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ASPM in NVMe SSD

  • Sarala BN
  • Feburary 10, 2026

Active State Power Management (ASPM) in NVMe SSDs

As data centres and consumer devices demand ever-faster storage solutions, NVMe SSDs have become the gold standard for high-performance, low-latency data access. But with speed comes power consumption—and that’s where Active State Power Management (ASPM) steps in. ASPM is a critical feature in PCI Express (PCIe) architecture that helps NVMe SSDs operate efficiently without sacrificing performance.

What Is ASPM?

  • Active State Power Management (ASPM) is a PCI Express (PCIe) feature designed to reduce consumption when the link between devices is idle. It dynamically manages the power states of PCIe links between devices (like NVMe SSDs) and the host system. ASPM reduces power usage by transitioning the link into lower-power states (L0s, L1) when data transmission is idle.

ASPM Power States

ASPM operates through three key link states:

  1. L0: Fully active, high-performance state.
  2. L0s: A short idle state with fast recovery.
  3. L1: A deeper idle state with longer recovery latency but greater power savings.
  • L1.1 (Substate): Partial Shutdown of the link. It saves more power than L1 and Latency is longer than L1, but shorter than L1.2
  • L1.2 (Substate): Full Shutdown of the link. Maximum power savings and Latency is the longest among all ASPM states. Best for deep idle workloads.

The deeper the state, the more power saved—but with increased latency to resume full-speed operation

How ASPM Works in NVMe :

When an NVMe SSD is idle or under light load, ASPM transitions the PCIe link to L0s or L1 states. This is managed by the system BIOS, operating system, and device firmware. The SSD can quickly resume full-speed operation when data transfer resumes.

ASPM and NVMe Performance:

  1. NVMe SSDs rely on high-speed PCIe connections. When ASPM is enabled, especially in aggressive modes like L1, the link may shut down too frequently.
  2. This can cause performance degradation, as the system must wait for the link to reinitialize before data can be transferred.
  3. In some systems, disabling ASPM in the BIOS has been shown to double NVMe speed, especially when ASPM defaults to overly aggressive settings (systems misconfigured to use PCIe Gen 2 instead of Gen 3).
  4. Most BIOS setups offer ASPM settings like: “Disabled,” “L0s,” “L1,” or “Auto.”

ASPM vs. APST

In NVMe systems, ASPM works alongside Autonomous Power State Transition (APST):

  1. ASPM manages the PCIe link between the host and SSD.
  2. APST manages internal SSD power states independently of the host.

Together, they allow SSDs to enter low-power states during inactivity, improving battery life in laptops and reducing heat.

Considerations for ASPM in NVMe Deployments

While ASPM offers clear benefits, it must be carefully configured to avoid performance bottlenecks:

  1. Latency trade-offs: Entering and exiting low-power states introduces delay. For latency-sensitive applications (e.g., real-time analytics), ASPM may need to be disabled.
  2. Compatibility: Not all motherboards, chipsets, or operating systems support ASPM equally. BIOS settings often control ASPM behavior.
  3. Firmware tuning: NVMe SSD vendors may offer firmware options to optimize ASPM thresholds and responsiveness.

Key Takeaways

  1. ASPM can save power but may hurt NVMe performance.
  2. Disabling ASPM may improve speed, especially on systems with aggressive power-saving defaults.
  3. BIOS settings matter—tuning ASPM can balance performance and efficiency.
  4. Low-end NVMe drives may lack proper ASPM support, affecting system-wide power management.

If optimizing a system for speed or troubleshooting slow NVMe performance, checking and adjusting ASPM settings in the BIOS is a smart first step.

ASPM isn’t just a power-saving feature—it’s a strategic tool for sustainable, high-performance storage.