Conclusion, Pricing, and Final Thoughts

Conclusion:

PROS:

  • Ludicrous Speed!
  • Competitive cost/GB, especially in light of outstanding performance

CONS:

  • We'd like to see the P3500 marketed as an enthusiast part, and closer to $1/GB

Pricing and Availability:

We don't yet have street prices, but extrapolating from the 400GB model pricing given on the slide earlier, we get these rough prices:

DC P3700:

  • 400GB – $1207 ($3.02/GB)
  • 800GB – $2414
  • 1.2TB – N/A
  • 1.6TB – $4828
  • 2.0TB – $6035

DC P3600:

  • 400GB – $783 ($1.95/GB)
  • 800GB – $1566
  • 1.2TB – $2349
  • 1.6TB – $3132
  • 2.0TB – $3915

DC P3500:

  • 400GB – $599 ($1.50/GB)
  • 800GB – N/A
  • 1.2TB – $1797
  • 1.6TB – N/A
  • 2.0TB – $2995

Warranty:

All Intel DC P3x00 parts come with a 5-year warranty.

Final Thoughts:

The speed advantages of the NVMe interface are now indelibly clear, especially as demonstrated by Intel's new fire breathing Data Center product lines. This new interface removes many of the bottlenecks associated with SATA and AHCI, bringing the flash much closer to the CPU, both physically and logically. The end results are impressive to say the least, with Intel's 18-channel controller turning in figures close to 3GB/sec and 4k random IO pushing half a million IOPS. The market segmentation of three separate SKU lines is welcome, in that it is accompanied by step reductions in cost/GB ranging from $3/GB down to $1.50/GB. Enterprise products with such staggering performance, averaging $2/GB is absolutely game changing.

I, for one, welcome our new flash memory overlords.

When it takes a follow-on review just to figure out how to unleash the full potential of a product, and that product can be had at a very competitive price, well, you know it's awesome!

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