Intel launches 16GB and 32GB Optane Cache modules

[HEXUS]

These M.2 modules will become available from 24th April, for $44 and $77 respectively.

Read more.

[scaryjim]

Hmmm, reading around it looks like latency in single-digit microseconds is perhaps as much as an order of magnitude faster than most SSDs ... OTOH, it's two orders of magnitude slower than DRAM, so in performance terms it's of barely any more benefit that using any old SSD as a cache drive ... nothing new here. Wake me up when they get the latency down to sub-microsecond...

[3s-gtech]

So, it's like cache SSD, on a quicker interface, that we've had for years? Woop. The 79% figure is more a damning indictment of manufacturers continuing to fit HDDs well beyond their lifetime - how many of them are in domain joined PCs in businesses where everything on the disk fits into 40GB, yet they have 500GB HDDs from the factory?

[Rubarb]

Price wise this does look intresting but I would love to see real world testing and results before even contenplating buying one.

[Jace007]

The seq writes are pretty poor on these How are these x10 or x14 more faster than M.2 NvME, i dont think they are. The IOPs are only the best thing about them, Which are more a factor with large databases etc rather than normal work for average consumers.

[azrael-]

M.2 is a form factor. It can transport PCIe, SATA and USB signals. I would expect these to use PCIe, though. Any clarification on the matter would be welcome, however.

EDIT: Found the following over at Anandtech:

Because only two PCIe lanes are used by the drive, it is keyed to support M.2 type B and M slots. This keying is usually used for M.2 SATA SSDs while M.2 PCIe SSDs typically use only the M key position to support four PCIe lanes. The Optane Memory SSD will not function in a M.2 slot that provides only SATA connectivity.

Seems to me there could be quite some compatibility issues if you're unlucky.

[kompukare]

M.2 is a form factor. It can transport PCIe, SATA and USB signals. I would expect these to use PCIe, though. Any clarification on the matter would be welcome, however.

2x PCIe 3.0 according to AT:

The Intel Optane Memory SSD uses one or two single-die packages of 3D XPoint non-volatile memory to provide capacities of 16GB or 32GB. The controller gets away with a much smaller package than most SSDs (especially PCIe SSD) since it only supports two PCIe 3.0 lanes and does not have an external DRAM interface. Because only two PCIe lanes are used by the drive, it is keyed to support M.2 type B and M slots. This keying is usually used for M.2 SATA SSDs while M.2 PCIe SSDs typically use only the M key position to support four PCIe lanes. The Optane Memory SSD will not function in a M.2 slot that provides only SATA connectivity.

Computerbase also says 2 x PCIe 3.0 which uses the official Intel slide:

[Corky34]

So, it's like cache SSD, on a quicker interface, that we've had for years? Woop. The 79% figure is more a damning indictment of manufacturers continuing to fit HDDs well beyond their lifetime - how many of them are in domain joined PCs in businesses where everything on the disk fits into 40GB, yet they have 500GB HDDs from the factory?

Am i missing something as i can't think of the cache SSD on a quicker interface that we've had for years, the closest thing we've had (afaik) are SSD's and M.2 drives but both of those do pretty poor jobs when it comes to moving around small amounts of data.

The seq writes are pretty poor on these How are these x10 or x14 more faster than M.2 NvME, i dont think they are. The IOPs are only the best thing about them, Which are more a factor with large databases etc rather than normal work for average consumers.

Not only large databases but most of what an OS does needs high IOPs, seq read and writes are great if the data is sequential but most of the data an OS reads and writes isn't, most of what an OS does draws data from allover the place and that's where higher IOPs pays dividends.

[3s-gtech]

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/ar...D-Caching-148/

Like caching, that we've had for years, but on a quicker interface. So yep, what you're missing is the meaning of the sentence because I didn't write it very well.

[HW90]

Price wise this does look intresting but I would love to see real world testing and results before even contenplating buying one.

There's a linustechtips video on it, I was pretty unconvinced by it beforehand but the results actually look pretty good providing your highest priority isn't to speed up games.

[Percy1983]

As a user still using caching and plan to for the foreseeable, I can see how this is a great evolution of my current IRST cache, but I see one big problem... my next board will me an x370.

[securitywyrm]

I'm mainly interested to see how this improves game performance, particularly in games like Fallout and Minecraft. I have been eyeing a system upgrade, but it will need to be an "order of magnitude" upgrade to justify the expense.

[DanceswithUnix]

I'm mainly interested to see how this improves game performance, particularly in games like Fallout and Minecraft. I have been eyeing a system upgrade, but it will need to be an "order of magnitude" upgrade to justify the expense.

I can't see this giving an order of magnitude improvement to any real world task, judging from the really fast SSDs not really helping over the slow ones in tasks. Better to use the money towards a bigger SSD, faster graphics or some other thing that actually matters.

[Jace007]

'' Will is run /speed up Minecraft '' LOL this wont have any impact on it whatsoever. A SSD both Sata or M.2 NVme PICe speeds up gaming loading which complement a decent Graphics card that drives the graphic engines for various games. The new motherboards Z270 already support Optane in the UEFI Bios.

[Csikasz]

Are there many actual PCs that is fitted with HDDs AND has M.2 sockets on the Mobo? For desktop use seems easier just to clone over to an M2 ssd then.
or maybe big file servers with many HDDs and M.2 for cache? But then 32 gigs is ... negligible
or am I missing the point here?

[shaithis]

New SSD tech....lets release them in tiny sizes and call them cache drives so we can charge a premium....then lets make them require one of our new motherboards to operate....