Intel Releases Optane 900P SSD Series

Today Intel launched its next phase of Optane based products with the release of the Optane 900P SSD Series. This series marks the second release of Optane technologies for consumer and the first that is more like a traditional SSD, the Optane Memory functioned more like a caching device. Intel will also be working with the developers of the MMORPG, Star Citizen, to include a free copy of the game and come DLC.

Today Intel launched its next phase of Optane based products with the release of the Optane 900P SSD Series. This series marks the second release of Optane technologies for consumer and the first that is more like a traditional SSD, the Optane Memory functioned more like a caching device. Intel will also be working with the developers of the MMORPG, Star Citizen, to include a free copy of the game and come DLC.

Back in July of 2015, Intel and Micron announced their partnership on a new type of NAND technology that they initially named 3D XPoint (pronounced cross point). The new technology promised several things including a big boost in performance. About a month later Intel announced that their version of 3D XPoint would be called Optane. Intel has since slowly dripped out a few products including the Optane Memory for consumers and the Optane DC P4800X for data centers. Today marks the first time consumers can get their hands on a fully sized SSD, up to 480GB.

The 900P Series offers several of the benefits one should expect with Optane technology: high performance (up to 2.5GB/s and 550K IOPS), low latency (< 10μs), and high endurance (8760 TBW). The new series has several use cases including engineering workloads, media creation (specifically game development), and gaming. On the gaming side and tying in with the promotion with Star Citizen, Intel states that users will see improved loading times, smooth game play, and high resolution textures and meshes (assuming the gaming rig has the proper graphical abilities).

Optane 900P SSD Series specifications:

• Form Factor: HHHL AIC | U.2
• Capacity: 480GB, 280GB | 280GB
• Memory media: 3D XPoint
• Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe
• Performance
  • Bandwidth: Sustained Sequential Reads/Writes: Up to 2500/2000 MB/s
  • Random I/O Operations per Second: 4KB Random Reads / Writes: 550K/500K IOPS
  • Read /Write Latency: <10μs /< 10μs
• Endurance
  • MTBF: 1.6 million hours
  • DWPD: 10
  • TBW: 8760
• Power
  • Active Read – Average Power: 8W
  • Active Write – Average Power: 13W
  • Burst Power: 14W
  • Idle: 5W
• Operating Temperature: 0°C to 70°C

Availability and Pricing

The Optane 900P SSD Series is available now with MSRP of $599 for the 480GB and $389 for the 280GB.

Intel Optane

Star Citizen

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