Patriot Ignite 480GB , Launched

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Without a fab, Patriot has to rely on other companies to manufacture the NAND memory and controller technology it uses. Flash went through a dry spell for a while, where partners experienced reduced allocation. Moreover, the post-SandForce era saw controller development slow to a crawl. Patriot nearly bowed out of SSDs altogether due to those challenges and more. But a small (yet steady) demand for its existing drives kept the company active. New SSDs were simply few and far between.

 

That cooling-off period is now over thanks to a budding relationship with Phison. Patriot recently released three consumer SSDs: the Blaze, Torch and Ignite series, the latter of which we're testing today.

The Patriot Ignite uses Phison's quad-core, eight-channel PS3110-S10 controller with smart ECC technology. It features end-to-end data protection and a host of other capabilities typically found in enterprise-class processors. The S10 was designed for both two-bit (MLC) and three-bit-per-cell (TLC) flash. To ensure low-endurance TLC can survive typical consumer warranty periods of three years or more, the controller uses powerful error correction technology to read bits that may have shifted over time. When a powerful controller like Phison's is paired with higher-quality MLC flash, it can handle other background activities that make the drive faster.