Introduction
The Acer Predator GM7 SSD is a new value-oriented SSD released by manufacturer BIWIN. We recently visited BIWIN at CES and learned about its products, history, and how its connection to HP and Acer works. You can read our introduction to BIWIN here. In a nutshell, BIWIN has a license to manufacture SSDs under Acer’s Predator brand. BIWIN does its own IC packaging and testing and manufactures DRAM and SSDs under the Acer Predator branding. We have reviewed another Acer Predator SSD, the bigger brother to this one, the Acer Predator GM7000.
The new Acer Predator GM7 SSD is geared to being a power-efficient DRAM-less SSD, but still retains nearly all the performance of the GM7000, its bigger brother. It is being positioned as a cost-effective SSD. It also is the world’s first PCIe Gen4 M.2 consumer SSD with Maxio MAP1602 controller and 2400MT/s fast YMTC Xtacking 3.0 3D NAND on board. The pricing for the GM7 series SSDs is as follows: $49.90 USD (512 GB), $89.90 USD (1TB), and $159.99 USD (2TB). We will be reviewing the 1TB version, model GM7-1TB.
The Acer Predator 1TB Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD is an NVMe Gen4 TLC SSD rated at 7400MB/s read and 6300MB/s write speeds sequential. It can write up to 100K IOPS. One of its defining features is that it is power efficient, and consumes only 5.67W maximum. This is also a DRAM-less SSD since it is value-oriented, but to make up for that it fully supports HMB (Host Memory Buffer) and an SLC Cache. It also has Thermal Throttling and Power Management support, so it can handle heat dissipation well and improve the battery life in laptops. This SSD is in standard M.2 2280 format. There is a 5-year Limited Warranty on the SSD.
SSD Pictures and Components
Inside the box, you will find the SSD, packaged well and secure with a quick install guide plus an extra M.2 screw, which is nice if you are installing it into a laptop. The Acer Predator 1TB GM7 SSD does not come with a heatsink, but in our testing, due to the low power, the temperatures are not extremely hot, to begin with.
It is also a one-sided SSD, all the components are on one side, so this will work very well in a laptop or desktop. You are of course welcome to use your motherboard M.2 heatsink, and you should always if you have one. For laptops, a heatsink is not required.
The 1TB model has two NAND flash chips and a controller. As we mentioned earlier, this is the first PCIe Gen4 SSD using the Maxio MAP1602 4-channel controller. On the IC it states: Maxio Map1602A-F2C. You can read all about this controller here. The Maxio MAP1602 is a 12nm process technology IC that supports PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe 2.0, and Maxio Agile ECC 3 technology based on an ARM R5 CPU core. The NAND flash is 232-Layer 3D TLC YMTC Xtacking 3.0 3D NAND at 2400MT/s. The flash reads: BWN09TC1B1RCAD.