In case Intel's DC P4800X SSD (you know, the Optane-based SSD that sells for $1,520 for 375 GB) is too expensive for your wallet, Intel has now announced availability of the much more cost-effective Optane Memory accelerator, which is available in 16GB or 32GB single-sided M.2 2280 form factor drives. Just keep in mind that while you can order yours today, it's not meant to ship out until April 29th - but that's not too far off in any case.

If you're thinking of integrating one of these babies on your system (which actually do wonders for mechanical drives' performance, it seems, putting out 1.4GB/s data transfer speeds, as well as a 204MB/s low 4K read performance), just keep in mind compatibility is... iffy, as in, limited to the latest and greatest platform Intel has to offer. If you're not rocking something better than a Kaby Lake i3, and a 200 series chipset, you're out of luck. This seems like a strange occurrence, given that users with older, mechanical drive-based systems were looking to reap the greatest benefits from installing one of these puppies into their system, but this choice from Intel looks to stand more on platform support and the requirements of having such a technology in place than a way of artificially limiting compatibility. The 16GB model MEMPEK1W016GAXT starts at $45, and the 32GB model is expected to go for around $77.