Intel has quietly started shipping Optane SSD DC P5810X drives. This may be the last storage device based on 3D XPoint memory. The new SSDs offer extremely high performance and extreme endurance of 100 drive writes per day (DWPD). Still, it’s little different from his original Optane SSD DC P5800X series product. So what to expect from the defunct Optane division?
Intel’s Optane SSD DC P5810X series currently includes 400GB and 800GB models offered in a 2.5 inch U.2 form factor with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface. The drives sport performance, demonstrating sequential read speeds of up to 7200 MBps and sequential write speeds of up to 5400 MBps (800GB SKU) or 6000 MBps (400GB SKU) (such speeds make these drives among the best one of the SSDs). In terms of random read/write performance, the drive is capable of up to 1.5M/1.38M IOPS with 5 μs read/write latency.
The main selling point of these drives, of course, is the 100 DWPD endurance that traditional 3D NAND-based offerings cannot offer. This is why Kioxia has XL-NAND and Samsung has Z-NAND. Intel’s Optane DC endurance).
Intel’s Optane SSD DC P5810X line belongs to the codenamed Alder Stream drive family, which already includes the P5800X series products, so the new product will feature a similar controller and 3D XPoint memory media. It’s logical to expect it to be used. His new P5810X drive, on the other hand, has a significantly higher active power rating than the P5810X drive. On the one hand, this means that it can withstand high temperatures for a long time (but never above 70°C). On the other hand, it shows low economic efficiency.
I’m not exactly sure how Intel plans to position the new P5810X SSDs against the existing P5800X drives. Intel has rarely spoken publicly about its Optane SSD DC P5810X drives. These devices (along with his Optane SSD DC P5811X capable device in the Ruler form factor) were tested earlier this year at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (a leading validation body for NVMe-compliant SSDs and controllers) in his NVMe Interoperability We only know about them because they passed the test.
Perhaps the most important thing about the Optane SSD DC P5810X and Optane SSD DC P5811X is that they are probably the last 3D XPoint drives to be launched by Intel as they officially ended the Optane business earlier this year. We don’t know how long Intel plans to ship 3D XPoint based products, but it is certain that Intel is not going to manufacture his 3D XPoint device with PCIe Gen5 interface.
