Intel has just announced its new line of Optane memory and SSDs for home environments and data centers.
Intel is loaded with news for the 2021, from new Optane memories to SSDs intended for regular consumers and high-performance data centers. Starting with the memories, the Intel Optane Memory H 20 are mainly intended for ultrabooks and make use of QLC cells ( Quad Level Cell) with 3D NAND memories, although Intel has not detailed anything about their characteristics.
Intel Optane SSD P 5800 X
There are many SSDs announced today by the company. The Intel Optane SSD P 5800 X is, according to Intel, the world’s fastest SSD for data centers . For this it makes use of the PCIe 4.0 bus and they estimate that it is three times faster than the previous one, the P 4800 X, which would place it at more than 7000 MBps read and 6000 MBps in writing (multiplying by three the data of the previous one, since the new Intel does not you have specified nothing).
Intel SSD 670 p M.2
Intel arrives loaded with news in terms of Optane memories and SSDs for the 2021
In the face of regular consumers, in the home environment we find the new Intel SSDs 670 p with 144 layers of QLC 3D NAND memories, the Intel D7-P 5510 which is the world’s first SSD of 144 layers with TLC cells and the Intel D5-P 5316 intended for more hostile environments with 144 QLC layers, such as 553 p. Recall that SK Hynix already has 176 layers under its 4D NAND technology.
Intel SSD 670 p 2.5 “
On the other hand, Intel has also announced the persistent memory Optane of third generation . In this case the company has redesigned the hierarchy of the computer memory so that the RAM offers performance tasks while the Optane serves as capacity. Thus superior performance is expected and, as in previous Optane memories, very fast and non-volatile memory.
Intel SSD D5-P 5316
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Pablo López
With 15 years I started to overclock my PC to get every extra FPS I could in games and scratch a few milliseconds in SuperPi, while I was constantly posting about hardware in the Geeknetic forum as a user and reader. They were probably so fed up with continually reading me on the forum that I became part of the writing team, where I continue to report on the latest in technology. Astrophysics and PC games are the hobbies that, after hardware, cover most of my free time.
At the Memory and Storage Day Intel has some news from the area of NAND and Optane memory presented. Two points played an important role in the course of the event. On the one hand, Intel once again announced the sale of the NAND flash division to SK Hynix. This should be completed by 2025. Secondly, Intel wants to focus more on its own Optane memory.
One of the innovations is the Optane SSD P 5800 X with the second generation of Optane memory, which is implemented here in the form of a PCI Express 4.0 SSD. The Optane SSD P 5800 X is said to be three times faster than its predecessor, the Optane SSD P 4800 X . The improved Optane memory is one of the things that contributes to the higher performance. Another is the fact that the Optane SSD P 5800 X is connected via PCIe 4.0 with four lanes and thus has the prerequisites for high data throughput. Intel speaks of 7.2 and 6.2 GB / s for reading and writing data. For 4K data, the IOPS is 1.5 million. For 512 byte accesses there are even 4.6 million IOPS.
A The factor that plays a special role with the Optane SSDs is the fact that they still have low latencies in the range of 10 to 100 ns. While the latencies with classic SSDs of 84 ns keep increasing with increasing bandwidth, they remain with the Optane SSD P 5800 X still in the low range even at 8 GB / s.
The DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) gives Intel with 100 at. Depending on the model, the capacity of the SSD is 400 GB, 800 GB, 1.6 TB or 3.2 TB.
As the successor to the Optane Memory H 10 Intel presents the Optane Memory H 20. The new generation of Optane memory is also used here, which is still combined with QLC-3D-NAND at this point. The Optane memory is always 32 GB, the additional NAND 512 GB or 1 TB. The connection of the SSD remains with PCIe 3.0 x4. From the second quarter 2020 the H 20 will be available, or will be installed by system providers from then on.
Pure NAND SSDs are also available
But not only the Optane memory or its combination with classic NAND were in focus at the Memory and Storage Day – “classic” SSDs are also presented. This includes the Intel 3D NAND SSD 670 p, which comes with the new 144 – Layer QLC-NAND is equipped and is intended for the entry-level area of SSDs.
The Intel SSD D7-P 5510 is the first 144 – Layer TLC-NAND SSD, which is still in should be available this quarter. The U.2 SSD will have a storage capacity of 3, 84, or 7, 68 TB.
The Intel SSD D5 uses the same memory -P 5316. It will be available in the first half of the year 2021 and come on the market in U.2 and E1.L format. The capacities are 20, 36 and 30, 72 TB.
Flash memory is fast, but Intel’s Optane memory is faster – Intel was already able to do that with the Datacenter SSD P 4800 X show. Now comes the much faster successor, according to Intel at three times the speed: The P 5800 X uses Optane of the second generation and PCIe 4.0. In terms of sequential transfer rates, other SSDs are a bit further ahead, but Intel sets new standards when it comes to accessing random addresses: The company promises 1.5 million IOPS for exclusive reading or writing. In mixed operation, i.e. when reading and writing at the same time, it should even be 1.8 million IOPS.
At the same time, Intel promises a durability of 100 Drive Writes Per Day, the SSDs may therefore be written with their own capacity one hundred times a day within the framework of the five-year guarantee. The SSDs will come onto the market in the coming year, Intel has not yet commented on prices.
More data center SSDs Intel plans to introduce the data center SSD D7-P 5510 launch. It is equipped with TLC flash in 144 layers and should be up to 7, 68 TByte capacity. For larger space requirements, Intel will bring the P 72 in the next quarter: The SSD equipped with QLC flash should be equipped with up to 30, 72 TByte available.
If you buy 30 of it in the E1.L Format, a 1U server rack can be equipped with up to 1 PByte of memory – that is exactly what Intelv promised when introducing this “Ruler” format.
QLC has prevailed QLC Flash is also used in Intel’s desktop SSDs. The 670 p is the successor of the 665 p and is only offered as M.2 cards. It also uses the current 144 – layer version of the memory; Information on capacities and prices is not yet available.
Intel already had a combination of QLC flash and Optane memory with the H 10 in program. Here Optane serves as a fast cache for the rather slow Flash. With the H Intel used two PCIe lanes for the Optane part and the other two as access to the QLC Flash, retrofitting in existing notebooks was not possible. Whether it will be different with the H 10, which is equipped with the newer versions of the memory is yet unknown. (ll)
Team Group is a well-known Taiwanese memory and flash storage maker with a long history of catering to the needs of users from all over the globe. Today, we have a review of the Team Group Vulcan G SSD, which is targeted at the entry-level segment and upgraders who are replacing their old mechanical HDDs.
We previously reviewed the Team Group Vulcan SSD, which delivered solid performance at affordable pricing. The new Team Group Vulcan G is an even more affordable drive, reaching previously unthinkable price points for SSDs, but some compromises had to be made.
The Vulcan G is built around a Silicon Motion SM2258XT G controller, paired with 3D TLC flash chips from Toshiba, a DRAM-chip is not installed.
The Team Group Vulcan G is available in capacities of 512 GB ($50) or 1 TB ($80). Endurance for these models is set at 400 TBW and 800 TBW respectively. Team Group includes a three-year warranty.
Specifications: Team Group Vulcan G 1 TB SSD
Brand:
Team Group
Model:
T253TG001T3C301
Capacity:
1024 GB (953 GB usable) No additional overprovisioning
I was telling you 1 year ago about the top of the range in the range of NVMe SSDs from Corsair, more precisely MP 600 available on market in maximum capacity of 2TB. We were talking then about the Phison E controller 96 PCI-Express Gen 4 and TLC 3D memory BLC4 from Toshiba, but in the meantime Corsair has released and MP 510 with Phison E 16 PCI- Express Gen 3 and BICS3 3D TLC memory. Bonus? Corsair MP 510 has a maximum capacity of 4TB, therefore what we do if we need a larger capacity but also a lower price / GB. The answer? Corsair MP 400!
Corsair MP 400 comes with a Phison E controller 12 S compatible PCI-Express Gen 3 x4 and memory QLC with 96 layers from Micron, which allows a maximum capacity of 8TB and a price / GB (or better we call it price / TB) excellent. There are no significant differences in performance between MP 400 and MP 510, but the resistance to repeated writes is quite reduced in the case of MP 400, due to the use of QLC memory.
For example in the case of the 4TB variant we have in the test, the Corsair specifications indicate 800 TBW while MP 510 with 4TB capacity goes up to 3120 TBW. For home use it is not a problem, but if we run applications with repeated writes or in workstation / server mode, SSDs with QLC memories are not recommended.
Simon Crisp 9 hours ago Featured Tech Reviews, NAS, Reviews, SSD Drives
One of the leading lights in the NAS device world, Synology, now have their own NVMe M.2 SSD range – the 400GB SNV3000 series. Designed to be used as a cache drive in their NAS devices, the M.2 22110 SNV3500 SNV3400-400G comes with power loss protection, while the SNV3400-400G built on the more familiar M.2 2280 format, does not have such protection.
The drives use a combination of the enterprise edition (DC) of one of the most popular current PCIe 3.0 controller’s, Phison’s PS5012-E12 and Kioxia BiCS3 64-layer 3D TLC NAND.
Synology rate both the SNV3400-400G and the SNV3500 as up to 3,100MB/s (QD32) for Sequential reads and up to 550MB/s (QD32) for writes. Random read/write performance is quoted as up to 205,000 IOPS and 40,000 IOPS respectively at a QD of 256.
Typical power consumption figures for the SNV3400-400G are; 3.2W for both active read and writes with a 2W idle rating while the SNV3500-400G figures are; 3.7W typical active read, 3.4W typical active write and again a 2W idle rating.
Synology rates the endurance of the SNV3400-400G as 500TB TBW (works out at around 0.68 DWPD) and supports the drive with a 5-year warranty.
Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 400GB.
NAND Components: Kioxia BiCS3 64-layer 3D TLC NAND.
NAND Controller: Phison PS5012-E12DC.
Cache: 4GB DDR4.
Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe.
Form Factor: M.2 2280.
Dimensions: 22 x 80 x 3.5mm.
Firmware Version: ECEM12.4.
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Piano lessons for me as a child meant sitting down every Tuesday at a shiny black Yamaha upright, looking up at shelves laden with tributes to my piano teacher’s twin obsessions: busts of classical greats like Beethoven and Chopin, and copies of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, to which he contributed every year. I’d sit and play; he’d sit and criticize. And over the course of a torturous six-year education, my teacher, Mr Dyson, instilled in my grumpy teenage self a love of music I can never adequately thank him for. I did my grades, paid my dues, and I’ve played more or less ever since.
All this is perhaps why the Lumi keyboard — the slickest, most intriguing piece of musical hardware I’ve come across in recent years — appalls and impresses me in equal measure.
The $299 Lumi is the latest offering from music hardware startup Roli, known for its squishy Seaboard keyboards and modular beat-making Blocks accessories. But while Roli’s past products have been aimed squarely at professionals, the Lumi is meant to attract would-be musicians: people who’ve never read a note of music in their life, but are eager to play all the same. It’s designed to lure in newbies with its light-up keys, Guitar Hero-style interface, and slick Bluetooth app, before embedding musical hooks deep in their heart with a back-catalogue of simplified pop, rock, and classical tunes to play along with. It’s a bold approach to musical education and unquestionably engaging. But I fear it has its limits.
The key draw for the Lumi is its Guitar Hero-style interface that teaches you how to play. Image: Roli
Let’s start with the product first before we get on to the teaching aspects. Roli unquestionably makes gorgeous, idiosyncratic hardware. The Lumi has more design DNA in common with slick MIDI controllers used by DJs than starter Casio keyboards. It’s minimalist and compact, with two octaves of slightly small-than-average-size keys, a matte black plastic construction, and three soft-touch rubber buttons at the top. Although testers of early Lumi prototypes reported problems with the product’s build quality, the keyboards we tested were reassuringly solid. Each key lights up top to bottom, capable of displaying a full rainbow of colors as musical guides. The Lumi also has an internal battery, meaning you can toss it in a bag and take it on the go.
Setup is as simple as the design. Just download the Lumi app on a phone or tablet, push the power button on the keyboard, and connect to your keyboard over Bluetooth. The Lumi is really only designed for one hand to play at a time, but you can join multiple keyboards together using magnetic connectors to engage both of your hands at once.
My only slight criticism of the hardware is the keys themselves. The action of keyboard keys in general is, unsurprisingly, a matter of some importance to piano players. The more expensive sort of digital keyboard has what are known as “weighted” and “graded” keys, meaning they offer different levels of resistance at different parts of the keyboard. (This is to mimic the mechanics of an acoustic piano, where lower keys are harder to press and higher keys easier; an effect created by the keys’ levered construction).
Lumi’s keys don’t feel weighted or graded, which is not that surprising. Although you can get keyboards that cost the same as the Lumi with these features, Roli is justifying the price primarily via its software, not hardware. That being said, I still felt the Lumi’s keys were mushier than I would have liked, even for a starter keyboard, and has a disappointing plunge depth (you can’t push them down nearly as far as keys on a regular piano). And they also failed every now and again to register my touch if I was playing too fast. That could be extremely frustrating for someone struggling to learn an instrument that doesn’t seem to love them back. They keys are touch-sensitive, too, which allows you to play more softly or loudly. But again, that sensitivity is limited. Try playing Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” for example, and you’ll feel like you’re clomping through an art gallery in heavy boots.
A magnetic “Snapcase” is included with the $299 bundle price, and helps keep the Lumi safe during travel. Image: Roli
The sleek design of the hardware is carried through to the software. Open up the Lumi app and you’re presented with a few options: Home, Learn, and Play. The Home screen lets you jump in to music straight away with three categories of tracks: “very easy songs” (staples of first piano books like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”); “abridged hits” (minute long snippets of pop songs such as Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy”); and, somewhat bafflingly, a “hit the dancefloor” playlist containing tracks from the likes of Major Lazer, Pharrell Williams, and Calvin Harris. The latter category reminded me that Roli is really trying to attract a wide range of customers here — not just children learning to play for the first time, but older people who’ve perhaps always loved listening to music but never known how to start playing it.
In addition to the Home screen there are two more sections: Play, containing the app’s back-catalog of music, and Learn, home to Roli’s music lessons. A word on the back-catalog first, though, because it is simply wild. A quick scroll through the “intermediate” category, for example, takes me through an eclectic selection: Satie’s “Gymnopédie No.1”, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X, Toploader’s “Dancin’ in the Moonlight”, and the State Anthem of The Russian Federation, all right next to one another. I honestly don’t quite know how to convey the weirdness of the music Roli has chosen, but I can say for certain I love it. Anyone can find something they want to play here, and though the bulk of tracks are split between classical tunes you can hum and pop hits of the last 10 years, Roli keeps you guessing by dropping in bangers like “No Scrubs” by TLC or “Rocket Man” by Elton John. These hits don’t come for free though, and require a $79 yearly subscription to “Lumi Complete” (which also gets you access to a full range of lessons and exercise). Those without the subscription only get a selection of 40 classical tunes, leaving the product severely diminished as a result.
However, this acclaim for Lumi’s back-catalog brings me to the feature I had the most doubts about, and it’s one that’s central to the entire product: how the music itself is taught. As mentioned above, the Lumi uses light up keys to power a Guitar Hero-style interface (officially known as “cascade” mode). Notes fall towards you on the screen and you hit them in time to play the music. The keyboard’s keys also light up faintly before the notes arrive, guiding your hands and fingers. Just as with Guitar Hero, there are also little gamified touches to keep your attention. You’re graded on how accurately you timed each note; earn multipliers for hot streaks; and get a star rating at the end of each song you play. It’s a simple, intuitive interface that anyone can understand. But its simplicity creates limits.
The Lumi keyboard doesn’t work without the app, which lets you play freestyle, learn lessons, or play along with a broad back-catalog of music. Image: Roli
The problems come when songs progress beyond relatively simple tunes and start incorporating more complex rhythms and melodies. Here, the amount of information you can fit into a Guitar Hero interface is simply too restrictive. Traditional sheet music, by comparison, uses a style of notation that’s evolved over centuries. It’s streamlined and compressed, and contains a wealth of information that can be understood at a glance. Things like dynamics, key signature, time signature, and a song’s overall structure can be taken in by an experienced musician almost intuitively. If you can read sheet music, you can not only look ahead in a song, but also better engage with its structure, picking out patterns like repeating motifs or harmonic progressions. Sheet music is also even more important for the piano, where different staves are used to separate what each hand plays.
The Guitar Hero interface, by comparison, is all about the moment. It focuses attention on a stream of notes that move constantly towards the player rather than a musical landscape they can survey at leisure. ‘Here comes the note,’ says the interface, ‘don’t miss it, here it is, play it, now!’ It’s a framework that borrows more from video games than musical education, and that doesn’t so much teach you to read music as react to it. And while it’s certainly possible to learn relatively tricky songs on the Lumi keyboard, I’m dubious how transferable these skills are. Once you reach the limits of the interface and have to change to traditional sheet music and keyboards, you’ll have a lot to learn as well as some bad habits to forget.
In fairness to Roli, Lumi is certainly much more than just Guitar Hero for piano. Many songs give you the option to play along with traditional sheet music, for example, and the app includes a fantastic library of lessons and exercises that teach you musical fundamentals. Chords, fingering and hand positions, as well as elements of notation are all covered, with interactive video presentations from bright and lively musicians. The company told me that it also plans to expand these lessons in future, to encourage the transition to traditional sheet music.
More good news though: it’s in these early stages that Lumi’s gamified environment really excels. For beginners sitting down at the piano for the first time, there are few things more discouraging than being confronted with their own ineptitude. You plod through scales and struggle to play nursery rhymes as if they were Rachmaninov, and then you give up because it’s all too hard. (Believe me, I’ve been there! I regularly go back to there every time I try something challenging!)
Lumi at least brightens these early difficulties through light and color. Even for the simplest songs, it gives players a backing score that makes them feel like they’re performing on stage. And for children learning to play for the first time I imagine these features would help keep them engaged and interested where a music book by itself could fail.
The question, then, is how far can you go with Lumi, and is it worth the price? Right now, the $299 price tag includes a $50 voucher for a year of Lumi Complete, the subscription service which gets you full access to the Lumi library and all its exercises and lessons (the cost without a voucher: $79). Roli isn’t selling the keyboard without this voucher right now, and I can see why: so much of the product’s attraction comes from its lessons and music. And while for that money you could get a better quality keyboard and a clutch of learn-to-play instructional books, you couldn’t get the lessons needed to take you through your first couple of grades.
At a time when most of us are stuck at home, or at least trying to avoid leaving the house, the all-in-one pitch from Roli seems particularly attractive. I just wonder how far Lumi can really take first-time musicians. I think Roli’s first educational produt is a good, but expensive, on-ramp for someone keen to try and play the piano for the first time, but the road soon runs out. If you really want to play, then the Lumi is only the start.
Joengdong Choe, Senior Technical Fellow at TechInsights, Inc., gave two presentations during the 2020 Flash Memory Summit detailing the future of 3D NAND and other emerging memories. TechInsights is known for its analysis and reverse engineering of multiple semiconductor products including flash.
Choe’s presentation this year included a 2014-2023 roadmap along with some discussion of general trends in the flash industry. This discussion covered both TLC and QLC parts from all major manufacturers, including Samsung, Kioxia (formerly Toshiba), Intel, Micron, SK hynix, and YMTC. Choe covered several aspects of these designs, from layer count to CMOS (peripheral circuitry) placement and other architectural factors that can impact bit density and cost.
(Image credit: TechInsights)
The public tends to focus on layer count, which can be a bit misleading because the actual amount of wordlines – active layers with memory cells – can vary significantly. Other layers can be utilized as dummy wordlines, for example, which help alleviate issues stemming from high layer counts. One measure of efficiency is the total number of layered wordlines divided by total layers, and by this measurement, Samsung has one of the best designs. Samsung is also not using multiple decks or stacks – not “string stacking” as seen with current flash from other manufacturers.
One way to improve overall efficiency is to place the CMOS or control circuitry, generally known as peripheral circuitry, underneath the flash layers. This is known by multiple names such as CMOS-under-Array (CuA), Periphery-Under-Cell (PUC), or Cell-On-Periphery (COP). YMTC’s design is a bit of an exception as it has some circuitry on top of the flash instead, the CMOS being made in a much larger process node before being bonded to the flash. Choe says this technique has potential but currently suffers from yield issues.
(Image credit: TechInsights)
Choe also outlined the history of 3D NAND architecture along with the charge trap flash (CTF) and floating gate (FG) split – Intel and Micron used floating gate, up until Micron’s switch to replacement gate (RG) with its recently-announced 176-Layer flash, while other manufacturers rely on charge trap. Differences here can impact endurance and reliability, scalability, and other aspects of the flash, although Intel’s QLC has benefitted from using floating gate as it maintains better performance with wear.
Kioxia’s future split-gate or split-cell technology is also interesting – it can double density directly and has the benefit of improved endurance due to the semi-circular shape of the split-cell, which is particularly robust with a floating gate. Choe anticipates that layer count will continue to rise with an increasing amount of decks or stacks – currently, two is the maximum – with a corresponding increase in the amount of storage per flash die. Choe feels that this, along with other techniques, like Through-Silicon-Via (TSV), Package-on-Package (PoP/PoPoP), and the move to 5LC/PLC, point to 500+ layers and 3-terabit dies within the next decade.
(Image credit: TechInsights)
In his second presentation, Choe detailed how cutting-edge flash often makes its way into mobile and embedded products first – phones (“5G”), for example, are a large driver of demand. He also noted that 2D/planar flash is still used for some niche applications – often as low latency SLC as a storage class memory (SCM) alternative to 3D XPoint as found in Optane or Micron’s recently announced X100 – although it is generally no longer seen in the consumer market.
(Image credit: TechInsights)
More importantly, he detailed the cost of flash at cent/GB which demonstrates the trend towards cheaper 3D flash while specialized 2D remains many times more expensive. Regardless, the 1xx-layer generation is upon us, as seen with the already released SK hynix 128L Gold P31 and Samsung 128L 980 PRO, Micron’s recent 176L announcement with flash that’s shown up on Phison E18-based drive prototypes, and knowledge that BiCS5 from WD/Kioxia is expected next year along with 144L from Intel for their QLC products. Superior controller implementations will be able to leverage higher flash densities making for faster, more capacious drives in the years to come.
Just as the CPU is the brains of your computer, the SSD is the brains behind your storage drive. Though many companies produce SSDs, most don’t make their own controllers. Phison is a leader in the SSD controller space and one of only a few companies that produce the hardware that manages your precious data on the latest flash.
Phison has spearheaded the PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD market with its PS5016-E16 NVMe SSD controller and has enjoyed staying on top for quite a while. Samsung’s 980 PRO recently dethroned Phison the top-ranking title, but Phison’s next-gen PS5018-E18 NVMe SSD controller may lead their way to victory once again, assuming the final firmware quirks get worked out.
The Prototype with a Speed Governor
Phison was gracious enough to send over an early engineering sample of the PS5018-E18 to play with. However, as exciting as early sampling is, ES units aren’t without drawbacks. The unfortunate part here is that the device is roughly 1-2 firmware revisions away from production and paired with slower than optimal flash. The company officially rates the PS5018-E18 to deliver throughput of up to 7.4 / 7.0 GBps read/write as well as sustain upwards of 1 million random read and write IOPS with next-gen flash.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Our prototype comes with 2TB of Micron’s 512Gb B27B 96L TLC flash operating at 1,200 MTps rather than Micron’s recently announced 176L replacement gate TLC flash, capable of saturating the controller’s max interface speed. While this prototype won’t be nearly as fast as the final production units, it is interesting to see how it compares in testing at this point with the current generation flash. A recent news post shows that it is even capable of sustaining a hefty 1.2 million random write IOPS in the configuration we have in our hands today.
Architecture of PS5018-E18 SSD Controller
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Built from the ground up and produced one TSMC’s 12nm technology node, Phison’s PS5018-E18 is quite the capable PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD controller in terms of features and performance. Phison crammed in five Arm Cortex R5 CPU cores into this thing with three acting as primary cores for the heavy work while the other two are clocked lower for the company’s Dual CoXProcessor 2.0 code to efficiently help offload some of the strain from main core workloads.
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The controller interfaces with the NAND over eight NAND flash channels at up to 1,600 MTps and supports capacities of up to 8TB with 32 chip enables. There are eight packages on our sample, four on each side thanks to the small size of the controller that measures just 12 x 12mm. The design leverages a DRAM-based architecture, too, with our sample containing two SK hynix DDR4 chips, one on each side of the PCB.
Features of Phison PS5018-E18 SSD Controller
Phison’s PS5018-E18 meets the NVMe 1.4 spec and comes with a bunch of features. As per usual, it comes with support for both Trim and S.M.A.R.T. data reporting. Like other controllers, it supports Active State Power Management (ASPM), Autonomous Power State Transition (APST), and the L1.2 ultra-low power state. Thermal throttling is implemented, but isn’t of much concern as the new controller doesn’t get too hot in most use cases, and mind you, that is without a nickel integrated heat sink.
It also leverages the company’s fourth-generation LDPC ECC engine, SmartECC (RAID ECC), and End-to-End Data Path Protection for robust error correction and enhanced data reliability. It even supports hardware-accelerated AES 128/256-bit encryption that is TCG, Opal 2.0, and Pyrite compliant and comes with crypto erase capability.
Phison’s E18 supports a fully-dynamic write caching like the E12S and E16 before. Therefore, the SLC cache size spans 1/3rd of the drive’s available capacity when using TLC flash. The company also implemented SmartFlush, which helps to quickly recover the cache for predictable and consistent performance.
Test Bench and Methodology
Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi)
AMD 3600X @4.3 GHz (all cores)
2x8GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3600 MHz CL16
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX570 4GB
Corsair RM850x
The initial results you see in this article are with the SSDs tested at 50% full capacity and with the operating system drive using Windows 10 Pro 1909. Also, note that while some of the new PCIe Gen4 SSDs are capable of 1 million IOPS, our lowly 6C/12T Ryzen 5 3600X can only sustain 650-700K IOPS at most. We will soon upgrade our test system’s CPU to a 12C/24T Zen 3 5900X to push next-gen storage to the max.
2TB Performance of Phison PS5018-E18 SSD Controller
We threw in a few of the best SSDs into the mix to gauge the Phison PS5018-E18’s performance. We included two of the top dogs, a WD Black SN850 and Samsung’s 980 PRO as well as Adata’s XPG Gammix S50 Lite, an entry-level Gen4 performer based on SMI’s newest NVMe SM2267 controller and 1,200MTps flash.
We included the Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0, which has Phison’s E16 controller and Kioxia’s 96L TLC operating at up to 800MTps, and we added in the Sabrent Rocket Q4, which features Micron’s cheaper 96L QLC flash. Additionally, we threw in Crucial’s P5, Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus, WD’s Black SN750, and AN1500 as some PCIe Gen3 competition.
Game Scene Loading – Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV Stormbringer is a free real-world game benchmark that easily and accurately compares game load times without the inaccuracy of using a stopwatch.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
When it comes to game loading, the Phison PS5018-E18 proves more competitive than the E16 before it, but with the current flash, even Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus takes the lead over it in this test. The E18 is not quite as responsive as Samsung’s 980 PRO nor WD’s Black SN850, at least not yet.
Transfer Rates – DiskBench
We use the DiskBench storage benchmarking tool to test file transfer performance with our own custom blocks of data. Our 50GB dataset includes 31,227 files of various types, like pictures, PDFs, and videos. Our 100GB dataset consists of 22,579 files, with 50GB of them being large movies. We copy the data sets to new folders and then follow-up with a read test of a newly-written 6.5GB zip file and 15GB movie file.
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When copying around datasets and reading large files, the Phison PS5018-E18 prototype delivered responsive performance, especially strong read performance, but it isn’t quite on par with the 1TB WD Black SN850 and Samsung 980 PRO. When copying our 50GB and 100GB datasets, the Phison PS5018-E18 ranked fourth place, outperforming most of the Gen3 competitors, but trailing WD’s mighty RAID 0 configured Black AN1500.
Trace Testing – PCMark 10 Storage Tests
PCMark 10 is a trace-based benchmark that uses a wide-ranging set of real-world traces from popular applications and everyday tasks to measure the performance of storage devices. The quick benchmark is more relatable to those who use their PCs for leisure or basic office work, while the full benchmark relates more to power users.
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While previous tests show minor gains over the E16, PCMark 10 quick results look to have degraded compared to the E16 and are a little on the low side. That’s a little strange considering there is now an additional core in its architecture. PCMark 10’s Full System Drive benchmark shows improvement, but the Phison PS5018-E18 is still ranking behind both the new Samsung and WD.
Trace Testing – SPECworkstation 3
Like PCMark 10, SPECworkstation 3 is a trace-based benchmark, but it is designed to push the system harder by measuring workstation performance in professional applications.
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When hit with some harder workloads in SPECWorkstation3, Phison’s E18 delivered fast performance but didn’t ellipse its competition in the way that Samsung 980 PRO’s performance did. The company will need to work a bit harder to improve to Samsung-like levels here.
Synthetic Testing – ATTO / iometer
iometer is an advanced and highly configurable storage benchmarking tool while ATTO is a simple and free application that SSD vendors commonly use to assign sequential performance specifications to their products. Both of these tools give us insight into how the device handles different file sizes.
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In ATTO, we tested Phison’s PS5018-E18 at a QD of 1, representing most day-to-day file access at various block sizes. Based on ATTO’s results, the E18 shows the fastest peak sequential results, but once we bumped up the QD, both the Samsung and WD inched ahead in reads.
The E18 came back and demonstrated very responsive write performance, however, peaking at 6.6 GBps. When it comes to random performance, ranking fourth in read performance and first in write performance, the E18 is fairly competitive with the current flash, but not as tuned as its competitors.
First Thoughts on the PS5018-E18 Prototype
Phison’s PS5018-E18 NVMe SSD controller is impressive on paper and has some fast specs. With five CPU cores, it is just one shy of Crucial’s P5, but isn’t shackled down by a Gen3 PHY and runs much cooler thanks to TSMC’s 12nm technology node.
With our prototype using Micron’s 96L B27B TLC and operating at 1,200 MTps, the controller shows noticeable improvements over the company’s E16 in some workloads, but there are still some kinks to be worked out. Samsung’s 980 PRO and WD’s Black SN850 both have the upper hand for now.
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The Phison PS5018-E18’s performance will be a lot more interesting to analyze once we have finalized firmware and NAND configurations. With support for up to 1,600 MTps NAND flash, higher speeds are just around the corner and a lot of the performance gap will shrink.
In fact, while it wasn’t until just days ago that Micron announced supporting NAND, Phison already has new prototypes with Micron’s faster 176L (B47R) flash in hand and development is well underway. Retail products are just around the corner, roughly a month or two away.
Lexar has made a name for itself in the portable storage market—they are very well known for their SD cards and USB sticks, so it’s natural for them to expand into other areas of flash storage, like consumer SSDs. Lexar was founded as a subsidiary of Micron, but was sold to Longsys in 2017 and has been operating quite independently since.
This is the first review on our new Ryzen based SSD bench setup. The NM700 is Lexar’s flagship M.2 NVMe SSD. We reviewed the NM610 a while ago, which has turned out to be a pretty interesting price/performance option, as its price has come down significantly. While the NM610 uses a Silicon Motion SM2263XT controller, the NM700 is built around a Marvell 88SS1092 “Eldora Plus” controller—it’s been a while since we’ve reviewed a Marvell-powered SSD. The flash chips have been rebranded by Longsys, so we don’t know any details about them, other that they are TLC.
The Lexar NM700 is available in capacities of 256 GB ($50), 512 GB ($80) and 1 TB ($170). Endurance for these models is set at 150 TBW, 300 TBW and 600 TBW respectively. Lexar includes a five-year warranty.
Simon Crisp 3 days ago Featured Tech Reviews, NAS, Network, Reviews, SSD Drives
According to Seagate, the IronWolf 510 is the world’s first PCIe M.2 SSD built from the ground up to be used for caching duties in NAS devices. Priced around £370 for the 1.92TB model, we put this drive through its paces today.
Available in four capacities (at the time of writing this review); 240GB, 480GB, 960GB and the flagship 1.92TB we are reviewing here, the IronWolf 510 is built around an eight-channel Phison PS5012-E12DC controller and Kioxia BiCS3 64-layer 3D TLC NAND.
The quoted official Sequential read figures for the range are up to 3,150MB/s for the 1.92TB and 960GB models, 2650MB/s for the 480GB drive and up to 2,450MB/s for the 240GB drive. Write performance is quoted as up to 850MB/s for the 1.92TB drive, while the 960GB drive is faster at up to 1,000MB/s. The 480GB drive is rated as up to 600MB/s and the entry model 240GB drive gets a 290MB/s figure.
Random 4K performance for the four drive range is quoted as up to 290,000 IOPS read and up to 27,000 IOPS write (QD32 8 threads) for the 1.92TB model. The 960GB drive is rated faster at up to 345,000 IOPS for reads and up to 29,000 IOPS for writes. The 480GB drive is rated as up to 199,000 IOPS and 21,000 IOPS for read and write respectively while the 240GB drive makes do with up to 100,000 IOPS reads and 13,000 IOPS writes.
Seagate has built some very serious endurance into the IronWolf 510. It has a DWPD (Drive Write Per Day) figure of one for the length of the 5-year warranty that backs the drive and a TBW figure of 3,500TB together with an MTBF of 1.8M hours.
Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 1.92TB.
NAND Components: Kioxia BiCS3 64-layer 3D TLC NAND.
NAND Controller: Phison PS5012-E12DC.
Cache: 2GB DDR4.
Interface: PCIe Gen3 x4, NVMe 1.3.
Form Factor: M.2 2280.
Dimensions: 22.15 x 80.15 x 3.58mm.
Drive Weight: 8.3g.
Firmware Version: STIS1029.
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During the three-day virtual Flash Memory Summit for 2020, CEO and founder of NEO Semiconductor, Andy Hsu, gave a detailed presentation covering the company’s new X-NAND flash architecture that promises to combine the speed of SLC flash with the density and low pricing of QLC flash.
NEO Semiconductor was founded in 2012 in San Jose, CA, and has twenty memory-related patents to its name. The company first revealed its X-NAND in 2018 as a storage solution for the emerging markets of AI and 5G but has now shared the deep-dive details.
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X-NAND promises intriguing performance numbers: The company claims it can do random read and write workloads 3x times faster than QLC flash, and beat it by 27x/14x for sequential read and write workloads, respectively (see above). This is achieved with a far smaller die that’s roughly 37% the size of a 16-plane design (see below). There is some flexibility here as speed and die size reduction can be balanced as needed. Still, X-NAND offers particularly high levels of parallelism even for smaller form factors, as you would find in a smartphone or an M.2 drive. The company also claims this can be achieved without impacting endurance or cost, all while consuming very little power.
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As the NAND market moves to cheaper but slower flash to increase density, for example, from 3-bit TLC to 4-bit QLC, performance and endurance are inherently reduced. Read and write latencies increase, which can reduce sequential write performance. That’s especially detrimental for datacenter and NAS applications.
Consumer QLC drives tend to rely heavily on SLC caching, which consists of part of the native flash operating in single-bit mode. Still, enterprise workloads do not allow for sufficient idle time to migrate written data from the SLC buffer to primary QLC storage.
Instead, X-NAND offers a way for the flash to maintain SLC performance throughout by allowing for simultaneous SLC and QLC write modes (see below).
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Hsu was quick to point out that higher-density flash is growing at a rapid rate, citing Western Digital’s anticipation that up to 50% of the market would be comprised of QLC by 2024. His goal with X-NAND was to make sure it used a conventional NAND process with no structural changes, no additional manufacturing costs, and fast development with quick sampling as a solution based on current NAND. That strategy is designed to speed up the adoption of QLC, especially for the data center as flash performance would no longer fall drastically behind I/O speeds. Further, X-NAND programming and erase policies are designed to drastically improve endurance over QLC flash (see below).
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X-NAND achieves these gains by going from a 16KB page buffer per plane to a 1KB page buffer per plane, but with sixteen times the planes, as one example.
A plane tends to be the smallest unit of interleaving for flash, with one or more planes per flash die. The page buffer holds data in transit, like read or write data, between the bus and the flash. A flash die is divided into planes containing bit lines or strings of cells (see above), so planar division can reduce the bit line’s length, which helps boost performance. This technique is further enhanced by shielding between adjacent bit lines to reduce settling time when reading or verifying a program (see below). Write performance is increased because up to sixteen bit lines can be programmed in parallel.
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X-NAND has six primary features: multiple bit line writes, multi-plane QLC programming, program suspend, multi-BL reads, single latch QLC reads, and the aforementioned SLC/QLC parallel programming. Depending on the implementation, this can improve program throughput substantially as multiple planes can be used in the programming sequence (see below).
The use of multiple banks allows for simultaneous SLC and QLC programming, ensuring the SLC pages are never full, while data can be programmed to the QLC pages at SLC speed. The program suspect function enables using the internally shared inter-page buffer data lines or I/O bus to minimize additional latency. Reads are improved by having a plane latch the read per bit line, with DRAM-like refreshing of data in a non-destructive way due to high capacitance.
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X-NAND can work with any number of existing NAND layouts, which increases its flexibility and ease of conversion (see below). NEO Semiconductor intends for the tech to be cost-effective, fast, and easy to implement with existing designs.
The company says it is especially useful with higher-density flash like QLC because it can leverage the high capacity with a balance of high performance and lower die area while being affordable with good endurance and power consumption. The tech is aimed at embedded devices, AI, and the cloud, including NAS, data center, and edge computing.
Historically, industrial-grade SSDs have had to offer reliability, endurance and extended temperatures support. Today, they also need to feature high capacity, plus high performance. To that end, a number of the best SSD makers started to offer industrial-class drives in M.2 form-factors in recent years. Western Digital wasn’t one of them — until this week. On Tuesday, the brand introduced its first M.2 SSDs for emerging automotive, industrial and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
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The Western Digital IX SN530 is based on the company’s own controller and firmware, as well as 96-layer 3D TLC NAND memory that can work in TLC or SLC mode.
Depending on endurance requirements, the IX SN530 can offer 256GB-2TB of 3D TLC NAND or 85GB-340GB of 3D SLC NAND memory. TLC drives are rated for up to 5,200TBW (terabytes written); whereas, SLC SSDs are rated for up to 24PBW (petabytes written).
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As far as performance is concerned, Western Digital claims the IX SN530 drives offer up to 2,400 MBps sequential read speed as well as up to 1,950 MBps sequential write speed.
The manufacturer claims that the new drives feature a comprehensive NVMe 1.4-based thermal management and can survive temperatures between from -40-85 degrees Celsius (-40-185 degrees Fahrenheit)
Being designed for a broad range of emerging applications, (including robotics, industrial computers, IoT gateways and in-flight entertainment systems), Western Digital’s IX SN530 come in M.2 2230 or M.2 2280 form factors and offer various levels of endurance and performance. Essentially, the company’s addressing multiple markets with a single family of drives, which simplifies its product portfolio and lowers costs. Given that industrial applications tend to have very long lifecycles, expect the IX SN530 to stay on the market for a long time.
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Western Digital’s IX SN530 drives are now sampling with select customers. Commercial shipments of the SSDs will start after the company’s clients validate and qualify the drives with their applications.
Sporting a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and the latest quad-plane QLC flash from Micron, the Rocket Q4 has the goods to deliver performance, and it comes with competitive pricing.
For
Aesthetic appeal
High performance and efficiency
Up to 5-years warranty
Against
1-year warranty without registration
Slow write speed after write cache fills
Low endurance-per-GB compared to TLC
Features and Specifications
Looking for PCIe Gen4 SSD performance paired with high-capacity, but don’t want to break the bank? With sleek looks and competitive pricing, Sabrent’s Rocket Q4 may be just what gamers on a budget are looking for. This M.2 NVMe SSD dishes out speeds of up to 4.9GBps and keeps cool doing it, but it isn’t the fastest nor the most endurant SSD on the market. That’s where its price-to-performance ratio becomes essential.
Sabrent’s Rocket Q was one of the first QLC SSDs to hit the market with a high-end Gen3 NVMe controller, and the company’s new Rocket Q4 is one of the first QLC-based SSDs powered by a Gen4 controller. With Phison’s PS5016-E16 managing up to 4TB of Micron’s 96-Layer QLC flash, Sabrent’s Rocket Q4 offers potential buyers speed, capacity, and affordability, filling the gap between the Rocket Q and Rocket NVMe 4.0 we’ve previously reviewed.
Specifications
Product
Rocket Q4 1TB
Rocket Q4 2TB
Rocket Q4 4TB
Pricing
$159.99
$319.99
$749.99
+$20 for the heatsink
+$20 for the heatsink
+$20 for the heatsink
Capacity (User / Raw)
1000GB / 1024GB
2000GB / 2048GB
4000GB / 4096GB
Form Factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.3
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.3
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.3
Controller
Phison E16
Phison E16
Phison E16
DRAM
DDR4
DDR4
DDR4
Memory
Micron 96L QLC
Micron 96L QLC
Micron 96L QLC
Sequential Read
4,700 MBps
4,800 MBps
4,900 MBps
Sequential Write
1,850 MBps
3,600 MBps
3,500 MBps
Random Read
180,000 IOPS
350,000 IOPS
350,000 IOPS
Random Write
450,000 IOPS
700,000 IOPS
700,000 IOPS
Security
N/A
N/A
N/A
Endurance (TBW)
200 TB
400 TB
800 TB
Part Number
SB-RKTQ4-1TB
SB-RKTQ4-2TB
SB-RKTQ4-4TB
Warranty
5-Years w/ Registration; 1-Year w/out
5-Years w/ Registration; 1-Year w/out
5-Years w/ Registration; 1-Year w/out
Sabrent’s Rocket Q4 comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. Pricing lands at roughly $0.16 – $0.19 per GB, and you can purchase a model with a somewhat oversized heatsink for roughly $20 more. Sabrent rates the Rocket Q4 to deliver up to 4.9/3.6 GBps of sequential throughput and upwards of 350,000/750,000 random read/write IOPS, too (depending on capacity).
However, these numbers represent sustained performance. The Rocket Q4 features a fully dynamic write cache that recovers fairly quickly. The cache spans one-quarter of the available capacity, meaning our 4TB sample can absorb up to 1TB of write data before performance slows.
Even though it sports Phison’s fourth-gen LDPC error correction control, Sabrent rates the Rocket Q4 for lower-than-average endurance of up to 800TB on the largest 4TB model (200TB per 1TB of capacity). The endurance rating applies throughout the SSDs’ warranty period, which is just one year by default if you do not sign up for the five-year coverage by registering the SSD within 90 days.
Sabrent’s Rocket Q4 supports secure erase functionality as well as Trim and S.M.A.R.T. data reporting. But, unlike some competing drives, it does not support AES 256-bit hardware encryption. It does support end-to-end data path protection and power management technologies, though.
Software and Accessories
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Sabrent offers a free-to-use copy of Acronis True Image OEM for drive cloning and backups. The company also includes an SSD toolbox called the ‘Control Panel App’ to monitor and update its firmware. It also has a sector-size formatting tool for those who need to change between 4Kn and 512e formats.
A Closer Look
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When it comes to first impressions, we’re quite impressed by the Rocket Q4’s sleek looks. Minor touches like the black PCB, well-designed white sticker, and the copper heat spreader that spans the SSD’s surface gives the drive just the tweaks needed to improve on the Rocket Q’s already good looks. The 4TB SSD comes in an M.2 2280 double-sided form factor with two NAND packages, the controller, and a DRAM chip on the top of the PCB, and another two NAND packages and a DRAM chip reside on the bottom.
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Phison’s E16 was the first PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD controller to hit the market. It improves upon the company’s E12 NVMe SSD controller with a few modifications. It is built on a 28nm process node and features two Cortex R5 CPUs with dual co-processors (CoXProcessor 2.0 technology). However, rather than operating at a 666MHz clock-rate, the E16 runs a little faster at 733MHz. The co-processors operate at lower speeds and help offload some of the firmware routines from the R5s for both improved performance and efficiency.
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The E16 leverages a DRAM cache for mapping FTL data. The 4TB Rocket Q4 has two 8Gb SK hynix DDR4 DRAM ICs that operate at 1,600 MHz, and both consume 1.2v. Additionally, the SSD features eight NAND channels, twice that of low-end controllers, for fast performance and a slight reduction in overall efficiency. The controller interfaces with the 1Tb Micron QLC flash dies at up to 800 MTps over those channels. This flash features a quad-plane design that enables more interleaving than two-plane designs. Along with other advanced engineering techniques, Sabrent says this helps achieve very low latency.
Micron unveiled the first 3D NAND a 176 layer in the world, a new step forward in terms of performance and density for NAND flash memories. We will see it on board SSDs for PCs, starting with Crucial solutions, but also in other sectors: servers, 5G equipment and automotive.
by Manolo De Agostini published 10 November 2020 , at 08: 00 in the Storage channel Micron Crucial
Micron Technology has announced a new breakthrough in the NAND flash memory : the US company presented the first 3D NAND flash at 176 layer , able to guarantee a density up to 10 times higher than the first 3D NAN projects D seen in past years. We are faced with a number of layers which is almost the 40% higher than the competition and a clear step forward compared to 128 layers achieved by Micron so far.
The new NAND targets the mobile sector, traditional SSDs that we see in the PC sector and servers and any other industrial sector where large storage capacity and high performance are required, such as that of 5G equipment, artificial intelligence and automotive .
Micron’s 3D NAND is the second generation of solutions the company has developed since ending its collaboration with Intel. At the base of these chips, for now of type TLC (three bits per cell) with a density of 512 Gbit , we find the technology Charge-trap , the architecture replacement gate (RG NAND) and the CMOS-under technique -array : all together these solutions create Micron’s fifth generation of 3D NAND and ensure a latency in reading and writing better than 35% with respect to NAND a 96 layer. Micron also indicates a performance increase of over 25% with respect to NAND a 128 layers and results with mixed workloads better than 15 approximately% compared to NAND-based UFS 3.1 modules a 96 layer.
I 176 layers were obtained by joining two parts (deck) from 88 layer and the new 3D NAND is able to reach 1600 megatransfer per second (MT / s) on the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) bus , an improvement of 33% compared to the previous generation ( the 3D NAND a 96 and 128 layer stopped at 1200 MT / s). The company has also simplified the development of the firmware with a single-pass programming algorithm which allows for more easy integration and accelerates the arrival of final products on the market.
In technical terms, each day a 176 layer is thick 45 micrometers, one fifth of a sheet of paper and two thirds of a human hair. the very small size, a single Micron 3D NAND die a 176 layer can archive 20 – 30 hours of HD movies, the equivalent of 10 DVD . Furthermore, Micron is able to stack 16 of these dies in a single package which is approximately the same size as a little finger tip, less than 1.5mm thick. Thanks to advanced technologies and production processes, “ i 176 layers occupy the same height as we previously inserted 64 strata , “said the US company.
One of the most important features of this memory is the Micron’s ability to create a multitude of “holes” in the layers of the 3D NAND, then filled with metal to form vertical connections between the cells. These vertical links – the company claims there are around 1 billion – are similar to elevators in a skyscraper and allow you to read, write, and erase data in cells.
3D NAND TLC a 176 layer of Micron is in volume production in the Singapore plant and is already in delivery to the first customers , also to Crucial , the consumer branch of company we know well for SSDs. Expect new announcements and products based on this new 3D NAND memory over the course of 2021.
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