Review Intel Optane SSD DC P5800X Review: The Fastest SSD Ever Made

[jeremyj_83]

People's first hint that this isn't intended for the typical consumer is that it uses an U.2 connector. AFAIK, there are exactly zero consumer motherboards capable of connecting to those without an add-in board to provide U.2 host connectors. Otherwise, you MAY be able to connect it using SATA if Intel bothered to include backward compatibility.

I believe there is one Threadripper motherboard that has a native U.2 connection.

 

[InvalidError]

You could at least try to tell me something that I don't know already. Oh and I already own two motherboards with two U.2 connectors each ...

Neither of your links resolve to a specific product probably because you linked from your order history instead of product pages. The only results I am seeing on NewEgg for U.2 motherboards with on-board U.2 3.0/4.0x4 connectors are workstation, HEDT and server boards, not consumer ones.

U.2 is another version of m.2 using pcie x4. You can get an adapter + cable to connect u.2 drive to m.2 slot.

U.2 is only a form factor using the SATA/SAS connector footprint and the form factor can accommodate anything from SATA to 4.0x4. However, my point what that there are zero consumer motherboards that support U.2 out-of-box. You can fit almost anything to anything else with enough time and money.

And for boards that do have on-board U.2 connector, you usually have to supply your own U.2 cable and backplane or adapter.

I believe there is one Threadripper motherboard that has a native U.2 connection.

ThreadRipper isn't exactly a consumer thing. If you include the HEDT, entry-level workstation and entry-level server markets, then there are quite a few with at least one U.2 header.

 

[jeremyj_83]

At those prices, they shouldn't have bothered. There might be 10 people in the whole country who will be able to afford to buy one.

These drives are not intended for consumer usage. These are big datacenter drives that will be used in Hypercoverged Infrastructure. That means these will be the write caching drives for storage arrays like VMware vSAN. I have a vSAN array running all NVMe storage with P4800X caching drives. The performance is amazing. The other use case will be as the storage for the DB on a physical appliance.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Hmmm. Hello Chia, meet Optane.

You would be better off buying a used server with 1.5TB RAM (you split into multiple RAM disks) and 10x 900GB SAS SSD. A setup like that runs about $6k and will be able to do more Chia than Optane.

 

[castl3bravo]

As usual in the consumer space it's all about $$'s.

Running Optane on a HP laptop is still a viable option, but most consumers don't understand why it helps (I do & it's pretty damn fast).

The capacity of this P5800X could have a role for certain consumers running their own home server lab with VMware or KVM and lots of storage running ZFS. It's fun to push technology at home w/o having to find the right opportunity in the workplace.

Chia? Oh gosh not another iteration of the crypto zombie apocalypse.

 

[everettfsargent]

Neither of your links resolve to a specific product probably because you linked from your order history instead of product pages. The only results I am seeing on NewEgg for U.2 motherboards with on-board U.2 3.0/4.0x4 connectors are workstation, HEDT and server boards, not consumer ones.

... However, my point what that there are zero consumer motherboards that support U.2 out-of-box. You can fit almost anything to anything else with enough time and money.

I found one and only one so-called consumer motherboard with one U.2 PCIe 4.0 port ...
https://www.newegg.com/asus-pro-ws-x570-ace/p/N82E16813119194

SuperMicro has a nice looking TRP motherboard with two U.2 PCIe 4.0 ports ...
https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/M12SWA-TF

Welcome to NextWarehouse.com

NextWarehouse.com

www.nextwarehouse.com

Oh and a simple single adapter is nothing like "You can fit almost anything to anything else with enough time and money." How many so-called adapters do you own or do you make all your adapters starting with a soldering gun?

 

[jeremyj_83]

As usual in the consumer space it's all about $$'s.

Running Optane on a HP laptop is still a viable option, but most consumers don't understand why it helps (I do & it's pretty damn fast).

The capacity of this P5800X could have a role for certain consumers running their own home server lab with VMware or KVM and lots of storage running ZFS. It's fun to push technology at home w/o having to find the right opportunity in the workplace.

Chia? Oh gosh not another iteration of the crypto zombie apocalypse.

Why would you run Optane SSD on a home lab?

 

[InvalidError]

I found one and only one so-called consumer motherboard with one U.2 PCIe 4.0 port ...

Those motherboards are pitched at the WORKSTATION market, not consumers.

How many so-called adapters do you own or do you make all your adapters starting with a soldering gun?

I have a 10gal Rubbermaid tub full of adapters and cables for a bunch of obsolete interfaces that I still need to borrow stuff from a few times per year.

And yes, I used to put some of my own adapters together from scratch back when all development boards were proprietary and DIY adapters were the only way to use the boards for things beyond the manufacturers' showcase. Today, there is a Raspberry hat for almost everything.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a 10gal Rubbermaid tub full of adapters and cables for a bunch of obsolete interfaces that I still need to borrow stuff from a few times per year.

Same here.

 

[everettfsargent]

Same here.

Me three.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Me three.

Count me for four.

 

[everettfsargent]

This red adapter card ...

... looks just like these adapter cards ...

Addonics AD25NVMPX4 or StarTech PEX4SFF8639 or Ableconn PEXU2-132 or ... these all appear to be the same card, a PCIe 3.0 x4 that appears to work as a PCIe 4.0 x4 if plugged into a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot with a PCIE 4.0 x4 compatible U.2 device.

Addonics https://www.addonics.com/product/intro/27
Newegg https://www.newegg.com/startech-com-model-pex4sff8639-u-2-to-pcie-adapter-x4-pcie/p/N82E16815158437
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Ableconn-PEXU2-132-2-5-inch-SFF-8639-Carrier/dp/B01D2PXUAQ

The Ableconn adapter explicitly states PCIe 4.0 x4 at the Amazon link above, about $40US. This is NOT a recommendation for ANY of the above as YMMV.

 

[NP]

Well, this drive is never intended for end-users in the first place. You cannot compare prices of enterprise hardware with end-user ones.

Yes, you can. And you do. At least you should do. There is no reason for NOT comparing prices for hardware in different segments.

 

[InvalidError]

Yes, you can. And you do. At least you should do. There is no reason for NOT comparing prices for hardware in different segments.

If you want to be fair about it though, you also need to compare what you are (not) getting between the two too. Complaining that the drives cost 20X without mentioning that it has 600X better endurance with sustained write performance (none of that "only until SLC cache is full" that consumers get) is disingenuous since it makes it sound like the extra cost does not bring any quantifiable benefits.

There is no point complaining about the cost of a pristine McLaren F1 when you'd already be plenty happy driving a 100X cheaper mint-condition Mazda RX-7.

 

[NP]

If you want to be fair about it though, you also need to compare what you are (not) getting between the two too. Complaining that the drives cost 20X without mentioning that it has 600X better endurance with sustained write performance (none of that "only until SLC cache is full" that consumers get) is disingenuous since it makes it sound like the extra cost does not bring any quantifiable benefits.

True. However, it is only as a result of comparing prices, features and specs, that allows the end user to decide which piece of hardware would serve their use case the best. After all, the segments are abstractions and simplifications that are intended to help companies coordinate their marketing and sales efforts. On the other hand, there are always end-users whose needs do not easily fit any single segment. I for one have been using several "non-consumer" parts and successfully mixing them with consumer hardware over the years.

 

[jeremyj_83]

True. However, it is only as a result of comparing prices, features and specs, that allows the end user to decide which piece of hardware would serve their use case the best. After all, the segments are abstractions and simplifications that are intended to help companies coordinate their marketing and sales efforts. On the other hand, there are always end-users whose needs do not easily fit any single segment. I for one have been using several "non-consumer" parts and successfully mixing them with consumer hardware over the years.

Again in this case the end user are going to be using this for a write case in a hyper-converged infrastructure or the DB storage drive on a physical appliance. I have setup a VMware vSAN array using P4800X drives as my write cache drives. For anything with performance of HY-4 or greater you need AT LEAST a cache drive with 3650TBW. Going for the highest performance level you need an SSD with 7300TBW for write caching. While it is possible to get those TBW levels from 3.2TB+ flash drives, you get higher performance for the Optane. I've looked at benchmarks of vSAN arrays from all flash SAS, NVMe, & NVMe + Optane. All NVMe is 2x faster at a minimum than all SAS but the NVMe + Optane for write cache is another 20-25% faster than the all NVMe. For $2500/drive for the 800GB Optane vs $1200/drive for a 3.2TB NVMe it isn't much added cost for the performance and endurance of Optane.

 

[NP]

Again in this case the end user are going to be using this for a write case in a hyper-converged infrastructure or the DB storage drive on a physical appliance. I have setup a VMware vSAN array using P4800X drives as my write cache drives. For anything with performance of HY-4 or greater you need AT LEAST a cache drive with 3650TBW. Going for the highest performance level you need an SSD with 7300TBW for write caching. While it is possible to get those TBW levels from 3.2TB+ flash drives, you get higher performance for the Optane. I've looked at benchmarks of vSAN arrays from all flash SAS, NVMe, & NVMe + Optane. All NVMe is 2x faster at a minimum than all SAS but the NVMe + Optane for write cache is another 20-25% faster than the all NVMe. For $2500/drive for the 800GB Optane vs $1200/drive for a 3.2TB NVMe it isn't much added cost for the performance and endurance of Optane.

Or someone who does not mind spending a few grands to get an excellent storage solution they can start final fantasy from quicker than their friends.

 

[escksu]

Yes, you can. And you do. At least you should do. There is no reason for NOT comparing prices for hardware in different segments.

OK, if you put it that way, yes. You are free to compare prices, its your own freedom. Since this is also a free market, if you feel its expensive, you are free to walk away and not purchase it. Vendors are also not required to lower their prices to meet your expectation. Vendors will only sell them to those who are willing to pay (this is what you call market segment).

 

[trumanhw]

7.2 gigabytes a second is equal to the slowest DDR3 speed I could find DDR3-800, 6.4 gigabytes per second.

Does anything weird happen when your storage is faster than your ram?

First -- while everyone sees this as a story about how amazing Intel's monopoly on 3D Xpoint's newest iteration is ..?

I see it as just an INCREDIBLE degree of catchup from all these other manufactures to BEAT a technology which is 7-10x the cost per TB ... when just a few years ago the difference was beyond decisive.

Second, even for those of us who think about this from a FreeNAS perspective ... let's say you're concerned about the MUCH greater DWP x day ... okay -- great. I'm thinking some 905P are going to be hitting the market and the price is going to start coming down.

2nd ..? What about NVDIMM ..? and other such memory for those situations ... ?

And as I suspected, GOOD NEWS: 900P and 905P are coming down in prices.

All of this is great for us.

 

[DribbTee]

Hmm, I think there's an error in the article
Synthetic Testing - ATTO / iometer, slide 5 shows the 905P having 84690 IOPS at 4K 1QD operations. However, on slide 9 it shows it having a read latency of 0.117 ms, far higher than any of the other SSDs. This would give it an effective read throughput of around 8550 IOPS.

Dividing 1000 by any of the numbers of the other SSDs in the rest of the list gives us approximately the same performance as we can see in slide 5, except for the 905P.

The latency simply doesn't make sense. It should be closer to 0.0117 ms. Did the editor miss a 0? : )

 

[seanwebster]

Hmm, I think there's an error in the article
Synthetic Testing - ATTO / iometer, slide 5 shows the 905P having 84690 IOPS at 4K 1QD operations. However, on slide 9 it shows it having a read latency of 0.117 ms, far higher than any of the other SSDs. This would give it an effective read throughput of around 8550 IOPS.

Dividing 1000 by any of the numbers of the other SSDs in the rest of the list gives us approximately the same performance as we can see in slide 5, except for the 905P.

The latency simply doesn't make sense. It should be closer to 0.0117 ms. Did the editor miss a 0? : )

It was a typo, definitely missed the extra 0 in front. The raw data is in microseconds so I have to manually add in a 0 or two on some of these and I missed it on that one. Thanks for finding that, we'll update it shortly.