Performance Comparisons – Sequential and Random
Starting again with sequential writes, we find the 800P's going slightly faster than the 860 PRO (a SATA SSD). This is a definite improvement over the Optane Memory parts, but still falls way short of a 960 EVO or a 900P.
Sequential reads were also improved with 800P, but still falls middle fo the road compared to competing parts. Do note that both 800P capacities come in just a hair above the 32GB Optane Memory part, so it looks like we will not be seeing any additional throughput out of this particular controller implementation.
NAND SSDs are surprisingly competitive at low QD random writes. This is for a few reasons. To explain better, let's review what happens when a typical NAND-flash SSD writes or reads:
- Writes: Host sends data to SSD. SSD receives data and acknowledges the IO. SSD then passes that data onto the flash for writing. All necessary metadata / FTL table updates take place.
- Reads: Host requests data from SSD. SSD controller looks up data location in FTL, addresses and reads data from the appropriate flash dies, and finally replies to the host with the data, completing the IO.
Something interesting comes out of this data. Note how the 32GB Optane Memory part hits saturation at QD2, while both 800P's reach 2x the amount at QD4. This suggests we might have a 4-channel controller at play.
Alright, now things get serious. Everything with 3D XPoint installed completely dominates the chart, especially at lower queue depths. Everything with NAND takes far longer to service incoming requests, resulting in significantly lower IOPS figures at the more common client queue depths.
OK so with all that data…is
OK so with all that data…is it faster than a 960 evo for everyday windows use? and does it use more or less power for a laptop?
Likely less power in laptop
Likely less power in laptop usage as it spends less time servicing IOs on average, but the 'feel' will likely be similar unless you are doing some heavy mixed/random read workloads.
Any idea why Intel chose the
Any idea why Intel chose the PCI-E 3.0 x2 interface? All M.2 slot that support this drive are x4 capable. Seems like they are leaving performance on the table….
On a related note, correct me if I’m wrong, but most Z370 motherboards have 20 PCI-E lanes available without going through the chipset’s 4 additional lanes. Usually they are assigning 16 lanes to the graphics card and 4 lanes to an M.2 slot. Additional M.2 slots are running through the chipset’s lanes. Are existing motherboards capable of assigning 2 CPU lanes to 2 different M.2 slots?
They likely went with x2
They likely went with x2 since they already had hardware/controller close to that ready to go (via Optane Memory parts).
Current X299 boards / VMDs can only bifurcate in x4 chunks, but someone can probably make a PCIe switch that can split further.
Re: ASUS Sabertooth
Re: ASUS Sabertooth X99
Allyn,
Would it make any sense to evaluate these Optane parts on an AMD Threadripper system?
My best guess is that your X99 test system was capable of driving both the M.2 and x16 slots at max speed, so an AMD motherboard should not make much of a difference.
Again, thanks for your consistently excellent reviews!
p.s. Did you ever solve the problems you encountered with your Threadripper system?
In short, it wouldn’t, not if
In short, it wouldn't, not if I wanted the lowest and most consistent latencies.
I've been sticking with the X99 platform because 1. If it ain't broke… and 2. I'd rather not re-test 100+ SSDs, not until I've added some workloads to the suite at least.
Re: problems on TR – the problems are still an issue, and are still preventing me from getting results consistent enough to feel comfortable publishing.
Copy that and … THANKS
Copy that and … THANKS AGAIN!
Re:
https://www.pcper.com/ima
Re:
https://www.pcper.com/image/view/89768?return=node%2F69337
To clarify, I am still curious if the latter AIC will be bootable when installed in an AMD Threadripper motherboard.
For prosumers and workstation users who now prefer a TR system, this AIC with 4 x Optanes could work.
Nevertheless, you are correct: 4 x Samsung 960 Pro make more sense in such an AIC, for reasons you have already explained in your other reviews.
Yes, it’s bootable since the
Yes, it's bootable since the UEFI initializes the array each boot. Consistent performance? that's another story entirely.
Apples-to-apples, perhaps we
Apples-to-apples, perhaps we should wait for M.2 Optanes to be enhanced with support for x4 PCIe lanes each.
Also, there is the 16 GHz clock rate approved for PCIe 4.0:
Intel may be “vectoring” x2 PCIe lanes to a future date
when x2 @ 16G = x4 @ 8G .
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11967/pcisig-finalizes-and-releasees-pcie-40-spec
PCIe 4.0 is gopping to be
PCIe 4.0 is gopping to be power hungry at least initially. Don't be surprised to see SSDs hang out at 3.0 for a good while after 4.0 is available and shipping on motherboards.
So I just want to make sure I
So I just want to make sure I can use this….I have an Asus Z370E, 8700K, one 1080Ti….with 4 hard drives (3 standard- 2@7200RPM, one 5400RPM) and one SSD boot drive from Crucial. Also, External backup HD from western digital. Will I have any issues if I decide to purchase this?
From what I been told the
From what I been told the Intel Optane SSD 800P has to be boot drive.
It doesn’t *have* to be a
It doesn't *have* to be a boot drive. Can be used as a fast random access temp drive, etc. All depends on where you want the traits of this particular SSD.
*edit* you may be thinking of Optane Memory (caching), which will only cache the boot drive. 800P can be used this way, by installing the Optane Memory driver, but it's overkill with >32GB of cache.
The Z370E has a pair of M.2
The Z370E has a pair of M.2 slots, so even if your Crucial SSD is M.2, you should have room. You could put the 800P in the primary M.2 slot to use for boot and shift any other (larger) M.2 SSD to the second M.2 / other SATA port (depending on what it is) for use as a game / other SSD.
Interesting graph:
history
Interesting graph:
history of PCIe actual bandwidth
compared to
every 3 years, I/O bandwidth doubles:
https://images.anandtech.com/doci/11967/pci-sig_history_graphic_wide_rgb_0533_575px.jpg
Allyn, On behalf of all
Allyn, On behalf of all pcper.com users,
please accept our sincere appreciation
for your very prompt and professional
answers to all our questions.
I just got great deal on a i7
I just got great deal on a i7 7800x and a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Ultimate,
can I use say a 960 Pro 1 Tb as boot then the 2 118gb optane as a raid cache.
I won’t be using high end gpu this will be a sever build with alot of Hdds?
Any news on Micron’s QuantX ?
Any news on Micron’s QuantX ?
From their earnings call I
From their earnings call I don’t think we’ll see it until 2019
Pretty sure that was just
Pretty sure that was just vaporware to force intel to release hypetane asap. as there has been zero products from micron with there brand of xpoint.
i was excited to see the dimms they were working on it all looked so good on paper but sadly that will most likely be a pipe dream that will never bear fruit.
you got about as much chance as valve releasing HL3 then micron actually make a product with xpoint at this point.
Hi Allyn, i’m just curious about “Intel’s recommended client SSD conditioning pass”,could you tell me where can i find those recommendation?
I reviewed and nothing there.
Allyn’s not here man … he’s writing those things now!
I think this is the paper he was referring to https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/ssd-server-storage-applications-paper.pdf
Thank you Jeremy!
I think i misunderstood his thoughts, and now i’m clear that leaving 8GB portion for random access is a better way to simulate real-world condition.