Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Intel teases Optane DIMMS, but you may need a new Xeon first

128GB, 256GB and 512GB modules offered as new storage tier below RAM, above SSD

Intel’s teased the arrival of its Optane storage-class RAM in DIMMs.

Dubbed “Optane DC persistent memory” and suggested as a tier of storage between DRAM and SSDs, the product will ship in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB versions. Intel announced that the product “is sampling today and will ship for revenue to select customers later this year, with broad availability in 2019.”

Which probably means one or two server-makers might have some product before Christmas, but don’t put these in your budget for a while yet.

Intel’s idea is that these devices will just clip into a motherboard like any other DIMM, but offer persistent storage that’s faster even than solid state disks. Which is a good thing because data in a DIMM slot has an easier path to the CPU than data on a disk, offering the chance to speed things up nicely. Intel’s alleged that its tests – done with Optane test silicon on forthcoming Xeons – led to faster boot times and improved database performance.

When running an in-memory Redis database Intel said the new product delivered “more server instances at the same service level agreement (SLA) performance when compared to a system configured with just DRAM.”

The Register understands that Optane DC persistent memory will only work with Xeon CPUs, but not all of them, and that current Xeons may not support the product.

Intel has not revealed durability forecasts nor offered prices for the new product, and given it dodged various questions at a launch event, hasn't reassured many that the tech actually exists as a viable product. However, it has suggested that “systems architects and developers should consider new methods for data access and storage, and uncover opportunities to remove throughput bottlenecks.”

If you’re willing to follow that instruction, Intel claims it is already running servers packing the new kit over at its Construction Zone. ®

 

Similar topics

Similar topics

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like