Micron has actually been on a roll recently with brand-new item intros regardless of the slump in the flash market. The business is presently the only NAND maker shipping items based upon 200+ L 3D TLC in volume. Thanks to the benefit of greater bit density and quick maturity in yields, Micron has much better freedom in rates and margins compared to its peers. As an outcome, we have actually had numerous 232L item launches in the business ( Micron 6500 ION), OEM ( Micron 2550), and customer ( Vital T700, Vital T500) sectors over the in 2015. In addition to greater bit density, the 232L 3D TLC NAND likewise provides considerable bandwidth enhancements with its 6-plane architecture.
Micron is releasing the 3500 NVMe SSD series today. It is the very first PCIe Gen4 x4 232L 3D TLC NAND OEM drive in the marketplace. Micron establishes SSD platforms for customer systems and markets them under the Vital trademark name for direct purchase by end-users. The business has actually likewise been launching the exact same platforms under the Micron brand name for OEMs and system integrators. Clearly, the recognition cycles and OEM certification requirements determine a somewhat various method to the firmware compared to what is taken into the Vital drives. As an outcome, the marketed requirements might vary a little for the exact same hardware platform based upon the target audience. The 3500 NVMe SSD makes use of the exact same hardware as the recently-released Vital T500 – Micron’s 232L 3D TLC NAND behind the Phison E25 controller operating in 4-channel mode, with the NAND set up for 2400 MT/s and devoted DRAM on the drive for the flash translation layer (FTL).
Nearly all of the essential selling points of the Vital T500 transfer themselves to the Micron 3500 NVMe SSD. These consist of class-leading bandwidth numbers saturating the Gen4 links and DirectStorage assistance. The peak checks out are at 7 GBps rather of 7.4 GBps, however that is because of the nature of the systems determined by OEM certification requirements. Endurance numbers are the exact same as the T500’s, however the guarantee duration is just 3 years (compared to the T500’s 5 years). This really equates to a greater DWPD score for the drive, and is a common need of the OEMs who certify these drives for usage in their systems. The SSD’s power intake numbers and wake times from sleep are likewise tailored for Intel’s Job Athena accreditation – an element that is essential for OEMs providing high-performance note pads. The target audience for the 3500 NVMe SSD is high-end workstations and video gaming systems. As an outcome, Micron’s marketing numbers have actually concentrated on criteria such as SPECwpc storage (part of the SPECworkstation suite). We are eagerly anticipating validating the claims with our own hands-on assessment in the future.
The launch of the Micron 3500 NVMe SSD has actually allowed the business to deal with the whole series of OEM customer systems needing Gen4 NVMe drives. The entry-level Micron 2400 series with 176L QLC NAND is indicated for the cost-sensitive market, while the Micron 2550 relocate to 232L 3D TLC with the previous-generation Phison controller. Both drive households are readily available in numerous M. 2 form-factors. The 3500 NVMe SSD fills the flagship function. With high-end computing systems being the target, the drive will be readily available just in the M. 2 2280 form-factor. It is unexpected that a 4TB drive is not readily available at launch, considered that high-end systems are usually starving for storage capability. Ideally, that is a hole in the item stack that Micron will have the ability to complete both the Vital T700 and Micron 3500 NVMe SSD households at some point next year.