Intel Optane SSD DC P5800X Review: The fastest SSD ever

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If you want the absolute fastest performance from your storage device, Intel’s Optane SSD DC P5800X is your best choice. P5800X provides up to 7.2 GBps sequential bandwidth and up to 1.5 million IOPS random performance, easily defeating all competing storage devices on the market. When the most important queue depth (QD) is 1, it is even four to five times faster than the fastest flash-based NVMe SSD, which means it provides the fastest user experience money can buy.
Intel initially launched the P5800X as an expensive data center SSD and did not provide it to the consumer market, mainly because the company has already Obsolete the entire Optane product line For desktop computers. However, after hearing feedback from storage enthusiasts, Intel reconsidered and made the P5800X available for purchase by anyone. But there are some caveats: P5800X is only suitable for “workstation use” and is expensive.
Intel’s previous generation Optane SSD 905P was the fastest SSD at the company’s launch. Nevertheless, due to its controller design, it does not provide the performance of PCIe 3.0 bus saturation, and it has not been the best SSD for some time-especially when the new PCIe 4.0 SSD is widely available. However, due to improvements in the controller coupled with a wider PCIe 4.0 interface and second-generation Optane media, the DC P5800X provides more bandwidth and performance than its predecessor in random workloads, making it the fastest drive (many )can buy.
specification
product | 400GB | 800GB | 1.6TB |
---|---|---|---|
price | 1,189 USD | USD 2,044 | 3,724 USD |
Constitutive factors | U.2 | U.2 | U.2 |
Interface Protocol | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.3d | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.3d | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.3d |
Controller | Intel SLNBF | Intel SLNBF | Intel SLNBF |
Dynamic random access memory | not applicable | not applicable | not applicable |
memory | The second generation of Optane | The second generation of Optane | The second generation of Optane |
Sequential reading | 7,200 MBps | 7,200 MBps | 7,200 MBps |
Sequential write | 4,800 MBps | 6,100 MBps | 6,200 MBps |
Random read | 1,500,000 IOPS | 1,500,000 IOPS | 1,500,000 IOPS |
Random write | 1,150,000 IOPS | 1,350,000 IOPS | 1,500,000 IOPS |
Safety | AES 256-bit encryption | AES 256-bit encryption | AES 256-bit encryption |
Endurance (TBW) | 73 PB | 146 PB | 292 PB |
Part Number | SSDPF21Q400GB01 | SSDPF21Q800GB01 | SSDPF21Q016TB01 |
Warranty | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
The capacities of Intel Optane SSD DC P5800X are 400GB, 800GB and 1.6TB. Ranging from US$1,189 to US$3,724, the price of each is significantly higher than any typical flash-based SSD. With performance specifications of up to 7.2/6.2 GBps of read/write throughput, the P5800X provides excellent sequential performance and solves one of the main weaknesses of its predecessor. DC P5800X also provides up to 1.5 million random read/write IOPS, not to mention market-leading QD1 performance.
Intel provides a five-year warranty for the P5800X and provides these drives with the highest endurance rating we have seen-up to 100 drive writes per day. For example, although a standard 1TB NVMe SSD is rated to handle 600-1,800 TB of writes, the 800GB P5800X is guaranteed to handle an astonishing 146 PB of write data. The 1.6TB model doubles it, reaching a record durability of 292 PB.
Software and accessories
Intel supports SSDs through the company’s recently redesigned memory and storage tools. With it, you can monitor and diagnose the SSD, and update the firmware when a newer version is available.
Take a closer look
As the primary data center SSD equipment, DC P5800X adopts a more easily maintained U.2 form factor with a thickness of 15 mm, rather than the large add-on cards (AIC) like P4800X and 905P. The housing is made of solid aluminum, and heat sinks are integrated in its design to ensure proper cooling. Although Intel has improved the energy efficiency of a new generation of Optane products, they still consume a lot of power compared to standard consumer flash drives.
A PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe Optane media controller, which we call LBNF (etched in its IHS), powers the drive. The LBNF controller complies with NVMe 1.3d, but the company stated that a firmware update can upgrade the device to NVMe 1.4. The controller supports AES 256-bit hardware encryption to ensure data security. It also has standard features such as SMART data reporting and thermal throttling protection that activates when the device reaches or exceeds 70 degrees Celsius. Our example also supports three power states (13W, 15W, and 17W) and multiple LBA sizes.
The higher channel count of LBNF is a significant improvement over the previous generation SLL3D controller. Although SLL3D has up to 7 channels, LBNF can be expanded to 8 channels for our 800GB model, and up to 12 channels for the 1.6TB model (additional channels will only bring a small performance improvement) .
Intel has optimized for single-sector reads, which makes it easier to transfer small files 512B. Surprisingly, the controller only has a single-core ARM Cortex R7 CPU running at up to 1.1 GHz. This drive does not have DRAM — it is not required for bit-addressable Optane media.
Intel’s second-generation Optane media makes the P5800X so special, but that’s why it costs so much. There are eight packages on the PCB, each package contains four die, our 800GB sample comes with many fast and expensive 256Gb die (half of the larger 1.6TB model). This is twice the chip density of the first-generation Optane media.
Intel expanded to a four-layer design, while the first-generation media had only two layers, which also helped improve the efficiency of the memory array. Therefore, the number of pads per die has increased from 81 to 85, and the memory array efficiency has increased from 57.8% to 67.4%. Intel also reduced the chip size a bit, from 206.5 mm2 to 195.6mm^2. This number allows us to calculate that the bit density of the second-generation Optane media is 1.31 Gb/mm2, which is insignificant compared to today’s high-level count NAND flash memory that can measure 10 times.
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