Intel SSD DC P3700 800GB and 1.6TB Review: The Future of Storage
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Page 1:Intel SSD DC P3700: NVMe Enterprise Storage
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Page 2:A Deeper Look At NVM Express
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Page 3:Intel's SSD DC P3700: Up Close and Personal
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Page 4:How We Tested Intel's SSD DC P3700
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Page 5:Results: 4 KB Random Performance and Latency
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Page 6:Results: Performance Consistency
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Page 7:Results: Sequential Performance
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Page 8:Results: Enterprise Workload Performance
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Page 9:Results: Enterprise Video Streaming Performance
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Page 10:Intel SSD DC P3700: A Stellar First Look at NVMe
How We Tested Intel's SSD DC P3700
| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E), 32 nm, 3.3 GHz, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled |
| Motherboard | Intel DX79SI, X79 Express |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws Z-Series (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 @ DDR3-1600, 1.5 V |
| System Drive | Intel SSD 320 160 GB SATA 3Gb/s |
| Tested Drives | Intel SSD DC P3700 800 GB and 1.6 TB |
| Graphics | AMD FirePro V4800 1 GB |
| Power Supply | OCZ ModXStream Pro 700 W |
| System Software and Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate/Windows Server 2012 R2 |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Driver | Graphics: AMD 8.883 |
| Benchmark Suite | |
| Iometer v1.1.0 | Four Workers, 4 KB Random: LBA=Full, Span Varying Queue Depths |
| ATTO | v2.4.7, 2 GB, QD=4 |
| Custom | C++, 8 MB Sequential, QD=4 |
| Enterprise Testing: Iometer Workloads | Read | Write | 512 Bytes | 1 KB | 2 KB | 4 KB | 8 KB | 16 KB | 32 KB | 64 KB | 128 KB | 512 KB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Database | 67% | 100% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 100% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| File Server | 80% | 100% | 10% | 5% | 5% | 60% | 2% | 4% | 4% | 10% | n/a | n/a |
| Web Server | 100% | 100% | 22% | 15% | 8% | 23% | 15% | 2% | 6% | 7% | 1% | 1% |
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), a working group made up of SSD, flash, and controller vendors, has a testing procedure that attempts to control as many of the variables inherent to SSDs as possible. SNIA’s Solid State Storage Performance Test Specification (SSS PTS) is a great resource for enterprise SSD testing. The procedure does not define what tests should be run, but rather the way in which they are run. This workflow is broken down into four parts:
- Purge: Purging puts the drive at a known starting point. For SSDs, this normally means Secure Erase.
- Workload-Independent Preconditioning: A prescribed workloadthat is unrelated to the test workload.
- Workload-Based Preconditioning: The actual test workload (4 KB random, 128 KB sequential, and so on), which pushes the drive towards a steady state.
- Steady State: The point at which the drive’s performance is no longer changing for the variable being tracked.
These steps are critical when testing SSDs. It’s incredibly easy to not fully condition the drive and still observe out-of-box behavior, which may lead one to think that it’s steady-state. These steps are also important when going between random and sequential writes.
For all performance tests in this review, the SSS PTS was followed to ensure accurate and repeatable results.
All tests employ random data, when available. Intel's SSD DC P3700 does not perform any compression prior to writing, so there is no difference in performance-based data patterns. We also chose to focus our comparisons on the Micron P320h and P420m, which are quite similar in performance and architecture. Both employ a proprietary driver that, while not NVMe, yields a very close approximation.
- Intel SSD DC P3700: NVMe Enterprise Storage
- A Deeper Look At NVM Express
- Intel's SSD DC P3700: Up Close and Personal
- How We Tested Intel's SSD DC P3700
- Results: 4 KB Random Performance and Latency
- Results: Performance Consistency
- Results: Sequential Performance
- Results: Enterprise Workload Performance
- Results: Enterprise Video Streaming Performance
- Intel SSD DC P3700: A Stellar First Look at NVMe
(3500 scores highest, while the 3700 scores lowest)
By the way, OCZ revodrive was priced similarly, I don't see that big fuzz from Toms here.
What the hell is LFM?
Edit:
It's not actually wrong it might just be my out of date browser I'm using in the office but for me the numbers aren't lining up correctly.
Linear Feet per Minute of airflow
Linear Feet per Minute of airflow
Ah that makes sense now
Fixed - Thanks!
You are correct, there are PCIe SSDs that can beat the P3700, but Intel undercuts the price on those SSDs by a wide margin. SSDs that are in the same price ballpark as the P3700 don't come close in most tests.
Yes, these SSDs still have a write endurance specification that is listed on the first page. The P3700 can withstand 10 drive writes per day (DWPD) for a full 5 years.
The OCZ RevoDrive's that are similarly priced are more consumer drives and not enterprise like the P3XXX series from Intel. These drives will have more write endurance and greater sustained IOP performance, which is what enterprise customers pay for. Also, NVMe isn't an Intel unique thing. Expect to see all PCIe SSD companies, including OCZ, to follow.
I wouldn't say Intel is trying to claim anything. They are following\leading an industry specification that most companies will move to eventually, including OCZ. Native booting is obviously one benefit, but low latency and fewer CPU cycles required are what enterprise customers are happy about.
AKA Megatron ?
i don't see the point in this, it reminds me of the ISA memory storage cards. i can't see this lasting more than 5-10 years as some company already figured out how to do this with RAM (samsung wasn't it?) and is working on the need for storage drives altogether and just have RAM drives that don't lose their data sort of an mpci but in a 304-9 pin dimm slot form factor if i recall properly ?
so these nvmhci might be on the market now but when that company brings their solution to market it's going to eliminate the need for pcie and sata except for optical disc reading and graphics cards. but i am sure those manufacturers will be looking for a way to incorporate gpus into DIMM slot factors to take real advantage of boards with 32+ PCIe lanes like socket 2011/X79/X99 solutions.
it would eliminate the pathway needs for alot of peripherals and decrease the size of M/B tremendously to where you'd only need a PC the size of a 9"x 6"x 8" case which USB 3.1 and display port/thunderbolt/lightning eliminating the need for alot of built ins
oh, i see, i think i have miss that part. when NVMe first come to my mind, i thought their storage chips have move to non volatile memory base like PCM, ReRAM and ST-MRAM. but now only i notice their storage chips are still NAND base.