The OCZ Trion 150 SSD Review

The OCZ Trion 150 is the latest entry-level SSD from Toshiba’s subsidiary. It makes almost no hardware changes from the Trion 100 aside from using Toshiba’s newer 15nm TLC NAND, but it ends up being a very different drive, especially given current market conditions.

Intel Rolls Out New PCIe SSDs for Cloud Datacenters

Intel on Thursday introduced several new PCIe SSDs designed for cloud datacenters. The new drives increase capacities, shrink latencies and offer higher throughput in order to follow demands of new datacenters deployed by various companies these days. Some of the new SSDs are based on Intel’s 3D NAND memory, whereas other feature NVMe 1.2 technology and dual-port U.2 capability to increase performance of mission-critical data-storage applications.

Intel hopes that in the future SSDs will be used not only to store hot, frequently used data, but also data that is currently stored on highly-reliable high-performance hard drives. To replace 10K and 15K RPM HDDs in the datacenter, Intel needs to offer improved reliability, high endurance, unbeatable performance, lower costs and additional features impossible on HDDs. The new SSDs from the company bring a number of improvements to the datacenter compared to previous-generation drives.

The new Intel SSD DC P3320 and P3520 families of SSDs are based on 32-layer 3D NAND flash memory developed and produced by Intel and Micron. The drives are powered by unspecified controllers, and support end-to-end data protection as well as some other functions important in the datacenters. Intel claims that that its 3D NAND has better endurance than planar NAND flash memory, which is common knowledge at this point, but does not provide any exact numbers for their NAND. The DC P3320 comes in 2.5” or HHHL card form-factor and uses either PCIe 3.0 x4 or U.2 to connect to the host. The DC P3320 is being pitched as a step up from Intel’s SATA-based datacenter SSDs, while the DC P3520 will presumably be replacing the DC P3500 series.

The DC P3320 SSDs offer a range of capacities, including 450 GB, 1.2 TB and 2 TB models and are designed for read-intensive applications. The new drives are rated to offer maximum sequential read/write speed of up to 1600/1400 MB/s. Maximum random 4K read/write speed declared by Intel for the DC P3320 is 365K/22K IOPS (input/output operations per second). Intel does not reveal any details about the DC P3520, but claims that these drives were designed to deliver “significant” performance and latency improvements over the DC P3320 (which probably indicates higher parallelism and higher capacities, which Intel does not want to talk about at the moment).

Meanwhile the new Intel DC D3600/3700 SSDs (not to be confused with the P or S series) are designed for mission-critical storage applications that should function 24/7, which is why they utilize proven MLC NAND flash memory with high-endurance technology (HET) as well as controllers that support NVMe 1.2 technology with various high-availability features and support for up to 80 I/O queues. Intel does not disclose which controller it uses, but claims that they feature an integrated memory buffer and dynamic multiple namespaces management technology to improve efficiency of data management across drives in one machine, an exclusive feature (which potentially means that Intel uses a custom controller for these SSDs). The drives sport an active/active dual-port design that connects through a compatible backplane to two host systems simultaneously (which enables run-time recovery during failover when one of the hosts is unavailable) and support hot-plug capability. The DC D3600/D3700 drives also feature end-to-end data protection, power-loss data protection with self-test and thermal throttling and monitoring to ensure maximum reliability. The SSDs utilize PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and U.2 connectors. Since each drive has only a single U.2 connector, their dual-port mode relies on the backplane routing two PCIe lanes to each of the two host systems.

Intel’s DC D3600/D3700 solid-state drives will be available in 800 GB, 1.6 TB (D3700) as well as 1 TB and 2 TB (D3600) configurations. According to Intel, the new SSDs, deliver sequential read speeds of up to 2100 MB/s and sequential write performance of up to 1500 MB/s. The new SSDs can also perform up to 470K random read IOPS (4KB) and up to 95K random write IOPS (4KB).

Since SSDs with U.2 interface are not compatible with existing SAS or SATA backplanes (because they do not support PCIe), they need support from makers of storage solutions for datacenters. Intel claims that companies like EMC, Huawei, Quanta, Wistron and X-IO Technologies are ready to produce mission-critical storage ecosystem for PCIe-based SSDs, but does not provide further details.

A hands-on look at a sample of the DC D3700 revealed that Intel has changed the design of the heatsink on the bottom of the drive to allow for airflow in two directions across the back half of the drive where the controller most likely resides.

Intel did not touch upon price and availability details about its new SSDs, but expect them to arrive later this year. Keeping in mind that there are not a lot of mission-critical PCIe backplanes in the wild at the moment, it will take some time before Intel’s DC D3600/D3700 get more or less widespread.

Samsung Demos Its First BGA SSD: 1500 MB/s Read Speed and Tiny Package

In the recent years SSDs in M.2 form-factor have greatly reduced the amount of space required for storage sub-systems inside modern PCs. However, as computers get even smaller, there is pressure for SSDs to further shrink as well. Solid-state drives in BGA packaging are considerably smaller than SSDs in M.2 form-factor and for a couple of years platform developers like Intel have been promoting such drives among PC makers. Intel said in 2014 that an M.2-2260 SSD could take 15% of space inside a 2-in-1 hybrid PC, whereas usage of a BGA SSD could save a great amount of space and could allow to increase battery size by around 10%. Moreover, in many cases usage of BGA storage can shrink Z-height of devices as well as improve thermal performance compared to M.2 modules, according to Intel.

As a result, the market for BGA form factor SSDs has been growing in size and importance at a quick pace. To that end, at the 2016 Samsung SSD Forum Japan, Samsung demonstrated its first SSD in a BGA (ball-grid array) packaging. Despite of tiny form-factor, Samsung’s PM971 SSD offers rather high performance thanks to PCIe interface and a special controller. Meanwhile the little drive will be targetted for use inside PCs, tablets, 2-in-1s and other types of small computers or embedded applications.

First BGA SSD From Samsung

Samsung’s PM971 SSD is based on Samsung’s new Photon controller as well as MLC V-NAND flash memory. It is impossible to say at this time whether the Photon controller of the PM971 SSD has anything to do with the controller used inside the 750 EVO drives (the controller is smaller than usual as it has only two processing cores), but it looks very likely.

Samsung plans to offer three versions of the SSD, featuring 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB capacities. The PM971 SSD supports sequential read speed of up to 1500 MB/s as well as sequential write speed of up to 600 MB/s, suggesting that it relies on PCIe 3.0 interface. The PM971 SSD can perform 190K random read IOPS as well as up to 150K random write IOPS, according to information disclosed by Samsung.

Samsung PM971 SSD. Image by PC Watch.

At the event, Samsung did not reveal anything about internal architecture of its BGA SSD, which is rather interesting because the NAND controller has to extract maximum performance out of a limited number of NAND devices over a limited number of channels (provided, of course, that internal architecture relies on industry standards). Moreover, it is unknown whether the drive is compatible with the proposed M.2 specification for BGA SSDs. The only thing that is known about the SSD right now is that it is smaller than an SD card, according to PC Watch web-site.

Samsung is aiming for tablets and 2-in-1 hybrid PCs with its BGA SSDs, The company expects device manufacturers to adopt the product in the second half of 2016 or in the first half of 2017.

Standards for BGA SSDs Proposed

While we’re on the subject of BGA SSDs, this is a good time to touch upon the recent developments in the standardization of SSDs in this format. Even with the recent growth of the market, SSDs in BGA packaging are not something completely new. Intel, Toshiba, SanDisk, Microsemi, Silicon Motion and some others have all offered SSDs in BGA form-factors for years to various makers of embedded applications, whom in turn needed to save space or run their storage sub-systems in harsh environments. Early last year Toshiba rolled-out its first BGA SSDs with PCIe interface, and in September several members of PCI SIG (the organization, which develops PCIe interface, its derivatives and standards for PCIe-based devices) proposed a set of mechanical standards for BGA SSDs, which could open the doors for many manufacturers to enter the emerging market.

BGA SSDs with PCIe 3.0 or SATA interfaces will be a part of the PCI SIG’s M.2 specifications. At present select members of the organization (HP, Intel, Lenovo, Micron, SanDisk, Seagate and Toshiba) propose four types of soldered-down solid-state storage solutions: Type 1620, Type 2024, Type 2228 and Type 2828. M.2 types traditionally define width and length of the package in millimeters, so, the smallest BGA SSD will have measurements of 16 × 20 mm, whereas the largest BGA SSD will feature 28 × 28 mm packaging. SSDs in a BGA package may have Z-height up to 2 mm (measured with solder balls collapsed), but may be slimmer.

BGA SSDs that comply with the proposed M.2 types use the same signals as the M.2 socket 3 (so, they are compliant with both PCIe 3.0 and SATA 3.2 protocols and can utilize up to four PCIe lanes), but use 1.2V, 1.8V and 3.3V power rails. All the BGA SSDs contain the common core ball map of Type 1620 (which look pretty much the same as the core ball map of Toshiba’s BG-series SSDs) for data and power, but the larger drives also feature additional mechanical retention balls. Some BGA SSDs can be placed on M.2 modules in a bid to enable design flexibility for device makers (and upgradeability option for end-users), but only on the condition that the modules have voltage conversion circuitry to provide 1.8V or 1.2V as required.

A BGA SSD not only integrates NAND flash memory, but also a NAND controller, DRAM and all the things that could be needed for a fully-functional solid-state storage solution. From the software perspective, M.2 spec BGA SSDs are just solid-state drives with PCIe or SATA interfaces. And unlike MCPs (multi-chip packages) consisting of DRAM and NAND that companies like Micron and Samsung offer to makers of mobile devices, BGA SSDs are complete storage systems that can be attached directly to appropriate host interfaces.

The proposed BGA M.2 form-factors intend to unify packaging of single-chip SSDs and make such SSDs industry-standard devices available from various makers. It is unknown at this time whether Samsung’s PM971 will be compliant with the proposed specs, but it’s worth noting that the company is a member of PCI SIG and typically makes products in standard packages and form factors.