pci express | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 23 Jun 2022 08:12:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png pci express | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 PCI Express 7.0 will reach 128 GT/s speeds https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/pci-express-7-0-will-reach-128-gt-s-speeds/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/pci-express-7-0-will-reach-128-gt-s-speeds/#respond Wed, 22 Jun 2022 15:49:21 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=565352 PCIe 5.0 connectivity has only just hit the market, but PCI-SIG, the consortium responsible for specifying PCI connectivity standards, is already teasing PCIe 7.0. In a press release this week, PCI-SIG revealed plans for PCIe 7.0 to be as much as eight times faster than PCIe 5.0.  Today, PCI-SIG announced that it is developing the …

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PCIe 5.0 connectivity has only just hit the market, but PCI-SIG, the consortium responsible for specifying PCI connectivity standards, is already teasing PCIe 7.0. In a press release this week, PCI-SIG revealed plans for PCIe 7.0 to be as much as eight times faster than PCIe 5.0. 

Today, PCI-SIG announced that it is developing the PCIe 7.0 specification, with the goal of delivering 128 GT/s in raw bit rate and up to 512GB/s bi-directionally in an x16 configuration. This news comes just six months after PCI-SIG announced the specs for PCIe 6.0, which has yet to be adopted by the PC industry. As you would expect, the PCIe 7.0 specification is twice as fast as PCIe 6.0, in keeping with tradition of doubling speeds every generation.

Al Yanes, PCI-SIG President and Chairperson, reaffirmed the consortium's commitment to meeting high-bandwidth demands and improving power efficiency.

Considering we've yet to see PCIe 6.0 in action, and AMD is only just joining Intel in adopting PCIe 5.0 this year, it could be a few years before we see a PCIe 7 supported motherboard, let alone graphics cards and SSDs that can use up that bandwidth. As always though, PCIe 7.0 will be backwards compatible with all previous generations of PCIe technology.

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KitGuru Says: Do you think we'll see the industry stick with PCIe 5.0 for now and then skip over to PCIe 7.0 in the years ahead? 

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PCIe 4.0 specifications have been finalised https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/pcie-4-0-specifications-have-been-finalised/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/pcie-4-0-specifications-have-been-finalised/#respond Thu, 26 Oct 2017 16:37:14 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=351892 Over the last few years, work on the PCIe 4.0 standard has been well under way. Last year, we saw the initial spec sheet that the PCI-SIG was aiming for and now today, the group announced that the PCIe 4.0 specification has been finalised. The new standard will allow devices to draw more power and transfer …

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Over the last few years, work on the PCIe 4.0 standard has been well under way. Last year, we saw the initial spec sheet that the PCI-SIG was aiming for and now today, the group announced that the PCIe 4.0 specification has been finalised. The new standard will allow devices to draw more power and transfer speeds for the 16x slot will jump to 16GT/s.

The PCI SIG (special interest group) has been developing PCI Express 4.0 since late 2011. The transfer rate for 16x PCIe 4.0 slots will be 16GT/s, which is just under 32GB/s. As far as power goes, power draw directly from the slot will remain at 75W but external power adapters should be able to exceed 225W.

Aside from delivering high performance 16 GT/s data rates with flexible lane width configurations, PCIe 4.0 will bring along additional enhancements, including reduced system latency, lane margining, superior RAS capabilities, scalability for added lanes/bandwidth and improved I/O virtualisation.

PCI-SIG partners can have access to the final specification already. Beyond that, the group has also begun work on the PCIe 5.0 specification, which is targeted for Q2 2019.

KitGuru Says: PCI Express has evolved a ton over the last decade and it looks like we are going to see continual improvements at a fast pace. We don’t know when we’ll start seeing PCIe 4.0 in motherboards just yet but we’ll keep an eye out for news on that front.

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PCI Express 4.0 due next year, could kill off GPU power cables https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/pci-express-4-0-due-next-year-could-kill-off-gpu-power-cables/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/pci-express-4-0-due-next-year-could-kill-off-gpu-power-cables/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2016 16:31:51 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=303917 The next generation of the PCI Express connector is aiming to launch on motherboards next year and it looks like it could also clean up your build a bit. The new socket will be capable of delivering 300W of power to the GPU, which could remove the need for additional power cables for many graphics …

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The next generation of the PCI Express connector is aiming to launch on motherboards next year and it looks like it could also clean up your build a bit. The new socket will be capable of delivering 300W of power to the GPU, which could remove the need for additional power cables for many graphics cards.

The Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), made an appearance at Intel's Developer Forum last week to go over the future of PCI Express. The usual bandwidth improvements were touted, full 16x PCIe 4.0 slots should deliver over 31 GB/s of bandwidth, but on top of that, power delivery will also be boosted.

psu-pcie

Image Source: JohnsonJohnson via Tom's Hardware

The PCI Express 4.0 socket is said to deliver at least 300W of power but according to reports, it was suggested that higher power options could be made available, meaning we could see up to 500W of power deliverable via the socket. Essentially, PCIe 4.0 could quite comfortably power something like a GTX 1080 without a power cable.

While these new sockets might mean less cables to GPUs themselves, it likely means we will need some additional power connections on the motherboards themselves, so you will still get some use out of your modular PCI cable set.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It sounds like PCI Express 4.0 could bring some big changes. Though I must admit, I do quite like seeing a nice set of tidy cables trailing out of a GPU. Either way, we will learn more as we get closer to next year's launch for the tech. What do you guys think about the promises of PCIe 4.0? Would you like to rid yourself of GPU power cables? 

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Intel DC P3608 SSD: Up to 4TB capacity, up to 5GB/s bandwidth https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/intel-quietly-unveils-dc-p3608-ssd-up-to-4tb-capacity-up-to-5gbs-bandwidth/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/intel-quietly-unveils-dc-p3608-ssd-up-to-4tb-capacity-up-to-5gbs-bandwidth/#respond Fri, 25 Sep 2015 12:03:02 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=269313 Intel Corp. has quietly introduced its new family of solid-state drives designed for datacentres. The new Intel DC P3608 SSDs feature up to 4TB capacity as well as up to 5GB/s sequential read speed, they are among the highest-performing solid-state drives in the industry right now. The drives are designed for HPC workflows, databases and …

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Intel Corp. has quietly introduced its new family of solid-state drives designed for datacentres. The new Intel DC P3608 SSDs feature up to 4TB capacity as well as up to 5GB/s sequential read speed, they are among the highest-performing solid-state drives in the industry right now. The drives are designed for HPC workflows, databases and real-time analytics.

The Intel DC P3608 SSDs are based on two NVMe controllers (essentially working in RAID 0 mode) as well as Intel’s high-endurance multi-level cell NAND flash memory produced using 20nm process technology. The two controllers can process two times more NVMe commands than one, thus, improving performance and better distributing IO over multi-core microprocessors. The DC P3608 drives feature enhanced power loss management with special hardware and firmware algorithms as well as built-in self-test technology. Like other enterprise-class SSDs, the DC P3608 features end-to-end data protection and ECC on all internal and external memory components in the data path.

intel_dc_p3608_ssd

The DC P3608-series SSDs from Intel come in 1.6TB, 3.2TB and 4TB capacities. Maximum sequential read and write performance of the P3608 drives is 5000MB/s and 3000MB/s, respectively. The SSDs can perform up to 850 thousand 4KB random read input/output operations per second (IOPS) and up to 150 thousand 4KB random write IOPS. The new datacentre SSDs use PCI Express x8 interface and half-length/half height form-factor.

intel_dc_p3608

While the new DC P3608 solid-state drives from Intel are designed for read-intensive workloads, the drives can endure pretty heavy usage (up to 21.9 petabytes to be written [PBW] in case of the 4TB SSD).

Thanks to the fact that the Intel DC P3608 solid-state drives use PCI Express x8 interface, NVMe protocol and two controllers, they are compatible with all modern servers with NVMe support. Yet, performance of the new drives is comparable to that offered by proprietary solid-state storage solutions. Quite obviously, the DC P3608 is faster than the top-of-the-range 750-series SSD Intel offers for consumers.

The unbeatable performance comes at a price. The DC P3608 1.6TB will cost $3509, the DC P3608 3.2TB is priced at $7009, whereas the top-of-the-range DC P3608 4TB will be available for $8759, according to Legit Reviews.

The Intel DC P3608 SSDs are backed by a five-year warranty.

intel_dc_p3608_detailed

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KitGuru Says: The Intel DC P3608 solid-state drives are hypercars of the SSD world, which is why their prices are incredibly high. On the other hand, their performance is likely to be considerably lower than performance of the upcoming Optane SSDs with 3D XPoint memory, which are due next year.

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Samsung unveils 950 Pro SSDs with up to 2.5GB/s read speeds https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/samsung-unveils-950-pro-ssds-with-up-to-2-5gbs-read-speeds/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/samsung-unveils-950-pro-ssds-with-up-to-2-5gbs-read-speeds/#respond Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:05:51 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=268769 Samsung Electronics has introduced its new family of solid-state drives that offer extreme performance and moderate pricing. The new SSDs come in M.2 form-factor, fully support NVMe protocol and use the company’s second-generation 3D V-NAND flash memory. The Samsung 950 Pro-series solid-state drives are based on the second generation MLC 3D V-NAND 32-layer 128Gb memory …

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Samsung Electronics has introduced its new family of solid-state drives that offer extreme performance and moderate pricing. The new SSDs come in M.2 form-factor, fully support NVMe protocol and use the company’s second-generation 3D V-NAND flash memory.

The Samsung 950 Pro-series solid-state drives are based on the second generation MLC 3D V-NAND 32-layer 128Gb memory chips and the company’s own UBX controller. The drives come in 256GB and 512GB capacities. The 512GB version delivers sequential read/write speeds of up to 2500MB/s and 1500MB/s. Random read performance of the new SSDs is up to 300,000 IOPS, with write speeds of up to 110,000 IOPS. The Samsung 950 Pro SSDs use M.2 2280 form-factor with PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface with NVMe protocol.

The new drives fully support AES 256-bit full disk encryption to protect data and dynamic thermal guard, which can protect the device and data in inclement weather from 0 to 70 degrees Celsius. It can also withstand physical shock of up to 1500G/0.5ms and vibrations up to 20G.

samsung_950_pro_ssd

“With the introduction of the 950 PRO using NVMe and PCIe, Samsung is able to provide our customers with the memory needed to handle the increased storage demands of tomorrow’s computing systems,” said Un-Soo Kim, senior vice president of branded memory at Samsung Electronics. “Consumers and businesses alike can experience enterprise-quality performance and benefits such as speed, endurance and energy efficiency to support the most demanding applications. The 950 Pro is yet another example of a branded memory solution that continues to elevate our portfolio of products and reflects Samsung’s continued leadership in the memory industry.”

The Samsing 950 Pro solid-state drives will be available starting from October 2015, with an MSRP of $199.99 for the 256GB capacity and $349.99 for the 512GB capacity. Both drives are covered with a 5-year limited warranty up to 200 terabytes written (TBW) for the 256GB and 400TBW for the 512GB.

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KitGuru Says: The Samsung 950 Pro SSDs are not cheap. However, their performance and reliability make them a perfect choice for high-performance desktops and notebooks.

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Micron readies second-gen 3D XPoint, working on all-new memory tech https://www.kitguru.net/components/memory/anton-shilov/micron-readies-second-gen-3d-xpoint-memory-working-on-all-new-memory-tech/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/memory/anton-shilov/micron-readies-second-gen-3d-xpoint-memory-working-on-all-new-memory-tech/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2015 11:02:48 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=265294 The first commercial solid-state drives based on the recently introduced 3D XPoint non-volatile storage-class memory are yet to hit the market, but Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Corp. are already working on the second-generation 3D XPoint technology. Moreover, Micron is also designing an all-new memory technology that will further close the gap between performance of …

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The first commercial solid-state drives based on the recently introduced 3D XPoint non-volatile storage-class memory are yet to hit the market, but Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Corp. are already working on the second-generation 3D XPoint technology. Moreover, Micron is also designing an all-new memory technology that will further close the gap between performance of DRAM and non-volatile types of memory.

At the Intel Developer Forum earlier this month Micron Technology disclosed that it is developing second-generation 3D XPoint technology, its second-generation 3D NAND flash memory as well as an undisclosed all-new memory technology. Intel and Micron collaborate in development of 3D XPoint and NAND flash memory, but it is unclear whether the two companies are jointly working on the “New Memory B Gen 1” as well.

micron_intel_3dxpoint_3d_xpoint_roadmap

The second-generation 3D XPoint memory will be introduced in 2016, just like the second-generation 3D NAND. The “new memory type B” is expected to be announced in 2017.

The differences between the first and the second generations of 3D XPoint are unknown. The first-gen 3D XPoint implementation is tens or hundreds times faster than NAND flash (in terms of read/write speeds, latency and IOPS peformance) and is dramatically more durable. One of the things where NAND flash excels the new type of memory is capacity. Modern NAND flash memory chips can store up to 256Gb of data, whereas the first 3D XPoint chips will store 128Gb. It is possible that with the second-generation 3D XPoint developers will focus on improving capacities rather than trying to further increase performance (still, keep in mind that increases of density usually also increase performance). Higher capacities will help to make solid-state drives featuring 3D XPoint a little cheaper (in terms of per-gigabyte costs), which will expand their market reach.

intel_micron_storage_class_memory

While 3D XPoint is faster than NAND, DRAM is an order of magnitude faster than 3D XPoint in terms of latency and also outshines the new storage memory in terms of bandwidth. In fact, Micron considers latency of non-volatile memory as a major challenge of emerging memory types in general.

Scott Graham, Micron’s general manager of Hybrid Memory, revealed at the IDF that Micron’s emerging “new memory B” technology would be focused on performance and addressing some of the bigger industry challenges, reports HPC Wire. The details are scarce at this point, but it looks like one of the main idea behind the “New Memory B Gen 1” is to boost performance of non-volatile memory and shrink the gap with DRAM.

“As we develop new memory technologies and learn from 3D XPoint and develop 3D XPoint even further, then we will have subsequent versions of this technology and other technologies that can fit into this roadmap,” said Mr. Graham.

micron_emerging_storage_class_memory

Micron is expected to introduce its first products based on the first-gen 3D XPoint in the next couple of months and start their shipments in 2016. The second-gen 3D XPoint will be introduced in 2016 and will hit the market sometimes in 2017. By contrast, the all new “Memory B” will likely reach the market only in 2018. Before that happens, Micron, Intel and other industry players will have to invent high-performance interfaces for such types of memory.

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KitGuru Says: The holy grail of computer memory is non-volatile memory with performance and reliability of DRAM. Such memory type will unlikely be commercialized any time soon because no matter how rapidly non-volatile memory types are evolving, DRAM is not standing still. Perhaps, there will be a breakthrough in the coming years, but at present it does not look like it is coming…

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Intel: First 3D XPoint SSDs will feature up to 6GB/s of bandwidth https://www.kitguru.net/components/memory/anton-shilov/intel-first-3d-xpoint-ssds-will-feature-up-to-6gbs-of-bandwidth/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/memory/anton-shilov/intel-first-3d-xpoint-ssds-will-feature-up-to-6gbs-of-bandwidth/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2015 00:45:18 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=265251 Although 3D XPoint – a new type of non-volatile memory jointly developed by Intel Corp. and Micron Technology – promises to significantly improve performance of solid-state drives over time, do not expect it to revolutionize SSD landscape overnight. According to performance estimates released by Intel, performance of the first-gen 3D Xpoint-based storage devices will be …

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Although 3D XPoint – a new type of non-volatile memory jointly developed by Intel Corp. and Micron Technology – promises to significantly improve performance of solid-state drives over time, do not expect it to revolutionize SSD landscape overnight. According to performance estimates released by Intel, performance of the first-gen 3D Xpoint-based storage devices will be limited by modern interfaces.

The first Intel Optane solid-state drives powered by 3D XPoint memory will be used for storing “hot” frequently used data, which is why they will have to offer very high bandwidth, low latencies and high IOPS [input/output operations per second] throughput. Intel’s first Optane solid-state drives featuring 3D XPoint memory will use PCI Express 3.0 or DDR4 interfaces and will come in PCIe card or DIMM [dual in-line memory module] form-factors.

intel_dimm_3d_xpoint

PCI Express 3.0 x4 cards are compatible with all existing servers and can offer bandwidth of up to 4GB/s. By contrast, NVDIMMs [non-volatile DIMMs] can potentially ensure even higher bandwidth and ultra-low latency.

Intel’s upcoming Xeon E5 v4 “Broadwell-EP” processors with up to 22 cores will officially support PC4-19200 (DDR4 2400MHz) memory, thus offering up to 19.2GB/s of bandwidth per channel (or 76.8GB/s per socket). Theoretically, NVDIMMs with 3D XPoint memory could provide similar bandwidth, but Intel just does not want to confirm that. According to a slide the company demonstrated at the Intel Developer Forum trade-show earlier this month, 3D XPoint NVDIMMs will only offer around 6GB/s of bandwidth, which is a lot, but can hardly be considered as a breakthrough. Still, keeping in mind that 3D XPoint can significantly shrink latencies and increase the number of IOPS [input/output operations per second], the new Intel DIMMs based on 3D XPoint will significantly improve performance of server-class storage sub-systems.

intel_3d_xpoint_projections

At the IDF last week the world’s largest maker of central processing units confirmed that before it releases NVDIMMs with 3D XPoint, it will have to work with JEDEC over amendments to the appropriate standard in order to ensure compatibility between SSDs and platforms. Keeping in mind that the DDR4 interface can handle extremely high data-rates, it is possible that by the time commercial 3D XPoint NVDIMMs hit the market, their expected bandwidth will be significantly higher than that revealed today.

intel_3d_xpoint_projections_micron

Both Intel and Micron believe that unique advantages of 3D XPoint – extreme read and write speeds as well as increased reliability compared to NAND flash and massively higher density compared to DRAM – will put the new type of memory into a special place in the storage hierarchy of datacentres. Eventually, storage-class memory will fill the gap between dynamic random access memory and NAND flash-based solid-state drives.

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KitGuru Says: It is noteworthy that Intel and Micron are rather conservative when it comes to making projections regarding performance of actual devices based 3D XPoint memory. The reason for that is not exactly clear. If 3D XPoint is as fast as the two companies describe it, performance of appropriate devices will be limited only by interfaces, not by capabilities of chips.

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OCZ readies RevoDrive 400: M.2 SSD with NVMe support https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/ocz-readies-revodrive-400-m-2-ssd-with-nvme-support/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/ocz-readies-revodrive-400-m-2-ssd-with-nvme-support/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2015 22:10:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=264875 OCZ Storage Solutions, a supplier of solid-state drives controlled by Toshiba Corp., is working on a new high-end SSD for performance enthusiasts. The new RevoDrive 400 uses M.2 form-factor, but fully supports NVMe protocol and has very high performance. The product will compete against workstation-class PCI Express-based SSDs from companies like Intel. The OCZ RevoDrive …

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OCZ Storage Solutions, a supplier of solid-state drives controlled by Toshiba Corp., is working on a new high-end SSD for performance enthusiasts. The new RevoDrive 400 uses M.2 form-factor, but fully supports NVMe protocol and has very high performance. The product will compete against workstation-class PCI Express-based SSDs from companies like Intel.

The OCZ RevoDrive 400 will be based on Toshiba’s multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory made using 15nm fabrication process, reports TechReport. It is unknown which controller does the RevoDrive 400 use, but it is claimed that the new SSD uses a controller from Toshiba, not OCZ’s own JetStream Express ASIC [application-specific integrated circuit].

The new enthusiast-class RevoDrive 400 from OCZ will use M.2 form-factor with PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface with 4GB/s peak bandwidth. Actual read speeds of the SSDs are expected to be as high as 2000MB/s and write speeds around 1600MB/s – 2000MB/s.

ocz_revodrive-400

The OCZ RevoDrive 400 solid-state drive was demonstrated last week at the Intel Developer Forum is expected to hit the market later this year and will be the company’s flagship offering for performance enthusiasts.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It is surprising that OCZ decided to use a controller from Toshiba, but not its own Jetstream Express chip, which has been in development for several years. Perhaps, Toshiba wants to re-use as much of its own IP as possible in OCZ drives in a bid to maximize profitability and ensure quality and performance.

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Asmedia and Intel cut prices of USB 3.1 chips, speed up adoption https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/anton-shilov/asmedia-and-intel-cut-prices-of-usb-3-1-chips-speed-up-adoption/ https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/anton-shilov/asmedia-and-intel-cut-prices-of-usb-3-1-chips-speed-up-adoption/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2015 21:05:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=258887 Asmedia and Intel Corp. have started to reduce prices of their USB 3.1 controllers in a bid to gain market share. Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” chip offers Thunderbolt 3 in addition to USB 3.1, but Asmedia’s controller is significantly cheaper to make and can be sold a very low price. Intel planned to sell its …

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Asmedia and Intel Corp. have started to reduce prices of their USB 3.1 controllers in a bid to gain market share. Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” chip offers Thunderbolt 3 in addition to USB 3.1, but Asmedia’s controller is significantly cheaper to make and can be sold a very low price.

Intel planned to sell its “Alpine Ridge” controller for $10 originally, but in a bid to speed-up adoption of Thunderbolt 3 by various makers of mainboards and improve its revenues, the company decreased the price of the chip to $6. As a result, Asmedia had to cut the price of its popular ASM1142 controller to below $3.

msi_z97a_gaming_6_USB-3_1-Type-C

Gigabyte Technology was the only maker of mainboards, who planned to adopt Intel’s “Alpine Ridge” for a wide range of its new platforms. The rest of the motherboard manufacturers – Asustek Computer, Asrock, MicroStar International (MSI), Biostar and Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) – planned to continue using Asmedia’s ASM1142 to enable USB 3.1 on their Intel 100-series LGA1151 mainboards for ‘Skylake’ processors, reports DigiTimes.

Thanks to the price-cut by Intel and the fact that the “Alpine Ridge” is considerably more advanced because it supports Thunderbolt 3 (with maximum data transfer-rate of 40Gb/s), HDMI 2.0 as well as PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface, Asus and MSI have reconsidered their original plans and decided to use Intel’s solution instead of Asmedia’s for their high-end platforms.

thunderbolt3_presentation

Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 combines four interconnection technologies: Thunderbolt 3, SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1, DisplayPort 1.2 and PCI Express 3.0. The TB3 features maximum bandwidth of 40Gb/s, it can deliver up to 15W of power to any bus-powered device and up to 100W for charging, everything using an industry-standard USB 3.1 cable and type-C connectors. As an added bonus, the “Alpine Ridge” chip also supports HDMI 2.0.

intel_thunderbolt_alpine_ridge_40gbps

Intel does not produce “Alpine Ridge” silicon at its fabs. It is believed that production is outsourced to TSMC or UMC, who manufacture the chip using one of their 28nm fabrication processes.

While it remains to be seen whose USB 3.1 solution will eventually get more popular, it is evident that both Asmedia and Intel helped the new standard to become more widespread.

Asmedia, Intel and makers of mainboards did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: In many cases, price-wars slow-down progress. However, in the case of USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3, the competition between Asmedia and Intel will evidently help to drive adoption of both technologies as well as the USB type-C connector.

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Asustek preps add-in-card with Thunderbolt 3/USB type-C ports https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/anton-shilov/asustek-preps-add-in-card-with-thunderbolt-3usb-type-c-ports/ https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/anton-shilov/asustek-preps-add-in-card-with-thunderbolt-3usb-type-c-ports/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2015 11:48:27 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=258747 Asustek Computer is working on an add-in-card that will add Thunderbolt 3 support to its mainboards. The platform will be based on Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” controller and will significantly expand input/output capabilities of modern personal computers. The add-in-board from Asus featuring Intel “Alpine Ridge” chip will come with one USB 3.1 type-C port, a …

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Asustek Computer is working on an add-in-card that will add Thunderbolt 3 support to its mainboards. The platform will be based on Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” controller and will significantly expand input/output capabilities of modern personal computers.

The add-in-board from Asus featuring Intel “Alpine Ridge” chip will come with one USB 3.1 type-C port, a USB 3.0 type-A port, an HDMI 2.0 and two mini DisplayPort connectors, reports BenchLife. The daughter card will be sold separately and will also be bundled with select motherboards from the company.

The card uses PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface and will not only provide Thunderbolt 3 connectivity with up to 40Gb/s bandwidth, but will also be among the fastest USB 3.1 adapters available in the market.

asus_thunderbolt_3

At present Asustek already offers USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt II add-in-cards in retail. Offering add-in adapters will not be a brand-new business for Asus.

Pricing of Asustek’s Intel “Alpine Ridge”-based card is unknown.

Gigabyte Technology plans to offer a series of Intel Z170 mainboards featuring “Alpine Ridge” that will support Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1. Due to business reasons, Asus will continue to install Asmedia’s USB 3.1 controller on its motherboards. The world’s largest maker of mainboards partly owns Asmedia.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: On the one hand, add-in cards are compatible with all mainboards, new and old, which means a lot of flexibility. On the other hand, very few people actually buy add-in adapters. As a result, adoption of Thunderbolt 3 by Asus and its customers will be pretty slow. Hopefully, the company will install “Alpine Ridge” chip into its laptops.

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PCI SIG to finalize OCuLink external PCI Express this fall https://www.kitguru.net/components/anton-shilov/pci-sig-to-finalize-oculink-external-pci-express-this-fall/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/anton-shilov/pci-sig-to-finalize-oculink-external-pci-express-this-fall/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2015 06:59:18 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=256176 The PCI SIG has been developing external PCI Express interconnection for over three years now, but only later this year the organization will finalize the specification of the technology. The new cable will compete against Intel’s Thunderbolt 3. While the tech makes a lot of sense for various devices, it may not be adopted by …

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The PCI SIG has been developing external PCI Express interconnection for over three years now, but only later this year the organization will finalize the specification of the technology. The new cable will compete against Intel’s Thunderbolt 3. While the tech makes a lot of sense for various devices, it may not be adopted by the industry widely.

The OCuLink 1.0 technology will offer four PCI Express lanes with data rates starting at 8GT/s [gigatransfers per second] per lane as well as up to 4GB/s of peak bandwidth, which is similar to PCI Express 3.0. The initial version of OCuLink will use copper cables, but in the future PCI SIG may adopt optical cables for the technology. The OCuLink spec will be finalized this fall, reports EETimes citing the head of the PCI SIG.

The technology has headroom to scale in the future, hence, when PCIe 4.0 is finalized by 2017, the OCuLink will also gain performance. It is unclear at what point will the tech adopt optical cables, but it is highly likely that after 2017.

pci-express-based-storage-data-center-nvm-express-platform-topologies-20-638

The OCuLink has been in development for many years and right now it seems to be inferior to Thunderbolt 3, which supports maximum bandwidth of 40Gb/s (5GB/s) and uses industry-standard USB type-C connector. The OCuLink can theoretically be cheaper than Thunderbolt 3 since it does not require a proprietary controller. However, since it uses a new connector, it is unlikely that PC makers will be inclined to integrate it. Perhaps, makers of servers and telecommunication equipment will be more interested in external PCI Express bus. Alternatively, OCuLink could be used to connect internal components of PCs to mainboards (e.g., solid-state drives). The OCL cables look considerably thinner than SATA Express and should not be too expensive.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It looks like semi-proprietary Thunderbolt has managed to win the battle against open-standard OCuLink by simply entering the market earlier and adopting an industry-standard connector.

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PCIe 4.0 with 16GT/s data-rates and new connector to be finalized by 2017 https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/pci-express-4-0-with-16gts-data-rates-and-new-connector-to-be-finalized-by-2017/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/pci-express-4-0-with-16gts-data-rates-and-new-connector-to-be-finalized-by-2017/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2015 23:44:49 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=256157 PCI Express bus has been evolving for over ten years now. So far the technology has tripled its initial data rate, but the next step is taking a longer time. PCI SIG claims that the fourth generation PCI Express specification will be finalized in 2017 and will materialize this decade. The new tech will use a …

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PCI Express bus has been evolving for over ten years now. So far the technology has tripled its initial data rate, but the next step is taking a longer time. PCI SIG claims that the fourth generation PCI Express specification will be finalized in 2017 and will materialize this decade. The new tech will use a new connector and will be the last copper version of PCI Express.

The PCI SIG [special interest group] has been developing PCI Express 4.0 since late 2011. The target data rate of the new bus is 16GT/s [gigatransfers per second] per lane and the organization has consistently set this target even though many did not believe that it was viable using a wide bus with copper interconnects. The standard is still not finalized because participants have to agree on a number of parameters, including interconnect attributes, fabric management as well as programming interface required to design and build systems and peripherals that are compliant with the PCI Express 4.0 specification.

For example, so far the PCI SIG has not agreed on the maximum length of PCIe 4.0 traces without retimers. Many applications, such as servers and communications equipment, need longer interconnections.

“We are getting 16GT/s, something no one thought was possible a few years ago,” said Al Yanes, president of the PCI SIG, in an interview with EE Times. “The base distance is still being validated but it’s typically 7 inches or so. Longer channels of 15 inches or so with two connectors will have retimers, but Gen 3 has used retimers – now we will need to use them for shorter long channels.”

pci_express_logo

PCI Express 4.0 will utilize a new connector, but the specification will be backward compatible mechanically and electrically with PCI Express 3.0, which means that it will be possible to use today’s add-in-cards in PCIe 4.0-based systems, but future AICs will not work with PCIe 3.0.

“We’ve done a lot of analysis on the connector – we tried everything possible,” said Mr. Yanes. “We have some top engineers in our electrical work group and they’ve come through – its exciting to see the amount of activity and participation.”

16GT/s base transfer rate will allow PCI Express 4.0 x1 interconnection to transfer up to 2GB of data per second, whereas the PCIe 4.0 x16 slots used for graphics cards and ultra-high-end solid-state drives will provide up to 32GB/s of bandwidth. Higher transfer rates will also let mobile devices to save power since it will take less time to transfer data.

At present Al Yanes believes that fifth-generation PCI Express will have to rely on optical, not copper links. This means a major change, which will happen sometimes in the next decade. Keeping in mind that bandwidth is a major factor that limits performance of supercomputers, PCI Express standard featuring optical links could emerge rather sooner than later.

“I got to believe engineers will find way to make [optics] cost effective by the time they are needed – even four years ago there was a big push on it,” said the head of the PCI SIG.

Developers at the PCI SIG hope to release PCI Express 4 version 0.7 specification this year, but the technology will be finalized only by 2017.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The evolution of PCI Express is an incredible tale. After a decade on the market, the technology is looking forward another decade, an unbelievable thing for the high-tech world.

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Plextor readies cost-efficient SSD based on TLC NAND memory https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/plextor-readies-cost-efficient-ssd-based-on-tlc-nand-memory/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/plextor-readies-cost-efficient-ssd-based-on-tlc-nand-memory/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2015 22:52:08 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=254665 Plextor produces one of the best solid-state drives available today. However, Plextor’s drives are pretty expensive and are designed for premium market segment. Apparently, Plextor is working on an inexpensive SSD based on cost-effective triple-level-cell NAND flash memory, which will be available later this year. Not a lot is known about Plextor’s TLC NAND-based solid-state …

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Plextor produces one of the best solid-state drives available today. However, Plextor’s drives are pretty expensive and are designed for premium market segment. Apparently, Plextor is working on an inexpensive SSD based on cost-effective triple-level-cell NAND flash memory, which will be available later this year.

Not a lot is known about Plextor’s TLC NAND-based solid-state drive. AnandTech reports that Plextor is currently fine-tuning its M7V SSD and that it managed to extend endurance of triple-level cell memory to 2000 program/erase cycles. Plextor does not disclose performance of the upcoming SSDs, but it will hardly be very high.

Since the Plextor M7V family will be aimed at customers with budget constraints, expect it to use Serial ATA-6Gb/s interface and offer only the most popular capacities, such as 120GB, 240GB and 480GB.

plextor_ssd_2

For performance-minded users Plextor will offer M7e SSDs with PCI Express or M.2 interface as well as up to 1.4GB/s read performance.

It is highly likely that Plextor’s novelties will hit the market in August or September.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Cost-effective SSD from Plextor sounds like a very interesting idea. Getting Plextor’s legendary reliability for about $100 is clearly a good thing.

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Sharkoon introduces a tiny card that adds USB 3.1 to every PC https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/anton-shilov/sharkoon-introduces-a-tiny-card-that-adds-usb-3-1-to-every-pc/ https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/anton-shilov/sharkoon-introduces-a-tiny-card-that-adds-usb-3-1-to-every-pc/#comments Sat, 23 May 2015 12:26:43 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=250843 Sharkoon, a well-known maker of personal computer peripherals, has introduced a new host controller card that adds two type-A USB 3.1 ports to existing PCs. The card is compatible with all mainboards in use today and will reach retail market shortly. Unfortunately, the card is not exactly perfect. Sharkoon’s USB 3.1 host controller card is …

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Sharkoon, a well-known maker of personal computer peripherals, has introduced a new host controller card that adds two type-A USB 3.1 ports to existing PCs. The card is compatible with all mainboards in use today and will reach retail market shortly. Unfortunately, the card is not exactly perfect.

Sharkoon’s USB 3.1 host controller card is based on the Asmedia ASM1142 controller chip and features two USB 3.1 type-A ports with 10Gb/s (1.25GB/s) maximum transfer rate. The card features a SATA power connector to support charging of demanding devices. Unfortunately, in a bid to ensure maximum compatibility of the product, Sharkoon decided to sacrifice the card’s maximum performance. The controller comes in PCI Express x1 form-factor and can be plugged into any mainboard with PCIe 2.0 x1 (500MB/s) or PCIe 3.0 x1 (985MB/s) slots, but under no circumstances it will provide the full SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 bandwidth of 1.25GB/s even for a single device. The card comes with drivers for Microsoft Windows 7 and 8.

sharkoon_usb31_card_controller_asmedia_asm1142_usb

Even though a number of motherboard manufacturers have introduced their own host controller cards that add USB 3.1 with type-A or type-C receptacles, usually such boards are sold with mainboards. Asustek Computer does offers its USB 3.1 type-A PCIe 3.0 x4 card (which runs in x2 mode) separately, but the product is not available widely. There are also a number of USB 3.1 host adapters from unknown Chinese manufacturers, which are sold in select stores in the U.S.

While the USB 3.1 host controller card from Sharkoon cannot deliver all the benefits of USB 3.1 and lack reversible type-C receptacles, it can be the first product of such kind from a well-known peripheral brand that will actually become available widely. Sharkoon has a long list of partners both in Europe and the U.S., hence, the card will be up for sale shortly.

sharkoon_usb31_card_controller_asmedia_asm1142_pckg

The Sharkoon USB 3.1 host controller card has the suggested retail price of €34.99 (around £25).

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Sharkoon’s USB 3.1 host controller card is not exactly fast and is not exactly affordable. However, if you desperately need a USB 3.1 controller and cannot find Asustek’s USB 3.1 type-A PCIe 3.0 card near you (which actually uses the same ASM1142 chip and also has a number of limitations), then the solution from Sharkoon may be a thing to consider.

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OCZ unveils Z-Drive 6000/6300: up to 6.4TB, 2.9GB/s, NVMe 1.1b https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/ocz-unveils-z-drive-60006300-up-to-6-4tb-2-9gbs-nvme-1-1b/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/ocz-unveils-z-drive-60006300-up-to-6-4tb-2-9gbs-nvme-1-1b/#respond Thu, 21 May 2015 09:56:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=250434 OCZ Storage Solutions has officially announced its new Z-Drive 6000- and 6300-series solid-state drives for high-performance computing systems, such as servers, workstations and ultra-high-end desktops. The drives offer various capacity points, different performance and PCI Express x4 3.0 interface. The new SSDs fully support non-volatile memory express (NVMe) 1.1b protocol for high-end storage devices. The …

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OCZ Storage Solutions has officially announced its new Z-Drive 6000- and 6300-series solid-state drives for high-performance computing systems, such as servers, workstations and ultra-high-end desktops. The drives offer various capacity points, different performance and PCI Express x4 3.0 interface. The new SSDs fully support non-volatile memory express (NVMe) 1.1b protocol for high-end storage devices.

The new OCZ Z-Drive 6000- and 6300-series SSDs are based on Toshiba’s MLC [multi-level cell] or eMLC NAND flash made using 19nm fabrication process as well as scalable PMC Sierra controllers for enterprise-class storage. The new drives will be offered in 2.5”/15mm and PCI Express HHHL [half-length, half-height] form-factors with PCI Express 3.0 x4 physical interface (with a hot-pluggable SFF-8639 connector in case of 2.5” SSDs) and with 800GB, 1600GB, 3200GB and 6400GB usable capacities. The new SSDs from OCZ are among the first drives in the industry to support NVMe 1.1b protocol that reduces protocol latencies and dramatically boosts performance and efficiency compared to traditional storage protocols (SATA, SAS, etc.) that were not designed for ultra-fast solid-state storage devices. The drives support end-to-end DIF, ECC and CRC data protection, power loss protection and even hot-swap capability (see detailed specifications at the end of the post).

ocz_z_drive_6000_features

The OCZ Z-Drive 6000-series SSDs for read intensive applications come in 2.5”/10mm form-factors with dual-port SFF-8639 capabilities, which enables two host systems to concurrently access the same device or allows for redundancy inside the host. The highest-performing Z-Drive 6000 models with 800GB, 1600GB, 3200GB and 6400GB capacities offer sequential read performance up to 2900MB/s, sequential write performance up to 1900MB/s, random read performance up to 700K IOPS and random write performance up to 160K IOPS. The new SSDs will hit the market in Q2 2015.

The OCZ Z-Drive 6300-series solid-state drives designed for mixed workloads will be available in 2.5” form-factor in Q2 2015 and in HHHL card form-factor later this year. The capacity points of the Z-Drive 6300 family of SSDs include 800GB, 1600GB, 3200GB and 6400GB models. The drives feature sequential read performance up to 2900MB/s, sequential write performance up to 1400MB/s, random read performance up to 700K IOPS and random write performance up to 120K IOPS.

ocz_z_drive_6000_specs_short

“Our NVMe implementation yields dramatic boosts in the number of random I/O operations per second that an enterprise system can process and provides the reductions in I/O latency responses that OEMs require,” said Daryl Lang, chief technology officer for OCZ Storage Solutions. “As the NVMe standard represents new platform and infrastructure opportunities for OEMs, our Z-Drive 6000 Series delivers leading headline performance, coupled with large capacities, dual port capabilities, hot-swappable 2.5-inch and HHHL add-in card form factors that position this series as the highest performing and most robust for this class of products.”

Since the new OCZ Z-Drive 6000 and 6300-series SSDs are designed for compute-intensive, analytical, online transactional and cloud-based enterprise applications that require high-performance and low-latency I/O responses, their prices will be too high for the mainstream PC market. Nonetheless, ultra-high-end desktops from boutique PC makers could be equipped with the Z-Drive 6300-series drives to offer unbeatable storage performance.

OCZ is currently sampling its NVMe-compliant Z-Drive 6000 and Z-Drive 6300 SFF models to key customers and partners.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Without any doubts, the new OCZ Z-Drive 6000-series SSDs for servers and workstations are impressive. Now it remains to be seen what OCZ will offer to consumers. NVMe protocol is designed for all types of storage applications and can be a benefit for different kinds of SSDs.

ocz_z_drive_6000_specs

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Intel 750-series SSD for consumers: up to 1.2TB capacity, up to 2.40GB/s transfer rates https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/intel-750-series-ssd-for-consumers-up-to-1-2tb-capacity-up-to-2-40gbs-transfer-rates/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/intel-750-series-ssd-for-consumers-up-to-1-2tb-capacity-up-to-2-40gbs-transfer-rates/#comments Sat, 04 Apr 2015 14:35:07 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=243722 Intel Corp. announced its new 750-series solid-state drives this week. The new SSDs are designed for high-performance desktops and the manufacturer calls the drives its “highest-performing client SSDs”. With read speeds up to 2.40GB/s and capacities up to 1.2TB, the Intel 750-series SSD is a dream of any performance enthusiast. The Intel 750 SSDs are …

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Intel Corp. announced its new 750-series solid-state drives this week. The new SSDs are designed for high-performance desktops and the manufacturer calls the drives its “highest-performing client SSDs”. With read speeds up to 2.40GB/s and capacities up to 1.2TB, the Intel 750-series SSD is a dream of any performance enthusiast.

The Intel 750 SSDs are based on the company’s own proprietary controller known as the CH29AE41AB0 that supports various types of NAND flash memory with ONFI interface as well as PCI Express host interface and NVMe protocol. The same controller is utilised on Intel’s DC P3700 enterprise-class solid-state drives. The 750 SSDs use IMFT’s multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory produced using 20nm fabrication process and are equipped with 2.5GB of DDR3 DRAM cache.

intel_ssd_750_pci_express_pcie
Intel SSD 750-series

The new high-end consumer solid-state drives from Intel are available in 400GB and 1.2TB capacities in order to address customers with relatively limited budgets and customers with requirements for higher storage capacities. The Intel 750-series SSDs come in PCIe 3.0 x4 half-height half-length (HHHL) add-in-card form-factor. Eventually Intel plans to release 2.5” versions of the 750-series SSDs with SATA Express SFF-8639 connector (which supports four lanes of PCI Express 3.0).

intel_ssd_750_techreport
Intel SSD 750-series in PCIe and 2.5″ SATAe SFF-8639 form-factors. Image by TechReport

Thanks to advanced controller and high-speed NAND, Intel’s 750-series solid-state drives can deliver truly stunning performance for consumer-grade SSDs. Intel declares sequential read/write speeds up to 2.20/0.9 GB/s for the 400GB version and up to 2.40/1.2 GB/s for the 1.2TB flavour. Thanks to support of the NVM Express (NVMe) protocol, the new SSDs should deliver considerably higher performance in real-world applications than the drives with similar interfaces, but which rely on the outdated AHCI standard. Still, in many workloads that require intensive writes, Intel’s 750-series SSDs will be behind a number of other high-end SSDs available today.

intel_ssd_750_specs

“Intel’s SSD 750 Series drive shows levels of performance that we have yet to see on the consumer storage market at a somewhat affordable price point,” said Luke Hill, KitGuru’s senior SSD expert, in his review of the Intel 750-series SSD. “While it may not be the fastest consumer drive for write operations, read performance is outstanding.”

Intel rates the SSD 750 drive for 70GB writes per day, with a total of up to 219TBW (terabytes written). The 750-series SSDs from Intel are covered with a five-year limited warranty.

The suggested retail price of the Intel SSD 750 400GB is $389, the more capacious 1.2TB version will retail for $1029. Overclockers UK currently offers Intel SSD 750 400GB for £369.98 and the 1.2TB version for £969.98.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While Intel’s 750-series SSDs offer excpetional performance for consumer applications, it is rather noteworthy that the manufacturer did not tune them to deliver great performance in write-intensive applications. The drives use the same controller as the higher-performing Intel DC P3700-series SSDs, which have fantastically high sequential write speeds between 1.08GB/s and 2GB/s. Basically speaking, Intel clearly wanted to position its 750-series SSD as a solution for gamers and performance-minded enthusiasts, not professionals who require high sequential write speeds in certain workloads (and who can afford more expensive drives). If you do not mind relatively slow write speeds (and the absolute majority of users should hardly care about them), then the Intel 750-series SSD 400GB is a thing to consider. While the drive is definitely not affordable (especially in the U.K.), it is worth every penny spent. Moreover, given the recent developments on the market of high-end graphics adapters, a $390/£370 premium SSD does not seem too expensive.

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Samsung’s tiny M.2/PCIe SSD sports massive 2.15GB/s read speed https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/samsungs-tiny-m-2pcie-ssd-sports-massive-2-15gbs-read-speed/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/samsungs-tiny-m-2pcie-ssd-sports-massive-2-15gbs-read-speed/#respond Thu, 08 Jan 2015 22:00:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=229647 Samsung Electronics announced this week that it has begun mass production of its SM951 solid-state drive. The new SSD uses M.2 form-factor and PCI Express 3.0 interface to deliver massive performance improvement over the vast majority of consumer-grade solid-state drives available today. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether Samsung’s SM951 will be available in the channel …

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Samsung Electronics announced this week that it has begun mass production of its SM951 solid-state drive. The new SSD uses M.2 form-factor and PCI Express 3.0 interface to deliver massive performance improvement over the vast majority of consumer-grade solid-state drives available today. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether Samsung’s SM951 will be available in the channel or in the retail.

The Samsung SM951 is based on the company’s own proprietary controller as well as high-performance MLC NAND flash memory made using 10nm-class process technology. The SSD comes in M.2 form-factor (80mm*22mm), weighs around six grams and features PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface (with up to 3.94GB/s of peak bandwidth). The SM951 can read and write sequentially at up to 2150MB/s and 1550 MB/s respectively. In addition, the new SSD’s random read and write speeds reach up to 130,000 and 85,000 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) respectively. The SM951 lineup consists of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models.

To realize its full potential, the SM951 needs to be plugged into an M.2 slot that supports PCI Express 3.0 technology, or into a PCI Express 3.0 x4 slot via a special adapter. However, even when PCI Express 2.0 bus is used, the Samsung SM951 can read and write sequentially at up to 1600MB/s and 1350MB/s respectively.

samsung_sm951

The Samsung SM951 is also the first SSD to adopt the L1.2 low power standby mode, which allows all high-speed circuits to be turned off when a PC is on sleeping or in hibernation. Thanks to the L1.2 level of standby operation, the SM951’s power consumption is reduced to under 2mW in the aforementioned modes, about a 97 per cent decrease from the 50mW consumed using a L1 state.

“We are helping to accelerate growth of the ultra-slim notebook PC market with the introduction of this energy-efficient, high-speed PCIe SSD,” said Jeeho Baek, senior vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Electronics. “We will continue to introduce next-generation high-density SSDs with improved performance and increased differentiation, as we further strengthen our business competitiveness in global SSD market.”

The new SM951 solid-state drives are already available inside the new third-generation Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptops. Unfortunately, Samsung’s high-end client SSDs like the SM951 or the XP941 are not widely available in retail or in the channel.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Hopefully Samsung changes its policy and will make the SM951 available on the open market this year. The move will not only force other makers to improve performance of their M.2/PCIe solutions, but will also catalyse them to lower prices on existing PCI Express SSDs. The latter are prohibitively expensive today, even despite of the fact that the vast majority of them do not offer performance that is as high as that of the SM951.

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Toshiba debut’s world’s first single-package PCIe SSD https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/toshiba-debuts-worlds-first-single-package-pcie-ssd/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/toshiba-debuts-worlds-first-single-package-pcie-ssd/#respond Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:58:53 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=229511 Toshiba Corp. has introduced the industry’s first single-package solid-state drive with the PCI Express 3.0 interface. The tiny chip will enable considerably higher storage performance on embedded devices or a massive reduction of size and weight of PC storage. To take advantage of the new product, mobile application processors will have to gain support for …

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Toshiba Corp. has introduced the industry’s first single-package solid-state drive with the PCI Express 3.0 interface. The tiny chip will enable considerably higher storage performance on embedded devices or a massive reduction of size and weight of PC storage. To take advantage of the new product, mobile application processors will have to gain support for the PCI Express technology.

Toshiba’s BG-series single-package solid-state drive has 128GB or 256GB capacity, integrated NAND flash controller and uses the PCI Express 3.0 interface with NVMe 1.1 protocol. The device will be available as a ball-grid array (BGA) package (16mm*20mm*1.65mm dimensions) or as a very small form-factor M.2 module. The 256GB BGA SSD weighs less than one gram.

Nowadays mobile and embedded solutions utilise eMMC interface to connect application processors with NAND flash memory solutions (which are usually single-chip highly-integrated packages with built-in controllers). Even the highest-end eMMC 5.0 devices have up to 400MB/s bandwidth and support up to 128GB capacities. By contrast, PCI Express 3.0 x1 bus provides up to 985MB/s, whereas Toshiba’s BG device features up to 256GB of NAND flash.

toshiba_pcie_single-package_ssd

While Toshiba’s new BG-series BGA SSDs provide both capacity and performance improvements over eMMC solutions without increasing weight, the problem is that the PCI Express bus is not supported by mobile application processors due to increased power consumption, PCIe is only supported by PC-oriented components. A good news is that Toshiba’s BGA PCIe SSDs will be used inside tablets powered by the latest Intel Atom “Cherry Trail” or Core M “Broadwell” processors, which will enable massive performance amid minimal weight.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Toshiba’s new single-package PCIe SSDs are truly impressive, it is really a pity that even high-performance APs for mobile devices do not support PCI Express bus now. Perhaps, in the future, when M-PCIe gets more or less widespread, Toshiba will launch something similar for the low-power implementation of the most popular PC bus.

 

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Plextor readies M7e M.2/PCIe SSD with massive performance improvements https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/plextor-readies-m7e-m-2pcie-ssd-with-massive-performance-improvements/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/plextor-readies-m7e-m-2pcie-ssd-with-massive-performance-improvements/#respond Wed, 07 Jan 2015 20:51:05 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=229425 At the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 Plextor demonstrated its all-new M7e solid-state drive that will come in M.2 form-factor and will use PCI Express 2.0 x4 interface, thus, providing a massive performance improvement over current-generation M6e SSD. Although Plextor’s solid-state drives are renowned for their reliability and are praised for consistent performance, the latest Plextor …

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At the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 Plextor demonstrated its all-new M7e solid-state drive that will come in M.2 form-factor and will use PCI Express 2.0 x4 interface, thus, providing a massive performance improvement over current-generation M6e SSD.

Although Plextor’s solid-state drives are renowned for their reliability and are praised for consistent performance, the latest Plextor M6e was not exactly a performance champion among SSDs with PCI Express interface in general. The reason for that was plain and simple: it featured the PCI Express 2.0 x2 interface (in a bid to maintain compatibility with common M.2 slots on widespread Intel 9-series platforms) that has maximum bandwidth of around 1GB/s. However, its successor, the Plextor M7e, will use the PCIe 2.0 x4 interface with bandwidth of up to 2GB/s.

plextor_m7e_ssd

The Plextor M7e solid-state drives will be based on the Marvell 88SS9293 controller and the latest Toshiba MLC NAND flash, thus, providing completely new levels of performance. While Plextor is still working on the firmware of the M7e SSD, it already scores up to 1.4GB/s sequential read speed and up to 1GB/s sequential write speed in CrystalMark, thus, beating the well-known Samsung 941, which is used inside high-end notebooks, such as Apple MacBook Pro.

LegitReviews reports that Plextor will offer the M7e SSDs in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities in the M.2 (PCIe 2.0 x4) form-factor for modern desktops with appropriate slot as well as with half-height, half-length (HHHL) adapter for systems without a high-performance M.2 implementation. According to images from LegitReviews, the M7e will even be equipped with a power loss protection circuitry.

The Plextor M7e is expected to become available in the second quarter of 2015.

plextor_m7e_ssd_1

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It looks like PCI Express solid-state drives are really beginning to take off this year. Kingston has already introduced its HyperX Predator PCIe SSD with great performance, now Plextor is following its rival with the M7e, which should provide incredible performance with all the technologies Plextor has to offer. Let’s just hope that the new M.2/PCIe 2.0 x4 drives will not cost significantly more than existing SATA-6Gb/s devices. At the end, their bill-of-materials is similar, if not lower…

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Kinston unveils HyperX PCIe/M.2 SSD with 1.40GB/s read speed https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/kinston-unveils-hyperx-pciem-2-ssd-with-1-40gbs-read-speed/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/kinston-unveils-hyperx-pciem-2-ssd-with-1-40gbs-read-speed/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2015 23:59:19 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=229241 Kingston Technology has introduced its first high-performance solid-state drive for consumers that comes with PCI Express 2.0 x4/M.2 interface. The new HyperX Predator SSDs are designed for performance enthusiasts, but thanks to massive simplicity of its construction, it is possible to expect that the product will not be too expensive. The Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe …

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Kingston Technology has introduced its first high-performance solid-state drive for consumers that comes with PCI Express 2.0 x4/M.2 interface. The new HyperX Predator SSDs are designed for performance enthusiasts, but thanks to massive simplicity of its construction, it is possible to expect that the product will not be too expensive.

The Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSDs will be available in 240GB, 480GB and 960GB capacities. The drives are based on the Marvell 88SS9293 controller and unknown type of NAND flash memory. The manufacturer declares speeds up to 1400MB/s read and 1000MB/s write for its product, but does not specify any details regarding IOPS performance. The drive is bootable via standard AHCI drivers, which is very convenient.

“As enthusiast desktop users and datacenter customers seek greater performance to break through 6Gb/s SATA limitation, Marvell's X4-lane PCIe SSD controller 88SS9293 provides lightning fast, next-generation SSD performance,” said Mike Chen, director of product marketing at storage business unit at Marvell.

kingston_hyperx_pcie_ssd_pci_express_predator

The new solid-state drives come in M.2 form-factor (with PCIe 2.0 x4 interface), but for those, who do not have an appropriate slot, Kingston will offer a version of the drive with a half-height, half-length (HHHL) adapter.

Due to maximum simplicity of the Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD’s design (an M.2 card and a simple PCIe adapter), it is likely that it will cost much less than popular high-end PCI Express SSDs, such as OCZ Revodrive 350, which offer extreme performance, but at extreme price-points. Besides, thanks to the M.2 form-factor, the HyperX Predator PCIe SSD is also compatible with ultra-small form-factor systems, such as Intel NUC.

“HyperX is happy to soon unleash its fastest HyperX SSD to date. The PCIe form-factor showcases extreme speeds while processing both compressed and uncompressed data,” said Krystian Jaroszynski, strategic marketing & relationships manager at Kingston in EMEA.

The 240GB and 480GB versions of the Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD should be available shortly, whereas the 960GB flavor will be become available later in Q1 or even in Q2 2015.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If Kingston’s new HyperX Predator solid-state drives hit the market at price-points (in terms of price per gigabyte) comparable to those of Serial ATA-based SSDs, then they will clearly revolutionize the market of high-performance storage. The Serial ATA-6Gb/s limitation has clearly slowed down development of SSDs for well over a year now, but so far PCIe solid-state drives have been prohibitively expensive due to complex design and other factors. It now depends only on the manufacturers of drives whether PCIe SSDs will enter the mainstream market this year.

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OCZ Z-Drive 6000 SSD with 6.4TB capacity, 3GB/s transfer rates earns NVMe 1.1b certification https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/oczs-z-drive-6000-ssd-with-6-4tb-capacity-3gbs-transfer-rates-earns-nvme-1-1b-certification/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/oczs-z-drive-6000-ssd-with-6-4tb-capacity-3gbs-transfer-rates-earns-nvme-1-1b-certification/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2014 23:59:36 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=226168 OCZ Storage Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corp., has announced that its yet-to-be-released Z-Drive 6000-series solid-state drive for hyperscale datacenters had received NVM 1.1b compliance certification from the NVMe consortium. OCZ Z-Drive 6000 SSDs are based on scalable PMC Sierra controllers and various types of NAND flash memory manufactured by Toshiba. The solid-state …

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OCZ Storage Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corp., has announced that its yet-to-be-released Z-Drive 6000-series solid-state drive for hyperscale datacenters had received NVM 1.1b compliance certification from the NVMe consortium.

OCZ Z-Drive 6000 SSDs are based on scalable PMC Sierra controllers and various types of NAND flash memory manufactured by Toshiba. The solid-state drives will be available in storage capacities ranging from 800GB up through 6.4TB. The Z-Drive 6000 high-performance storage solutions will feature ~3GB/s read/write transfer rates, according to unofficial information. The NVMe 1.1b drives will be available in 2.5” form-factor and with a hot-pluggable SFF-8639 connector for easy deployment and superior serviceability.

Compliance to the NVMe 1.1b industry standard gives server makers, OEMs and third party SSD developers confidence that their development efforts will be NVMe-compliant. Compliant drives are compatible with other PCI Express/NVMe 1.1b systems and therefore with modern servers.

 

ocz_z_drive_6000
OCZ Z-Drive 6000. Image by TweakTown

“We are pleased to achieve NVMe certification of our upcoming Z-Drive 6000 PCIe Series SSDs which provides customers the validation they need to evaluate our drives,” said Daryl Lang, CTO for OCZ Storage Solutions. “We absolutely understand the importance that an OEM places on third party affirmation of such an important decision as qualifying a supplier of high-end PCIe SSDs, and this certification will help provide all of those customers with peace of mind as they receive samples of our cutting edge solution.”

NVMe is an optimized, high-performance, scalable host controller interface based on the PCI Express technology with a streamlined register interface and command set.

The compliance testing was conducted by the NVMe Workgroup at the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) as part of a second NVMe 1.1b annual plugfest.

The Z-Drive 6000 is currently sampling to select customers and expected to be generally available early in 2015.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: OCZ’s Z-Drive 6000 will be among the first NVMe 1.1b-compliant SSDs. Therefore, OCZ will be able to sell quite a lot of them next year. Thanks to the fact that the company is now a part of Toshiba, it will be offer to build any configurations its customers demand, something it could not do when it was independent.

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Solid-state drives with PCIe interface to get more popular in 2015 https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/solid-state-drives-with-pcie-interface-to-get-more-popular-in-2015/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/solid-state-drives-with-pcie-interface-to-get-more-popular-in-2015/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2014 20:30:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=224708 Although it is well known that the Serial ATA-6Gb/s interface does not allow modern high-performance solid-state drives to show their whole potential, the majority of PC makers and SSD manufacturers continue to use it due to cost and inventory management simplification reasons. However, a lot is going to change starting next year. The majority of …

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Although it is well known that the Serial ATA-6Gb/s interface does not allow modern high-performance solid-state drives to show their whole potential, the majority of PC makers and SSD manufacturers continue to use it due to cost and inventory management simplification reasons. However, a lot is going to change starting next year.

The majority of PC makers prefer to use Serial ATA-based SSDs due to a very simple reason: it is easier to manage inventory this way. If all storage devices use SATA interface, then it is easier for PC manufacturers to simply install SSDs instead of HDDs into models that need faster storage. Even at present it is possible to install SSDs with PCI Express 2.0 x2 interface (in M.2 form-factor) with up to 1GB/s bandwidth into a modern laptop platform without any problems. However, to simplify inventory management and designs, many platforms today simply do not support the M.2.

micron_crucial_m500_m2
An SSD in M.2 form-factor

Controllers for solid-state drives that support PCI Express interface are also more expensive and less widespread than controllers supporting the Serial ATA-6Gb/s. As a result, SSD manufacturers choose SATA controllers instead of more advanced chips and the Serial ATA interface remains the default option for SSDs both on desktop and laptop markets despite of performance disadvantage.

At present only several notebook makers (including Apple MacBoook-series and select high-end models from other makers) use solid-state storage with the PCI Express interface, the majority continue to rely on rather outdated Serial ATA-based SSDs.

Next year the situation is going to change. Since the SATA Express interface will be officially supported by Intel Corp.’s 100-series chipsets, PC makers will demand SSDs supporting faster transfer rates. The SATAe and PCIe interfaces use the same protocol, therefore, controllers supporting the former also support the latter. Virtually all developers of SSD controllers will ship mainstream chips with PCI Express and SATA Express support in 2015. As a result, producers of solid-state drives will release new SSDs with faster interfaces based on new controllers.

plextor_m6e_pcie_ssd
An PCIe SSD

Industry sources polled by DigiTimes believe that the penetration rate of SSDs in notebooks will reach 40 – 50 percent in the third quarter of 2015 from only 5 – 10 percent currently. Depending on the success of Intel’s next-generation platform based on the code-named “Skylake” processors, which relies on 100-series chipsets, the adoption of SSDs with PCIe or SATAe will grow either rapidly or slowly.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While the channel and PC enthusiasts will quickly adopt SATAe and PCI Express SSDs next year, provided that they are not over-priced, PC OEMs have a lot of their own concerns and it is hard to predict when they massively follow Apple with PCIe SSDs. High-end models will adopt advanced solid-state drives, but mainstream notebooks will continue to rely on SATA for quite a while.

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PMC and Memblaze unveil PCIe SSD with 8TB capacity, 3.2GB/s bandwidth https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/pmc-and-memblaze-unveil-pcie-ssd-with-8tb-capacity-3-2tbs-bandwidth/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/pmc-and-memblaze-unveil-pcie-ssd-with-8tb-capacity-3-2tbs-bandwidth/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2014 05:51:36 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=224559 PMC-Sierra, a leading designer of storage controllers, and Memblaze, a producer of high-end storage accelerators, have unveiled a new extreme-performance PBlaze4 solid-state drive that boasts both extreme capacity and extreme performance. The Memblaze PBlaze4 solid-state storage solution is powered by PMC’s Flashtec NVM Express (NVMe) controllers, use PCI Express 2.0 x8 interface and come in …

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PMC-Sierra, a leading designer of storage controllers, and Memblaze, a producer of high-end storage accelerators, have unveiled a new extreme-performance PBlaze4 solid-state drive that boasts both extreme capacity and extreme performance.

The Memblaze PBlaze4 solid-state storage solution is powered by PMC’s Flashtec NVM Express (NVMe) controllers, use PCI Express 2.0 x8 interface and come in either HHHL (half-height, half-length) or FLHL (full-height, half-length) card-type form factor. The drives can use either single-level cell (SLC) or multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory, depending on requirements for performance and reliability.

The PBlaze 4 solid-state drives can feature up to 8TB capacity, up to 3.2GB/s sequential read and up to 2.5GB/s sequential write performance. The SSDs also provide up to 850,000 I/Os per second (IOPS) for random read and 265,000 IOPS for random write performance.

memblaze_ssd

The solid-state storage accelerators like PBlaze 4 are targeted at hyperscale and big data deployments. PMC’s Flashtec NVMe flash memory controller family includes 16-channel and 32-channel devices to enable SSDs with up to 8TB of storage and extreme performance.

“PMC is pleased to be partnering with Memblaze to provide the highest performance and most advanced PCIe SSD solutions for China’s technology and hyperscale leaders,” said Derek Dicker, vice president of the non-volatile solutions group at PMC. “We look forward to enabling the significant growth opportunities for flash in China’s data centers and hyperscale deployments. Memblaze is a strategic partner for PMC to support these critical market segments in China and abroad.”

memblaze_ssd_1

Ultra high-end solid-state drives like Memblaze PBlaze 4 are configured in accordance with particular requirements, as a result, not only their prices vary greatly, but also their capabilities depend on particular configuration.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While each PBlaze 4 SSD can cost tens of thousands of pounds/dollars, they are worth it, since they enable performance not possible on storage systems based on hard disk drives or low-end solid-state drives.

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Samsung begins to produce 3.2TB NVMe PCIe SSDs with 3D V-NAND https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/samsung-begins-to-mass-produce-3-2tb-nvme-pcee-ssds-featuring-3d-v-nand/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/samsung-begins-to-mass-produce-3-2tb-nvme-pcee-ssds-featuring-3d-v-nand/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2014 01:03:20 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=213618 Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that it has started to mass produce new NVMe PCIe solid-state drives based on 3D V-NAND flash memory. The new SSDs are designed for enterprise servers and feature improved reliability, performance and up to 3.2TB capacity. The Samsung SM1715 solid-state drives will be available in 1.6TB and 3.2TB capacities. The …

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Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that it has started to mass produce new NVMe PCIe solid-state drives based on 3D V-NAND flash memory. The new SSDs are designed for enterprise servers and feature improved reliability, performance and up to 3.2TB capacity.

The Samsung SM1715 solid-state drives will be available in 1.6TB and 3.2TB capacities. The new drive provides a sequential read speed of 3000MB/s and writes sequentially at up to 2200MB/s. The new SSD randomly reads at up to 750,000 IOPS (input output operations per second) and writes randomly at up to 130,000 IOPS. The SM1715 drives come in an HHHL (half-height, half-length) card-type form factor with PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface and are powered by the company’s proprietary controllers.

Thanks to the fact that the new enterprise-class solid-state drives are based on multi-layer 3D V-NAND flash memory made using 42nm manufacturing technology, the SM1715 solutions feature improved reliability compared to drives powered by MLC NAND flash made using thin fabrication processes. The 3.2TB SM1715 is guaranteed to sustain 10 DWPDs (drive writes per day) for five years. According to Samsung, this level of reliability has been requested by many enterprise server manufacturers.

samsung_pci_e_nvme_ssd_3d_v_nand

“Beginning with mass production of this new V-NAND-based NVMe SSD, which delivers the highest level of performance and density available today, we expect to greatly expand the high-density SSD market,” said Jeeho Baek, vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung plans to actively introduce V-NAND-based SSDs with even higher performance, density and reliability in the future, to keep its global customers ahead of their competition.”

Keeping in mind that the new Samsung SM1715 SSDs are designed for enterprise-class servers and feature NVMe technology, their price will likely be rather extraordinary. Still, those, who demand extreme performance, capacity and reliability, are ready to pay that price.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It looks like the SM1715 could be Samsung’s breakthrough into the market of enterprise-class SSDs provided that the company can offer decent software with its new solid-state storage devices.

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Marvell unveils controller for SSDs with 2GB/s and 4GB/s bandwidth https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/marvell-unveils-controller-for-future-ssds-with-2gbs-and-4gbs-bandwidth/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/marvell-unveils-controller-for-future-ssds-with-2gbs-and-4gbs-bandwidth/#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2014 22:58:07 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=206017 Marvell this week introduced its new controller that will power next-generation ultra-high-performance solid-state drives with PCI Express 3.0 or SATA Express interfaces. The controller also supports non-volatile memory express (NVMe) 1.1 specification and can support not only consumer, but also server-class SSDs. The Marvell 88SS1093 NVMe controller with three processing cores supports up to four …

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Marvell this week introduced its new controller that will power next-generation ultra-high-performance solid-state drives with PCI Express 3.0 or SATA Express interfaces. The controller also supports non-volatile memory express (NVMe) 1.1 specification and can support not only consumer, but also server-class SSDs.

The Marvell 88SS1093 NVMe controller with three processing cores supports up to four PCI Express 3.0 lanes and thus can enable SSDs with 2GB/s – 4GB/s of bandwidth along with unparalleled IOPS performance using the NVMe advanced command handling. The controller fully supports separate reference clock with independent spread spectrum clocking architecture (SRIS) technology for PCIe 3.0 data-rates, an industry’s first.

The new 88SS1093 controller supports different types of NAND flash memory, including the up-to-date and the upcoming 15nm TLC/MLC/SLC and 3D NAND chips. The chip features the company’s latest NANDEdge LDPC error correction control and management to make SSDs more reliable and durable. The controller can enable SSDs with up to 2TB of capacity.

marvell_ssd_reference

 

A reference Marvell-based PCIe SSD. Image for illustrative purposes only.

The Marvell 88SS1093 SSD controller is made using 28nm process technology. It also supports new low-power management(L1.2) design as well as M.2/2.5 slim form-factors, which means that it can power very different SSDs.

The 88SS1093 is currently sampling to leading customers. Marvell believes its NVMe SSD controllers will be an ideal solution for next generation of high-performance SSD for client platforms coming in 2015 as well as today’s hyperscale data center applications.

“I am very excited to see that our new SSD controller solution has once again raised the technology bar with superior performance, high reliability and robust security,” said Weili Dai, president and co-founder of Marvell. “I am very proud of our close collaboration with leading tier one OEM and ODM partners around the world in enabling the rapid growth of the SSD market from client devices to data centers and enterprise systems.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It looks like next-year’s SSDs will offer simply unprecedented performance: up to 2TB capacity, up to 4TB/s bandwidth along with improved reliability and durability. The prices are unknown, but thanks to TLC and 3D NAND types of flash memory they should not be too high.

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Avago Technologies to acquire PLX Technology https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/avago-technologies-to-acquire-plx/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/avago-technologies-to-acquire-plx/#respond Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:59:45 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=199893 Avago Technologies, the company, which agreed to sell its solid-state drive-related assets to Seagate earlier this year, announced plans to acquire PLX Technologies, a company which is widely known for its PCI Express bridges and switches used on multi-GPU graphics solutions as well as on sophisticated mainboards for enthusiasts. “The core PLX PCIe silicon business …

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Avago Technologies, the company, which agreed to sell its solid-state drive-related assets to Seagate earlier this year, announced plans to acquire PLX Technologies, a company which is widely known for its PCI Express bridges and switches used on multi-GPU graphics solutions as well as on sophisticated mainboards for enthusiasts.

“The core PLX PCIe silicon business fits very well with the Avago business model and broadens Avago's portfolio serving the enterprise storage and networking end markets,” stated Hock Tan, president and chief executive officer of Avago. “Following the closing of the transaction, we are excited to welcome the PLX team to Avago, and we are committed to continue to invest in the PLX PCI Express platform.”

As the PCI Express interconnection technology gets more advanced, more devices start to use it for internal and external interconnections. For example, back in 2012 PLX Technology and Kontron developed a way to use the PCI Express technology as a backplane interconnect. The external PCI Express architecture built around PLX ExpressLane PCIe 3.0 switches and Kontron’s single-board computers (SBCs) achieved 5.6GB/s data throughput between any boards in a VPX rack. The acquisition of PLX will help Avago to grow its business.

PLX-chip

The two companies signed definitive agreement under which Avago will acquire PLX in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $309 million, or $293 million net of cash and debt acquired.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Most likely the acquisition will have no impact on the market of graphics hardware. Still, some acquisitions may cause very  unexpected effects…

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PCI Express 4.0 on track to double the bandwidth https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/pci-express-4-0-on-track-to-double-the-bandwidth/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/pci-express-4-0-on-track-to-double-the-bandwidth/#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2014 22:50:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=198669 The PCI Express technology has served as the main standard for PC and server expansion slots for exactly ten years now and will probably be used for many years to come. Members of the PCI SIG [special interest group] reportedly agreed to double the bandwidth of the PCI Express 4.0 compared to the PCI Express …

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The PCI Express technology has served as the main standard for PC and server expansion slots for exactly ten years now and will probably be used for many years to come. Members of the PCI SIG [special interest group] reportedly agreed to double the bandwidth of the PCI Express 4.0 compared to the PCI Express 3.0.

At present members of the PCI SIG are about to finish reviewing the PCI Express 4.0 base specification revision 0.3. This specification describes the PCI Express architecture, interconnect attributes, fabric management, and the programming interface required to design and build systems and peripherals that are compliant with the PCI Express specification. The PCI SIG members have been reviewing the spec since February and, according to a Tom’s Hardware report, decided to stick to the plan that has existed since late 2011: to boost the base per-lane PCIe 4.0 transfer rate to 16GT/s [gigatransfers per second].

Thanks to 16GT/s base transfer rate, each PCI Express 4.0 x1 slot will be able to transfer up to 2GB of data per second, whereas the PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, which will be used for graphics cards and ultra-high-end solid-state drives, will provide up to 31.5GB/s of bandwidth.

pci_express_logo

But increased transfer speed is not the only thing that the PCI Express 4.0 is expected to bring. High-speed interconnections mean that computer devices spend less time to transfer data and thus save battery life of mobile devices.

It is expected that Intel Corp.’s code-named Skylake microprocessors for servers will feature an integrated PCI Express 4.0 controller, which will help them to connect to very high-performance chips, such as graphics processing units or Intel Xeon Phi co-processors. Since in the future GPUs are projected to assist central processing units (CPUs) in highly-parallel tasks and such heterogeneous computing will require the chips to share the data in their memory pools, high-performance interconnections will be very important.

Intel and other members of the PCI SIG did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The current version of the PCI Express 4.0 specification is 0.3. It will be interesting to see whether the standard will be finalized by the time Intel will start mass production of the Skylake central processing units for desktop or laptops, which is Q1 2015, if the rumours are correct. Perhaps, when it comes to client processors, the Skylake chips will not feature PCIe 4.0, but the interconnection will only be supported by the chips currently known as the Airlake and the Cannonlake.

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Asustek’s adapter provides M.2 SSDs up to 4GB/s of bandwidth https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asusteks-adapter-provides-m-2-ssds-up-to-4gbs-of-bandwidth/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asusteks-adapter-provides-m-2-ssds-up-to-4gbs-of-bandwidth/#comments Wed, 04 Jun 2014 22:58:12 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=196676 Modern solid-state drives often feature so high performance that even contemporary interfaces like the M.2 or the SATA Express (based on the PCI Express 2.0) cannot provide enough bandwidth for them. But Asustek Computer seems to have found a solution. At the Computex 2014 trade-show the company unveiled a special upgrade card that provides up …

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Modern solid-state drives often feature so high performance that even contemporary interfaces like the M.2 or the SATA Express (based on the PCI Express 2.0) cannot provide enough bandwidth for them. But Asustek Computer seems to have found a solution. At the Computex 2014 trade-show the company unveiled a special upgrade card that provides up to 4GB of bandwidth per second to any SSD in the M.2 2280 form-factor.

The industry-standard M.2 slots for SSDs (which are installed onto almost every mainboard based on the Intel Z97 or the H97 chipset) rely on the PCI Express 2.0 x1 or x2 interconnections thus providing up to 500MB/s or up to 1GB/s of bandwidth, respectively (the majority relies on the x2 and provide up to 1GB/s). However, there are new-generation solid-state drives that need higher speeds. For example, the Samsung XP941 is capable of 1.4GB/s read performance and simply cannot show all of its benefits on modern platforms.

asus_hyper_m2x4_card_3

Like every ingenious invention, the Asus Hyper M.2 X4 card is a very simple solution. The board features the M.2 slot for an appropriate SSD and can be installed into any PCI Express 2.0/3.0 x4 expansion slot (or an x8, or an x16 slot) of a mainboard thus giving the installed SSD up to 2GB/s of bandwidth in case of the PCIe 2.0 x4 interconnection or up to 4GB/s of bandwidth in case of the PCIe 3.0 x4 link. The board is set to become available already next month.

asus_hyper_m2x4_card_1

Since the Asus Hyper M.2 X4 card essentially transforms any SSD plugged into it into a PCI Express-based solid-state drive, many mainboards may not support booting from such device. The majority of motherboards are designed to load operating systems from drives with the Serial ATA interface, which is why PCIe SSD makers use special tricks to make their drives bootable. Therefore, it remains to be seen how Asus plans to solve the problem.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We should wait and see how the Asus Hyper M.2 X4 card works in real-life. Perhaps, Asus plans to release new BIOSes for its latest mainboards that will allow booting from PCIe-based SSDs (at least, from some of them). Perhaps, there will be a special driver bundled with the adapter that will do the trick.

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SK Hynix to buy PCIe solid-state storage tech from Violin Memory https://www.kitguru.net/components/memory/anton-shilov/sk-hynix-to-buy-pci-express-solid-state-storage-tech-from-violin-memory/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/memory/anton-shilov/sk-hynix-to-buy-pci-express-solid-state-storage-tech-from-violin-memory/#respond Fri, 30 May 2014 19:08:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=195967 SK Hynix and Violin Memory this week entered into a definitive agreement to sell the latter’s PCI Express (PCIe) solid-state storage product line to the former. In addition, the two companies decided to sign a cross-license agreement. As a result of the transaction, SK Hynix will be able to further strengthen its product lineup with …

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SK Hynix and Violin Memory this week entered into a definitive agreement to sell the latter’s PCI Express (PCIe) solid-state storage product line to the former. In addition, the two companies decided to sign a cross-license agreement. As a result of the transaction, SK Hynix will be able to further strengthen its product lineup with SSDs and solid-state-storage solutions featuring PCI Express interface.

Violin agreed to sell intellectual property (IP) and certain fixed assets primarily used in its PCI Express solid-state storage product line. SK Hynix will pay $23.0 million in cash and will assume certain employee-related liabilities of approximately $0.5 million. Additionally, Violin and SK Hynix plan to enter into a patent cross-license agreement under which they will agree to license specified intellectual property to each-other. The companies did not reveal any details about the IP set to be cross-licensed.

sk_hynix_nand_flash_memory

NAND flash memory made by SK Hynix

Two years ago SK Hynix already acquired Link-a-Media (LAMD), a developer of controllers for solid-state drives. The acquisition of IP and technologies from Violin Memory will allow SK Hynix to broaden the lineup of its SSDs with devices featuring PCI Express interface that are aimed at enterprises.

“This purchase will enable us to respond to growing demands for high-value-added solid-state drives for servers in the NAND flash markets,” a statement by SK Hynix reads. “The latest deal reflects SK hynix’s continued efforts to boost its NAND flash competitiveness.”

The transaction is projected to be closed next month.

It is interesting to note that over 10 per cent of Violin Memory’s stock is owned by Toshiba Corp., a rival of SK Hynix.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It looks like the solid-state storage market is about to speed up its growth in the coming couple of years. In the meantime, expect various acquisitions, mergers, cross-license agreements, IP purchases and other things. In the end, companies with higher amount of cash will get more solid-state storage-related technologies and intellectual property.

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AMD licenses SATA Express technology for 2015 chipsets https://www.kitguru.net/components/hard-drives/anton-shilov/amd-licenses-sata-express-technology-for-2015-chipsets/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/hard-drives/anton-shilov/amd-licenses-sata-express-technology-for-2015-chipsets/#respond Tue, 20 May 2014 20:05:27 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=194046 Perhaps, the first-generation SATA Express (SATAe) implementation that relies on the PCI Express 2.0 technology is not truly revolutionary and does not bring a dramatic performance boost compared to Serial ATA-6Gb/s. Nonetheless, SATAe is a part of the future, which is why companies like AMD need to support it in their upcoming platforms. According to …

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Perhaps, the first-generation SATA Express (SATAe) implementation that relies on the PCI Express 2.0 technology is not truly revolutionary and does not bring a dramatic performance boost compared to Serial ATA-6Gb/s. Nonetheless, SATAe is a part of the future, which is why companies like AMD need to support it in their upcoming platforms. According to a report, AMD has already licensed SATAe-related intellectual property (IP).

In a bid to support SATA Express interconnection technology with its next-generation core-logic sets that are due in 2015, Advanced Micro Devices has reportedly licensed intellectual property from Asmedia, a company co-owned by Asustek Computer, reports DigiTimes web-site. Asmedia has already incorporated SATA Express into some of its chips which will be used by Asus, Asrock and possibly other mainboard makers this year. The proven physical implementation of the SATAe technology licensed from Asmedia will help AMD to save money on research and development, whereas Asmedia will capitalize on its IP.

Z87-Deluxe-SATA-Express-1

An Asustek's implementation of SATA Express ports

Since Asmedia's president is also in charge of Asustek's component purchasing as well as research and development, the collaboration between AMD and Asmedia may also tighten the relationship between the microprocessor designer and Asustek.

The SATA Express is the next-generation interface for storage devices that is based on PCI Express 2.0 (5GT/s) or PCI Express 3.0 (8GT/s) protocols and which can increase maximum bandwidth to 1GB/s (PCIe 2.0) or 2GB/s (in case of PCIe 3.0). Since modern chipsets only support PCI Express 2.0 (PCIe 3.0 is only supported by microprocessors), at present it is only possible to design a SATAe interconnection with 1GB/s peak bandwidth (in case of consumer motherboards).

Thanks to the licensing deal between AMD and Asmedia, platforms of the former will support SATA Express already next year. This will make the company’s accelerated processing units and central processing units more competitive.

sata_express_cable

According to unofficial information, this is not the first time when AMD licenses chipset-related technologies from third-party companies.

AMD and Asmedia did not comment on the news-story. Terms and conditions of the licensing deal are not clear.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Unlike Intel Corp.’s Z97 and H97 core-logic sets, AMD’s current platforms do not support solid-state drives in M.2 form-factor with 1GB/s bandwidth, which significantly reduces their competitive positions on the market of personal computers for enthusiasts. Assuming that next year AMD’s platforms will support SATAe with PCIe 3.0 protocol, the status quo with Intel (at least when it comes to storage performance) will be restored.

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