Do you think we will see any manufacturers use Micron 3D MLC NAND in "entry level" SSDs?

[cbn]

Do you think we will see any manufacturers use 256 Gbit Micron 3D MLC NAND in "entry level" SSDs?

(Keep in mind this NAND uses the same die as the 384 Gbit 3D TLC).

256 Gbit 3D MLC vs. 384 Gbit 3D TLC how do you feel about this?

 

[Elixer]

It all depends on price.
Seems to me that most players will just go with the cheapest route available, since performance is "good enough" for SATA.

 

[cbn]

It all depends on price.
Seems to me that most players will just go with the cheapest route available, since performance is "good enough" for SATA.

Yes, I agree about SATA 6 Gbps performance.

I was thinking mainly of endurance.

However, if performance is also desired I wonder if a company might use the Micron 3D MLC with a PCIe 3.0 x 2 NVMe controller?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Here's what I don't understand. IF SATAExpress has PCI-E x2 lanes available to it, then why can't they upgrade that link to 3.0 x2, and run a power and PCI-E cable, to a 2.5" PCI-E 3.0 x2 SSD? I would think that with the added physical volume, and the possibility of using a metal drive casing, and a thermal pad on the controller, that there would be less chance of throttling compared to an M.2 form-factor drive.

 

[whm1974]

AFAIK no one even makes SATAe drives, it's DOA. U.2 Drives on the other hand are made by Intel and a few others and they use PCIe 3.0 x4.

 

[FFFF]

U.2 drives only make sense in high-end tablets like the Surface or iPad Pro and replace eMMc. I doubt you'll see them anywhere else.

 

[whm1974]

AFAIK no one even makes SATAe drives, it's DOA. U.2 Drives on the other hand are made by Intel and a few others and they use PCIe 3.0 x4.

U.2 are 2.5" drives while M.2 are gumsticks.

 

[imported_ats]

U.2 drives only make sense in high-end tablets like the Surface or iPad Pro and replace eMMc. I doubt you'll see them anywhere else.

Eh? U.2 drives have a bright future. They will be used in enthusiast systems as well as in pretty much every enterprise/biz server. We're already seeing incredibly rapid adoption with U.2, esp with the latest cheap U.2 drives from Intel basically forming the baseline foundation for biz/enterprise storage outside of nearline.

You may be thinking of M.2 which are the small bare board drives, that do primarily end up being used in tablets and laptops as well as various uses in AIO and desktops.