Intel SSD 665P Series Neptune Harbour Refresh launched

by Mark Tyson on 26 November 2019, 10:11

Tags: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

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Intel previously revealed its SSD 665P Series Neptune Harbour Refresh devices at its Storage Day event in South Korea. Now the firm has officially launched these M.2 NVMe SSD storage devices.

The Intel SSD 665P Series are designed for the client segment, or in other words, for "everyday computing needs". Thus they offer a competitive level of performance and affordability in this busy segment. Intel's latest QLC 3D NAND technology is put to play here to deliver a good £$ per GB and these SSD 665P Series drives are the first to use Intel's 96-layer QLC NAND flash chips.

Other key components in these M.2-2280 format drives are; the Silicon Motion SMI2263 series controller, and an LPDDR3 DRAM cache. Alongside the NAND these connect to your PC's M.2 slot using the PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface.

Trying to provide reassurance with regard to the durability of these new QLC drives, Intel says that compared to its previous QLC efforts the SSD 665P Series offer "improved performance and up to 1.5x the endurance, up to 600 TBW". Intel's floating gate architecture "has tight, symmetrical layers and no cell overhead," we are told.

Above you will notice that Intel is releasing just two capacities of this SSD, at least initially. In the table you see the performance figures for the 2TB unit. The 1TB version is a little slower at sequential writes (1925 MB/s) and its IOPS figures are up to 160,000 IOPS random reads, and up to 200,000 IOPS random writes. Endurance ratings for the new 1TB and 2TB SSDs are 300 and 600TBW, respectively - quite a step up from their 660P series counterparts.

With regard to pricing and availability the 1TB model has an MSRP of US$125 but we don't know about the 2TB model yet. Obviously MSRPs often quickly diverge from market pricing due to the competitive landscape. Whichever Intel SSD 665P Series storage device you choose you will receive a five year warranty.



HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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Glad they increased the endurance of the QLC drives here. I have a 2TB 660p and have written o ver 50TB to it since I have had it so the extra endurance of the 665p is welcomed
V1nny
Glad they increased the endurance of the QLC drives here. I have a 2TB 660p and have written o ver 50TB to it since I have had it so the extra endurance of the 665p is welcomed

Just a thought, were they very conservative on the original endurance specs to avoid returns with unproven tech? I have an Intel X-25M at 80GB which was my very first SSD for use as a boot / programs drive. It has been in for 9 or so years and it's still in excellent condition. It certainly didn't come with any kind of expectation of this kind of endurance specified. It's possible that with experience they have just increased the endurance spec of the existing tech?
philehidiot
Just a thought, were they very conservative on the original endurance specs to avoid returns with unproven tech?

They seem to always be conservative on endurance. There are plenty of things they can do to influence endurance, so even with largely existing tech they might be driving the flash cells slightly better and extending their life. Or to put another way, I'm not convinced endurance is a big enough selling point for Intel to specifically game it, so more likely better endurance just falls out of general improvements.
philehidiot
Just a thought, were they very conservative on the original endurance specs to avoid returns with unproven tech? I have an Intel X-25M at 80GB which was my very first SSD for use as a boot / programs drive. It has been in for 9 or so years and it's still in excellent condition. It certainly didn't come with any kind of expectation of this kind of endurance specified. It's possible that with experience they have just increased the endurance spec of the existing tech?

Those early SSDs from 10 years ago used dual level nand, and much larger lithography, than current SSDs with much smaller QLC cells. This means via simple laws of physics that far more electrons are used to store each bit of data, so the cell will last much longer before wearing out, so we should not be surprised that it lasts well. It is simpler, and does not rely on such tight tolerances.

Bit like how the highly stung engine on a modern F1 race car will only last for a season before blowing up, while the smoky old diesel on a London bus is still going strong after 50 years.