Marvell Has A QLC-Capable SSD Controller Delivering 670K IOPS
LAS VEGAS, NV -- Marvell's next generation high-speed NVMe controller came out of the test lab for a showing at CES 2018. As of now we can't discuss the model number or code name but we can leak some details. The new controller will eventually replace the NVMe 1.1 Eldora (88SS1093) used in some popular SSDs shipping today, like the Plextor M9Pe.
The controller will be part of Marvell's next generation controller product family addressing consumer, cloud data center, and enterprise SSDs. In the consumer space, manufacturers can built add-in card or M.2 form factors. The new product family will have controllers that can run in an enterprise-focused dual port PCIe 3.0 x2 configuration, most likely in a U.2 form factor with two lanes each going to separate nodes (computers in the same server chassis).
We first heard about the controller while talking with various companies about QLC NAND, four bits per cell. Every controller manufacturer is feverishly working to get hardware ready for the low endurance NAND that requires increased error correction technology. Marvell’s NANDEdge ECC technology is expected to be a key enabler of future QLC SSD solutions.
The demo on display already produces impressive performance. We saw results over 670,000 IOPS and 3,500 MB/s in the demo with 3D TLC flash. We don't have any details on the time-to-market for this hardware but expect to learn more in June when we visit Taiwan for Computex.
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Chris Ramseyer was a senior contributing editor for Tom's Hardware. He tested and reviewed consumer storage.
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Stephen_144 Pair that controller with the new Intel SSD 760p and you have got yourself a speed storage system.Reply -
razor512 For when you want an SSD that is fast but you can't write more than 1 or 2 small text files to before the NAND fails.Reply -
2Be_or_Not2Be Wait a minute - the title says "Marvell Has A QLC-Capable SSD Controller Delivering 670K IOPS", but the article text says "We saw results over 670,000 IOPS and 3,500 MB/s in the demo with 3D TLC flash." That's TLC - not QLC.Reply
Sorry, Chris, that title seems misleading to me. -
WyomingKnott "Every controller manufacturer is feverishly working to get hardware ready for the low endurance NAND that requires increased error correction technology."Reply
Hooray for low-endurance NAND. Let's make things cheaper and worse. Offload the DRAM while you're at it. -
Kewlx25 Reply20599067 said:For when you want an SSD that is fast but you can't write more than 1 or 2 small text files to before the NAND fails.
In theory there's a linear trade off. 10x the storage, but 10x fewer writes. But it works out to have the same amount of data written. In cases where you don't delete your data, you'd trade 100x the write cycles for 100x the storage.