Intel and its Micron production partner have never been shy to promote the advantages of their Optane technology. It’s actually a possible change of game. So far we have seen some products that show what this exciting technology is capable of doing. The first products were the cache units a bit Optane which offered some advantages, but didn’t really set the world on fire. Then we saw the excellent high-end 900p and its company counterparts that under many workload are simply the fastest SSD available. We finally have an Optane unit where the masses can sink their teeth. The Intel Optane 800p we are looking at here is the first truly consumer-oriented model and one that promises to shake the traditional SSD market.
Intel claims that the 3d Xpoint memory is inherently superior to traditional NAND Flash-based SSDs, delivering significantly better random access throughput, lower latency, and improved strength. It also negates a weakness of traditional ssds that degrade in performance as they are full of data. In Terms of reliability, the 58GB 800p is rated for a very respectable 182.5 terabytes written. The version 118 GB duplicates that. These are really excellent grades and are a real strength of optane 800p.
The 800p series are M. 2 units that are available in 58GB and 118 GB capacity. They connect directly to a normal M 2 slot, but only if you use a 200 series chipset motherboard with a Kaby and newer CPU than the Lake only. Unlike most NVMe SSDs, the 800p uses only two PCIe 3.0 lines that limit the drive’s gross bandwidth. Intel claims that the 800p is designed for low latency and random performance, which does not require the four typical PCIe lines. We have the 58GB version available at hand to test. While 58GB is enough for a Windows installation, it doesn’t leave much room for many applications, not to mention a meat game, which could also be too big for the entire unit.
When it comes to performance, Intel Optane 800p is performed exceptionally well in some areas while the average in others. The strong point of 800p is the performance of non-healthy random reading and writing and in/out operations per second (IOPS). The performance of random reading in particular is many times that of a Samsung 960 Pro which in itself is not left behind. This kind of read performance matched with high iops sky makes the 800p a very responsive SSD, and perfect for a main loader drive where the windows are doing all sorts of things in the background all the time.
The sequential reading and writing performance is back in the package, though far from bad. Intel company has clearly designed the 800p as a boot drive or application rather than a storage device where its performance advantage is denied. We had an idea of what it is to come in the form of 900p much more expensive, and we are very happy to see what Intel could do with a future M. 2 variant with a PCIe x4 connection and a 1TB + capacity. If the price appropriately, it could be the real game Changer hopefully 3d Xpoint products can be.
We like the Intel Optane 800p. It offers a new level of response, but it has preventable problems. The first question is the ability. The 58GB capacity of our test sample is not enough to justify itself as a startup and application unit. Also the 118 GB version is roughly the minimum you want to use as the main unit in 2018. The second question is the steep price that puts it well in the network of higher capacity SSD. The market needs a disk of 250 GB and more 800p and we hope that a beast arrives with more palatable prices.
If you are willing to pay to play, then the 800p is a solid product.
Specs: 58Gb capacity • M.2 2280 Form Factor • PCIe 3.0 x2 Interface • 1450 MB/s sequential read • 640 MB/s sequential write • 250K Random Read IOPS • 145K Random Write IOPS • 182.5 TBW Endurance rating • 5 Year Warranty
Photo:Intel
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