Anyone have comments about Intel Optane Memory?

[dpeel]

I am planning on building a new Gaming PC in the near future. I am considering using the Intel Optane Memory in the M.2 PCIe slot along with a 4 gig 7200 rpm hard drive. I will meet the requirements as I understand them in order to use.( 7th generation Intel CPU or later and 64 bit Windows 10, Motherboard that supports).

I realize that this isn't as good as a PCIe SSD but I also realize that games take a ton of storage space and wondering if this would be a way to speed up loading to an acceptable level.

I would appreciate incite from anyone with experience with this Intel Optane Memory.

 

[USAFRet]

1. 4TB hdd, not "4 gig". Correct?

2. Optane in general. I wouldn't. It is simply a cache for the HDD. Very fast, but still only a cache.
Only that which exists in that 16 or 32GB space is "fast".
Any SSD, be it SATA III or NVMe is fast across the whole drive.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

I agree. Optane is a bunch of hype but it does not really offer any tangible benefits. It is a waste of money for most applications.

 

[dpeel]

I have watched a few YouTube videos and read a few Motherboard specs that seem to be hypeing this. I realize it's not going to be as fast as a good M.2 PCIe SSD but it sounded like it might be something that might help speed up loading times of often used files and since I couldn't fit a bunch of games on say a 500 gig SSD but would have plenty of room on a 4 TB Hard Drive, I thought it might be a way to speed up load times and save some money.

 

[dpeel]

1. 4TB hdd, not "4 gig". Correct?

2. Optane in general. I wouldn't. It is simply a cache for the HDD. Very fast, but still only a cache.
Only that which exists in that 16 or 32GB space is "fast".
Any SSD, be it SATA III or NVMe is fast across the whole drive.

Yes, a 4 TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive.

 

[USAFRet]

I have watched a few YouTube videos and read a few Motherboard specs that seem to be hypeing this. I realize it's not going to be as fast as a good M.2 PCIe SSD but it sounded like it might be something that might help speed up loading times of often used files and since I couldn't fit a bunch of games on say a 500 gig SSD but would have plenty of room on a 4 TB Hard Drive, I thought it might be a way to speed up load times and save some money.

Load times will be faster for only that which already exists in the cache space. Someplace you've already been to.
A new level that you go to still gets read off the HDD at normal HDD speed.

 

[dpeel]

https://youtu.be/X5UrtwW-zJs?list=WL

This is the interesting YouTube Video that perked my interest.

 

[USAFRet]

https://youtu.be/X5UrtwW-zJs?list=WL

This is the interesting YouTube Video that perked my interest.

Key words:
"Thanks to Intel for sponsoring this video."

 

[USAFRet]

Don't get me wrong. The Optane thing can have it uses.

A database server, where the SQL statements end up in that fast space. A web server, maybe.

For a consumer game PC? Not.

 

[failboat]

intel optane support is for intel RST.
I think they have their own algo to keep boot time fast and certain apps. even if you don't use them frequently.

There are other options to cache storage drives if you go with a SSD boot drive. windows storage space can have a cache drive added. these small disks are nice for that. people are speeding up their NAS with these small optane drives. They can be installed in ZFS pools as cache without needing rst. I'm not aware of any solution to boot win10 with cache without using intel RST or SSHD.

I think going with a large ssd for the entire system is nice and keeping bulk data on it's own pool in a separate NAS or something like storage spaces. optane/RST will be a lot faster than SSHD's.

I saw a samsung sata3 1TB ssd on sale for $220. Which makes optane priced cache harder to justify.

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/technology-briefs/smart-response-technology-brief.pdf