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Computex 2014: Samsung Launches TLC-Based 845DC EVO for The Enterprise

Computex 2014: Samsung Launches TLC-Based 845DC EVO for The Enterprise

While this is technically not a Computex announcement, Samsung is launching their TLC NAND based 845DC EVO today. This isn’t Samsung’s first TLC based enterprise SSD as a while ago they announced the PM853T but that drive is OEM only and is thus mostly limited to Samsung’s large OEM customers, whereas the 845DC EVO will be available in retail for small and medium data center use. 

Essentially, the 845DC EVO is just the retail version of the PM853T as everything from the NAND to the controller and firmware are similar. Samsung is only disclosing that the drive uses 10nm-class NAND, although I’m fairly certain that it’s the same 19nm process as found inside the 840 EVO. I hate to admit that I don’t know the exact controller inside the drive because PM853T was never sampled to media but I do have samples of the 845DC EVO, so once I get back from Taipei I will open up the drives and see what’s inside.

I don’t have the full data sheet yet but Samsung’s press release mentions that the drive is capable of up to 530MB/s sequential read speeds and 87K IOPS random read, which are quite typical for a SATA 6Gbps drive. The endurance goes all the way to up to 600TB, so while that is not MLC level, it’s still pretty good given that we are dealing with much lower endurance TLC NAND (e.g. the 800GB Micron M500DC does up to 1.9PB) and the drive is more geared towards the read-centric enterprise market (e.g. web servers). 

The pricing is very competitive in the enterprise segment. The 845DC EVO will be available in capacities of 240GB, 480GB and 960GB with MSRPs of $250, $490 and $969 respectively. I’ll be reviewing the drives in detail once I get back, so stay tuned for our in-depth review in a few weeks.

Computex 2014: Samsung Launches TLC-Based 845DC EVO for The Enterprise

Computex 2014: Samsung Launches TLC-Based 845DC EVO for The Enterprise

While this is technically not a Computex announcement, Samsung is launching their TLC NAND based 845DC EVO today. This isn’t Samsung’s first TLC based enterprise SSD as a while ago they announced the PM853T but that drive is OEM only and is thus mostly limited to Samsung’s large OEM customers, whereas the 845DC EVO will be available in retail for small and medium data center use. 

Essentially, the 845DC EVO is just the retail version of the PM853T as everything from the NAND to the controller and firmware are similar. Samsung is only disclosing that the drive uses 10nm-class NAND, although I’m fairly certain that it’s the same 19nm process as found inside the 840 EVO. I hate to admit that I don’t know the exact controller inside the drive because PM853T was never sampled to media but I do have samples of the 845DC EVO, so once I get back from Taipei I will open up the drives and see what’s inside.

I don’t have the full data sheet yet but Samsung’s press release mentions that the drive is capable of up to 530MB/s sequential read speeds and 87K IOPS random read, which are quite typical for a SATA 6Gbps drive. The endurance goes all the way to up to 600TB, so while that is not MLC level, it’s still pretty good given that we are dealing with much lower endurance TLC NAND (e.g. the 800GB Micron M500DC does up to 1.9PB) and the drive is more geared towards the read-centric enterprise market (e.g. web servers). 

The pricing is very competitive in the enterprise segment. The 845DC EVO will be available in capacities of 240GB, 480GB and 960GB with MSRPs of $250, $490 and $969 respectively. I’ll be reviewing the drives in detail once I get back, so stay tuned for our in-depth review in a few weeks.

Ask the Experts: Krisztián Flautner VP of R&D, ARM

Late last year we did an installment of Ask the Experts with ARM’s Peter Greenhalgh, lead architect for the Cortex A53. The whole thing went so well, in no small part to your awesome questions, that ARM is giving us direct access to a few more key folks over the coming months.

Krisztián Flautner is Vice President of Research and Development at ARM, and as you can guess – he’s focused on not the near term, but what’s coming down the road for ARM. ARM recently celebrated its 50 billionth CPU shipment via its partners, well Krisztián is more focused on the technologies that will drive the next 100 billion shipments.

Krisztián holds PhD, MSE and BSE degrees in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan. He leads a global team that researches everything from circuits to processor/system architectures and even devices. And he’s here to answer your questions.

If there’s anything you want to ask the VP of R&D at ARM, this is your chance. Leave a comment with your question and Krisztián will go through and answer any he’s able to answer. If you’ve got questions about process tech, Moore’s Law, ARM’s technology roadmap planning or pretty much anything about where ARM is going, ask away! 

Ask the Experts: Krisztián Flautner VP of R&D, ARM

Late last year we did an installment of Ask the Experts with ARM’s Peter Greenhalgh, lead architect for the Cortex A53. The whole thing went so well, in no small part to your awesome questions, that ARM is giving us direct access to a few more key folks over the coming months.

Krisztián Flautner is Vice President of Research and Development at ARM, and as you can guess – he’s focused on not the near term, but what’s coming down the road for ARM. ARM recently celebrated its 50 billionth CPU shipment via its partners, well Krisztián is more focused on the technologies that will drive the next 100 billion shipments.

Krisztián holds PhD, MSE and BSE degrees in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan. He leads a global team that researches everything from circuits to processor/system architectures and even devices. And he’s here to answer your questions.

If there’s anything you want to ask the VP of R&D at ARM, this is your chance. Leave a comment with your question and Krisztián will go through and answer any he’s able to answer. If you’ve got questions about process tech, Moore’s Law, ARM’s technology roadmap planning or pretty much anything about where ARM is going, ask away! 

Computex 2014: SanDisk Announces Extreme Pro SSD

Computex 2014: SanDisk Announces Extreme Pro SSD

Continuing our Computex coverage, SanDisk is launching their new flagship Extreme Pro SSD today here in Taipei. SanDisk is targeting the enthusiast and professional crowd with the drive by promising the most consistent performance in a consumer-class SSD along with an industry-leading warranty of 10 years (!). 

The Extreme Pro supports SanDisk’s nCache Pro technology, which should be similar to SanDisk’s regular nCache technology found in other drives but with more focus on consistency rather than peak performance.

SanDisk isn’t disclosing the controller under the hood but given SanDisk’s history with Marvell, I’m pretty confident that the controller is either Marvell 88SS9187 or 88SS9189. The NAND is SanDisk’s 1Ynm, which in layman terms means SanDisk’s/Toshiba’s second generation 19nm node also known as A19nm.

The Extreme Pro will be available later this month through SanDisk’s retail partners and the MSRPs are $189 for 240GB, $369 for 480GB and $599 for 960GB. We will be meeting with SanDisk here at Computex and are hoping to get more details, so stay tuned for updates!