Tuesday, September 26th 2023

Solidigm Launches the D7-P5810 Ultra-Fast SLC SSD for Write-Intensive Workloads

Solidigm today announced the D7-5810, an enterprise SSD for extremely intensity write workloads. Such a drive would be capable of write endurance in the neighborhood of 50 DWPD. For reference, the company's D7-P5620, a write-centric/mixed workload drive for data-logging, and AI ingest/preparation, offers around 3 DWPD of endurance, depending on the variant; and the read-intensive drive meant for CDNs, the D5-P5336, offers around 0.5 DWPD. Use cases for the new D7-P5810 include high performance caching for flash arrays dealing with "cooler" data; high-frequency trading, and HPC.

Solidigm D7-P5810 uses SK hynix 144-layer 3D NAND flash that's made to operate in a pure SLC configuration. The drive comes in 800 GB and 1.6 TB capacities, and offers 50 DWPD over an endurance period of 5 years (4K random writes). More specifically, both models offer 73 PBW (petabytes written) of endurance. The drive comes in enterprise-relevant 15 mm-thick U.2 form-factor, with PCIe Gen 4 x4 interface, with NVMe 1.3c and NVMe MI 1.1 protocols.
In terms of manufacturer-rated performance, Solidigm is claiming up to 865,000 IOPS 4K random reads (QD256), up to 495,000 IOPS 4K random writes (QD256), and response times of 13 µs for 4K sequential writes (QD1), and 10 µs sequential read at QD1. The drive offers up to 6.4 GB/s sequential reads (128K, QD128), and up to 4 GB/s sequential writes (128K, QD128). Solidigm D7-P5810 is being offered as a persistent write buffer, and a medium tiered above capacity-focused media such as the QLC-based Solidigm D5-P5336, the pure-SLC drive stores "data about data," under a cloud-storage acceleration layer (CSAL).

Solidigm is launching the D7-P5810 series with the 800 GB model, with the 1.6 TB model joining the lineup in the first half of 2024.

Solidigm Press Release

Solidigm, a leading global provider of innovative NAND flash memory solutions, is proud to announce the company's first ultra-fast, single-level cell (SLC) solid-state storage drive (SSD) for the data center market—the Solidigm D7-P5810. The D7-P5810 is a PCIe Gen 4.0 drive built on Solidigm's proven 144-layer SLC 3D NAND.

A new addition to Solidigm's high-performing D7 Series, the D7-P5810 is designed for high-endurance and extreme write-intensive workloads. This ultra-fast Storage Class Memory (SCM) SSD offers up to 50 Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD) for random, 65 DWPD for sequential, and up to 2X better performance than the competition for caching, high-performance computing (HPC), data logging, journaling, and more, at less than ~20% of the cost of non-NAND SCM technologies.

SLC as a Storage Accelerator
The D7-5810 is ideally suited as a storage accelerator in front of highly dense capacity tiers (like QLC-based SSDs), adding significant benefit in the following use cases:
  • Metadata/logging: placing performance-sensitive data such as metadata or logs on SLC can accelerate system performance by using SLC as a dedicated Write-Ahead Log in Ceph clusters, for example.
  • Caching: SLC SSDs can act as a write buffer or cache to help remove performance bottlenecks, dramatically improve application performance, and improve TCO.
  • Tiering: data is written first to the SLC SSD so commits are fast, and subsequent reads are faster. As data becomes colder, it can be aggregated, compressed, and written in bulk to underlying higher-capacity QLC drives (like Solidigm's D5-P5336) for space-efficient storage on that media. Write-shaping software such as Cloud Storage Acceleration Layer (CSAL), further delivers a solution that extends the density, TCO and sustainability value of QLC to more workloads.
"By introducing the D7-P5810, Solidigm has now further expanded its industry-leading endurance swim lane coverage. We are pleased to offer a new ultra-fast data center SSD with compelling specifications to serve customers' very high write-intensive needs," said Greg Matson, VP of Strategic Planning and Marketing at Solidigm.

The D7-P5810 is available now in 800 GB (U.2 15 mm form factor). A 1.6 TB version will be available in the first half of 2024.

Solidigm Slide Deck

Source: Solidigm
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42 Comments on Solidigm Launches the D7-P5810 Ultra-Fast SLC SSD for Write-Intensive Workloads

#1
AnarchoPrimitiv
Wish they'd make these drives in 250GB capacity for consumers, like to try it out as an OS drive
Posted on Reply
#2
bug
AnarchoPrimitivWish they'd make these drives in 250GB capacity for consumers, like to try it out as an OS drive
So... never.
Posted on Reply
#3
Crackong
So we now come back to SLC again, with a premium price tag.
Posted on Reply
#4
TumbleGeorge
Is there a table somewhere with the price of 1 gigabyte of SLC from the first year it was on the market until today?
Posted on Reply
#5
TheLostSwede
News Editor
TumbleGeorgeIs there a table somewhere with the price of 1 gigabyte of SLC from the first year it was on the market until today?
Not for free, but you can sign up here and let us know.
www.dramexchange.com/
Posted on Reply
#6
TumbleGeorge
TheLostSwedeNot for free
This is problem for me. But I didn't think that there has price history for SLC nand per gigabyte from it's first market presence. That was so many years ago. Probably before this website existence.
Posted on Reply
#7
bug
CrackongSo we now come back to SLC again, with a premium price tag.
We're not back to anything, enterprise SLC SKUs were always available.
Posted on Reply
#8
TheLostSwede
News Editor
TumbleGeorgeThis is problem for me. But I didn't think that there has price history for SLC nand per gigabyte from it's first market presence. That was so many years ago. Probably before this website existence.
They have collected data since 2007...
No, not in Gigabyte, but in Gigabit.
Posted on Reply
#9
TumbleGeorge
TheLostSwedeThey have collected data since 2007
The first SSD in history was introduced in 1976 and has been in use since. The first commercial, i.e. on the market, where anyone with enough money can buy it, has been since 1991. SLC has been around since 1987. Yes, it seems like 2007 is way back in the past. But it's not enough for me. ;)
Posted on Reply
#10
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
TumbleGeorgeThe first SSD in history was introduced in 1976 and has been in use since. The first commercial, i.e. on the market, where anyone with enough money can buy it, has been since 1991. SLC has been around since 1987. Yes, it seems like 2007 is way back in the past. But it's not enough for me. ;)
Why do you want to know? Could be a cool project to find out on your own.
Posted on Reply
#11
GabrielLP14
SSD DB Maintainer
CrackongSo we now come back to SLC again, with a premium price tag.
When in theory... but in reality its just QLC N38A 1Tb 144-Layers running in pSLC Mode
Posted on Reply
#12
TumbleGeorge
FrickWhy do you want to know? Could be a cool project to find out on your own.
Just curiosity. I have no commercial intentions. Anyway, this is old information and should not be confidential or paid access.
Posted on Reply
#14
Tomorrow
AnarchoPrimitivWish they'd make these drives in 250GB capacity for consumers, like to try it out as an OS drive
Not much point with these speeds. It has average or even first gen PCIe 4.0 speeds at 6400/4000 r/w.
It's main benefit is endurance but for OS drive it's largely wasted unless you do full drive writes daily for some reason.

Also the press release is pretty vague as to whether this really is 100% SLC because last i checked there was no 144 layer SLC in production.
So my suspicion is that it's TLC with a larger that normal cache that acts like SLC so pseudo-SLC.
Posted on Reply
#15
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
TumbleGeorgeJust curiosity. I have no commercial intentions. Anyway, this is old information and should not be confidential or paid access.
Then research it is.
Posted on Reply
#16
GabrielLP14
SSD DB Maintainer
TomorrowNot much point with these speeds. It has average or even first gen PCIe 4.0 speeds at 6400/4000 r/w.
It's main benefit is endurance but for OS drive it's largely wasted unless you do full drive writes daily for some reason.

Also the press release is pretty vague as to whether this really is 100% SLC because last i checked there was no 144 layer SLC in production.
So my suspicion is that it's TLC with a larger that normal cache that acts like SLC so pseudo-SLC.
Its not SLC
it's QLC running in pSLC Mode, the drive should be 4TB but since its a 1/4 o the capacity, its 1TB with 800GB available so its over 200GB of over provisioning
www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/solidigm-d7-p5810-800-gb.d1674
Posted on Reply
#18
bug
TomorrowYep that's what i suspected but even worse - QLC advertised as SLC.
It's advertised as a cache drive, QLC is no issue here. You're not bothered by the slower writes, because cache is read way more often than it is written. And if it goes belly-up, it's just one drive among a hundred others, you just replace it (but that applies to any enterprise storage setup, it's not particular to cache drives).
Posted on Reply
#19
GabrielLP14
SSD DB Maintainer
TomorrowYep that's what i suspected but even worse - QLC advertised as SLC.
but its a great drive i hope i can get one, i got one from Memblaze PBlaze7 7940 7.68TB PCIe 5.0 x4
Posted on Reply
#20
chrcoluk
GabrielLP14Its not SLC
it's QLC running in pSLC Mode, the drive should be 4TB but since its a 1/4 o the capacity, its 1TB with 800GB available so its over 200GB of over provisioning
www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/solidigm-d7-p5810-800-gb.d1674
I suspected the same as how it was worded, the big bold SLC for that reason doesnt sit right with me, they missing a small 'p'.

Over provisioning also seems to be following the long term trend of being cut back. 30% in DC P4600, 20% in this drive, and I think enterprise used to be over 50%.
Posted on Reply
#21
GabrielLP14
SSD DB Maintainer
chrcolukthey missing a small 'p'.
hahaha true
chrcolukand I think enterprise used to be over 50%.
some drives used to have that but honestly i think there's a point of no return in performance so doesn't need any more OP area
Posted on Reply
#22
bug
chrcolukI suspected the same as how it was worded, the big bold SLC for that reason doesnt sit right with me, they missing a small 'p'.

Over provisioning also seems to be following the long term trend of being cut back. 30% in DC P4600, 20% in this drive, and I think enterprise used to be over 50%.
I don't think you really need 50% overprovisioning. Overprovisioning is there so when cells start to die, data can be moved to new cells. But if the monitoring software tells you you're close to 20% dead cells, it's time to replace the drive, no matter how much overprovisioning you have left.
Posted on Reply
#23
THU31
@csendesmark
csendesmarkWell I hope that some manufacturer will release a 0.5 or 1TB full SLC drive with PCIe gen4 interface. It is still some time before I actually going to replace it.
My drive is just bit passed the warranty time, no issue so far. But I want fast and very reliable drive for my system drive, no need for big size, even an other half TB fair.
Your wish has come true. ;)
Posted on Reply
#24
Wirko
GabrielLP14Its not SLC
it's QLC running in pSLC Mode, the drive should be 4TB but since its a 1/4 o the capacity, its 1TB with 800GB available so its over 200GB of over provisioning
I think it would be best to mark it just like this in your database, therefore "QLC/SLC" or "QLC in SLC mode".

The lowercase "p" ... means "pseudo", which is Greek for "fake". I don't see anything fake or false or deceptive in this implementation.

This Solidigm drive, if designed properly, writes data properly - as fast or slow as necessary, with as much charge as necessary, obviously without additional SLC caching, and it stores only two levels per cell ("some electrons" or "no electrons"). So what could possibly make it pseudo? Or does "p" stand for "pure", as is emphasised by Intel, I mean, Solidigm?

SLC caching in TLC/QLC drives is different, it might be somehow "fake" SLC because it probably uses some accelerated write procedure and low level of electric charge without much regard for data retention - because it's short term. Also random writes are stored sequentially in order to achieve very high speeds, and later moved out of SLC cache to their proper locations.
TomorrowAlso the press release is pretty vague as to whether this really is 100% SLC because last i checked there was no 144 layer SLC in production.
So my suspicion is that it's TLC with a larger that normal cache that acts like SLC so pseudo-SLC.
So you think that when you write data to this SSD, it's first stored in the SLC cache, then eventually moved to permanent storage with 4 bits per cell, but Intel, erm, Solidigm won't tell that to us? That would be extremely deceptive advertising even for a consumer SSD, let alone enterprise.
Posted on Reply
#25
kondamin
Still no one offering a pci-e 5.0 x16 expansion card stacked with 500GB ddr5 dram that serves as a drive to load virtual machines on?
Posted on Reply
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