and endurance.

Interface and Form Factor

The drive utilizes a PCI-Express 5.0 x4 interface, doubling the available bandwidth compared to the previous PCIe 4.0 generation. This provides a theoretical bidirectional bandwidth of nearly 16 GB/s, eliminating interface bottlenecks for the fastest NAND media. The physical implementation uses the U.2 (SFF-8639) connector in a 15mm thick 2.5-inch form factor. This industry-standard design allows for hot-swap capability in supported servers and storage arrays, facilitating easy maintenance and scalability. The 15mm z-height provides the necessary physical volume for advanced power delivery and thermal management components essential for sustained PCIe 5.0 operation.

Capacity and NAND Technology

This specific SKU offers a usable capacity of 3.84 terabytes (TB). This capacity is a standard enterprise-grade point, often derived from an over-provisioned NAND array (e.g., based on 4TB of raw NAND) to enhance performance consistency and drive longevity. The drive leverages the latest generation of 3D TLC (Triple-Level Cell) NAND flash memory. Phison's proprietary flash management algorithms, including advanced error correction (LDPC), wear leveling, and garbage collection, are optimized to extract maximum performance and endurance from this media, making it suitable for write-intensive tasks.

ISE (I/O Speed Enhancer) Technology

A key differentiator highlighted in the product designation is "ISE," or I/O Speed Enhancer. This refers to Phison's integrated hardware and firmware technology stack designed to minimize latency jitter and maximize IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second). ISE typically involves a combination of a high-performance DRAM cache, optimized buffer management, and a low-latency path to the NAND dies, ensuring predictable sub-millisecond response times even under heavy queue depths.

Performance Characteristics for Demanding Workloads

The Phison XP208H023T84P324T0910 Pascari X200P is not a general-purpose drive; it is targeted at the most performance-sensitive segments of the data center. Its performance profile is balanced to excel in both sequential and random access patterns.

Sequential Read and Write Throughput

Harnessing the PCIe 5.0 x4 lane configuration, the X200P 3.84TB drive achieves exceptional sequential transfer rates. Published specifications typically indicate sequential read speeds approaching 14,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds exceeding 9,000 MB/s. This enables rapid data ingestion, large-scale data analytics, and fast backups or restores. The performance is sustained across the majority of the drive's capacity thanks to its substantial SLC caching mechanism and high over-provisioning.

Random I/O Performance (IOPS)

For transactional databases, virtualization, and real-time analytics, random I/O performance is critical. The X200P delivers towering random read performance, often rated at over 1.8 million IOPS (4KB blocks) at high queue depths. Random write performance is equally impressive, typically rated at over 1.2 million IOPS. This ensures that applications serving thousands of simultaneous users or processing millions of transactions per second will not be stalled by storage latency.

Latency Consistency

Beyond peak IOPS, enterprise customers require consistent Quality of Service (QoS). The drive is engineered to provide exceptionally low and stable latencies. Average read latencies are typically under 80 microseconds, and write latencies under 15 microseconds. More importantly, tail latencies (e.g., 99.9th percentile) are tightly controlled, which is vital for maintaining service-level agreements (SLAs) in cloud and financial applications.

Enterprise Features and Reliability Specifications

The value of an enterprise SSD extends far beyond speed. It encompasses a suite of features designed for 24/7 operation, data integrity, and simplified management in large-scale deployments.

Endurance and TBW Rating

The Pascari XP208H023T84P324T0910 X200P 3.84TB drive is built for write-intensive workloads. Its endurance is measured in Total Bytes Written (TBW) or Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD) over its warranty period. A typical rating for this class of drive is 1.3 Drive Writes Per Day for 5 years. For the 3.84TB model, this translates to a TBW rating of approximately 7,000 TBW (3.84TB * 1.3 * 365 days * 5 years). This high endurance is achieved through robust wear leveling, advanced write amplification reduction techniques, and high-quality, enterprise-grade 3D TLC NAND.

Power Loss Protection (PLP)

Enterprise drives must ensure data integrity during unexpected power loss. The X200P incorporates a robust, hardware-based Power Loss Protection system. This includes an array of capacitors (often tantalum) that provide holdup energy. In the event of a power failure, this energy allows the drive's controller to complete any in-progress writes from the volatile DRAM cache to the non-volatile NAND memory, preventing data corruption. This feature is critical for applications requiring full data atomicity and consistency.

NVMe Management Interface (NVMe-MI)

The drive supports the NVMe Management Interface (NVMe-MI) over SMBus/I2C or in-band PCIe. This standardized protocol allows for out-of-band management, enabling system administrators to monitor drive health, temperature, firmware, and performance metrics without loading the host operating system. This is essential for remote management and automation in large data centers.

Telemetry and SMART Attributes

The drive provides comprehensive Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) attributes, along with enhanced telemetry data as defined by the NVMe specification. Administrators can monitor parameters such as media wear, temperature history, available spare blocks, error counts, and total data written/read. This data is crucial for predictive failure analysis and proactive maintenance.

Security and Ecosystem Integration

Security and manageability are integral to the drive's design, ensuring it fits seamlessly into modern, secured data center infrastructures.

Security Features

The Phison XP208H023T84P324T0910 X200P supports the full suite of NVMe security protocols. This includes the ability to create multiple namespaces with access control, but its cornerstone is support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE 1667 (eDrive) for hardware-based, full-disk encryption. All data written to the NAND is encrypted in real-time using an AES-256 cipher engine built directly into the controller. Encryption keys are managed internally and can be tied to a platform's TPM (Trusted Platform Module) for additional security. This ensures that data is rendered inaccessible if a drive is physically removed from a server, addressing data-at-rest security requirements.

Thermal Design and Operational Environment

The high performance of PCIe 5.0 drives comes with increased power consumption and heat output. The X200P's 15mm form factor is explicitly designed to address this challenge.

Power Envelope

The active power consumption of the X200P under load is higher than that of PCIe 4.0 or 3.0 drives, typically operating in a range of 12-18 watts during peak activity. Idle power is managed aggressively to improve overall data center PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness). The drive features integrated thermal sensors and supports the NVMe temperature threshold feature set. Crucially, the 15mm z-height allows for a larger surface area and often the inclusion of a thermal spreader or label, improving heat conduction from the controller and NAND packages to the server's drive bay cooling system. Proper airflow, as specified in the product documentation, is required to maintain optimal performance and reliability.

Environmental Specifications

As an enterprise component, the drive is specified for continuous operation in data center environments. Its operating temperature range is typically 0°C to 70°C, with specific throttling points defined to protect components. It is rated for operation at altitudes up to 10,000 feet and can withstand specified levels of vibration and shock during operation and non-operation, ensuring reliability in dense server configurations.

Use Cases and Target Applications

The Phison Pascari X200P 3.84TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD is purpose-built for applications where storage is the primary bottleneck.

High-Frequency Trading and Financial Databases

In financial markets, microsecond differences in data access times translate directly to competitive advantage. The X200P's ultra-low and consistent latency makes it ideal for storing market tick data, order books, and in-memory databases that spill to persistent storage.

Hyperscale Cloud Storage Tiering

Within cloud infrastructure, this drive serves as a high-performance tier for caching, for hosting the most demanding virtual machine instances, or as the building block for all-flash software-defined storage arrays that require the highest possible per-node performance.

High-Performance Computing

HPC applications involving computational fluid dynamics, genomic sequencing, and climate modeling generate and consume vast amounts of data. The X200P accelerates checkpoint/restart operations and enables faster analysis of results, reducing overall time-to-solution for complex simulations.