Intel Announces the 'World's Densest' SSD (zdnet.com) 62
Intel has unveiled its new 3D NAND solid-state drive (SSD) "ruler" form factor storage for data-center servers. From a report: The chip giant first set out this form factor a year ago, based on the Enterprise & Datacenter Storage Form Factor (EDSFF) standard for server makers to cut cooling costs and offer a more efficient format than SSDs in the classic 2.5 inch size. Intel describes the new ruler-shaped Intel SSD DC P4500, which is 12 inches by 1.5 inches, and a third of an inch thick, as the world's densest SSD. Server makers can jam up to one petabyte (PB) -- or a thousand terabytes (TB) -- of data into 1U server racks by lining up 32 of these 32TB Intel rulers together. So, instead of the decades-old 2.5-inch square SSD drives inherited from and designed for disk-based storage, Intel now has long and skinny sticks, thanks to flash. The new shape allows it to optimize SSD storage density, cooling, and power for data centers.
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Can you imagine... (Score:1)
...a Beowulf cluster of these?
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you'll need it and its processing power to calculate the patent royalties needed for someone other than intel to manufacture these.
How meny pci-e lanes and will AMD cpus work better (Score:5, Interesting)
How many pci-e lanes per card? and will AMD cpus work better then intel due to having more lanes to work with?
Now with ceph I want to have 5-9 smaller ones per node + 10G (or more networking)
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Well, the point of this is to extend gobs of storage off a single connector. Space wise, 2.5" drives will be more storage per unit volume, but will need more connectors.
These things are really inconvenient in terms of form factor, being over twice as long as even the now 'gigantic' 3.5" drives.
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Actually, server *blades* tend to be relatively shallow, they are the least likely to have the depth for this.
1U server is the smallest server form factor that *could* conceivably be adapted to cope (and has to forgo things like even half-length PCIe slots so the CPU and memory can be seated far enough out of the way for the drives to come in.
2U server with the 12" drives flying over the other components is the smallest one where the 12" depth could be accommodated without crazy compromises (you probably wi
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1U server is the smallest server form factor that *could* conceivably be adapted to cope.
Read about the spec at https://edsffspec.org.
It is specifically designed for 1U.
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It is designed for 1U servers that would be designed for it. That's the rub. Yes, they made them 1U wide, and a depth that in theory can fit with processors and dimms. However there isn't leftovers for other things.
Front cabled systems with front drives also could work (albeit without being able to cram in 32 drives, but that's fine...), but front cabling isn't too popular...
Re:How meny pci-e lanes and will AMD cpus work bet (Score:5, Interesting)
One good thing about it is the length gives significantly more surface area for cooling than a 2.5" form factor does. With more of the server chassis in contact with the SSD, it can mean better heat removal, which definitely will help with component life.
Hopefully there will be half-length form factors for workstations.
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One good thing about it is the length gives significantly more surface area for cooling than a 2.5" form factor does.
Could you explain that a bit? I'm not that familiar with SSD dimensions but I thought a typical 2.5" disk was about a third of an inch thick. To make it a ruler, all I have to do is cut it with a bandsaw into three strips and glue them all together. That shouldn't change the surface area so I don't see how it affects cooling.
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you'd be trying to cool a completely busted and ruined SSD -- i mean go ahead, but i don't see the point.
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<sarcasm>Are you telling me electronics isn't malleable like Play-Doh? Huh, maybe that's also why my motherboard stopped working when I folded to fit in a mini-case.</sarcasm>
Re: How meny pci-e lanes and will AMD cpus work be (Score:2)
To make it a ruler, all I have to do is cut it with a bandsaw into three strips and glue them all together. That shouldn't change the surface area so I don't see how it affects cooling.
.... not sure if clueless or trolling ...
If you're actually serious, go cut a block of wood into three pieces instead. Measure the total surface area before you cut, then measure the total surface area of the three pieces laid end to end. Then marvel at the magic of geometry.
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No, I'm serious. As near as I can tell, the ruler and a normal SSD are about the same thickness (about 10 mm). Thus, all Intel was doing was changing the other two (longer) dimensions, which shouldn't change the surface area by much.
Since my previous post clearly wasn't clear, let me be more specific. What it seems is Intel is doing is taking a 70x100 rectangle and slicing it into two 35mm x 100 mm slices. Those get slices re-arranged end to end instead of side to side. Through the magic of geometry, that i
Re: How meny pci-e lanes and will AMD cpus work b (Score:2)
Oh, I see. Yes, it's honest confusion.
The ruler form factor is supposed to be 0.33 inches thick. That's 8.3mm.
A 2.5" drive varies in thickness. Laptop drives are typically 9.5mm, however drives are made in thicknesses up to 15mm. Either way the new form factor is definitely thinner.
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One of these days the US, along with their equally progressive brethren (Liberia and Myanmar) might see the metric light.
Ahh, who am I kidding...
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You just expended several hundred words on what could have been entered into Google calculator in under 30 s (both area calculations).
If you were determined to expend all these words, you might have instead used them to pontificate about mean thermal conduction distances, which depends on how things are bonded internally, and whether the One True Diabolical Material (air) is present inside (as opposed to potting the drive with molten copper, yielding a superb embodiment of the simplified surface-area appro
Google calculator, if you're listening ... (Score:2)
Please enable: 1 m * 2 m * 3 m in m^2
And have it display:
Also:
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Funny, you expended many dozens of precious electrons when you could have simply not responded.
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Intel processors seem the most dense ones around and Intel fanboys are the most dense ones around too.
And here I thought I was denser than both....
"Because then it would be a foot." (Score:2)
which is 12 inches by 1.5 inches, and a third of an inch thick
Not a big cross section for something that long, but I'd take it.
Changing the way storage is delivered. (Score:5, Insightful)
This could be a real changer for data center deployments. There is not reason why we have the 2.5" form factor anymore. There's no more spinning disks inside. So if storage is still in a rack, utilize the depth of the 1U system better. Blade centers or dedicated storage arrays. Also, why not have disks plugging in the front and back of the 1U system.
This might not catch on, but being first in line is a good place to be. Wow, Intel still has some engineers, who haven't been let go, who can imagine something new.
Re:Changing the way storage is delivered. (Score:4, Informative)
Note that it actually quite common now to have drives that go into the front and the back. For these 12" long suckers, that's unlikely and having that volume of NAND chips all front serviceable without a tray would be one point of these things. 12" is however a bit *too* long for reasonable 1U servers. 6" depth might have been a pretty sweet spot, not much longer than 3.5" drives. As such this form factor pretty much requires the design of the server to be focused on the storage to the exclusion of other concerns.
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As such this form factor pretty much requires the design of the server to be focused on the storage to the exclusion of other concerns.
Well, I got the impression that the 1PB setup would be for dedicated storage enclosures, anyway. Not sure there's many individual servers that need that much storage all to themselves.
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This could be a real changer for data center deployments. There is not reason why we have the 2.5" form factor anymore.
It could be a real changer for laptop design. Remove a little cover on the side and slide in (or out) one of these that fits in beneath the keyboard. What an excellent alternative for ultra thins compared to the nasty soldered in place things they use now to squeeze out space.
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These would be way too big for laptops.
Generally speaking, laptops are using M.2 modules, which have a screw and a card-edge connector. I haven't owned any laptop that solders storage down to the board.
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M.2 modules don't come in 32TB yet. And 1/3 inch is not too thick in a slide-in design.
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12x1.5" is a pretty big area to suck out of a laptop....
Also, expect these things to be priced in the stratosphere, much much more than I would imagine any laptop consumer spending on even 10 entire laptops...
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It would be a simple way to update your OS and personal disk space. A single SSD for each partition. Just doing an upgrade would require swapping or adding an OS SSD.
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I dunno... I used to sell 1 and 1/2PB of flash in 3U form factors and we still couldn't sell it.
The main issue with the density is consumption. It's hard to hook a single 1PB box into the traditional datacenter and consume that storage, plus offer protection/etc.
I think the smaller the box, the harder it is.
reliability question. (Score:1)
MTBF?
It is About Time (Score:2)
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I estimate I will need about 256 of these. How much are they at Best Buy?
I started with Intel's base price for these modules. Then I multiplied by Best Buy's markup for things like HDMI cables. Then I multiplied by 256.
The result on my calculator says: "Err.0r"
as "reliable" as 1.92TB Intel® SSD DC S4500? (Score:3)
and when I say reliable I mean half dead after few months, rest in the process of dying.
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Sure, HP support asked sysadmins to manually upgrade firmware, on ~50 still surviving drives, $xxxK array with full support contract ...
Overheating (Score:2)
Thank goodness firmware 1.2 will have the throttling needed to finally stop these bad boys from overheating.
Exabyte (Score:2)
So, roughly 25 standard racks of these equals one exabyte. I wonder how much that costs, and what kind of power consumption. Also need some hefty network gear to go with it. Doing the same with spinning disk would be about 120 racks, so that's not hugely different, but the power consumption and cooling requirements would be massively different.
Yah it's a Beowulf cluster, except no.
Since they can't compete in the "Moar Cores" (Score:2)
segment,
they compete in the "Moar Inches" one.
30 years (Score:2)
I remember my first hard drive something like 30 years ago. Talked my mom into buying it for my computer so I wouldnt have to constantly switch 3.5 floppies. Probably for my Keef The Thief game. Maybe Sorcerers Get all The Girls.
It was like 100 or 200 bucks. I immediately deleted some files that I didn't put on there so that I'd have more storage space. Oops, that was MS-DOS. An expensive trip to the computer repair shop and a threat from my mom led to me reading the manuals carefully and ultimately to my f