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ADVERTISEMENT Review: Intel DC P3700 1.6TB NVMe Enterprise SSD

Reviewed by: J.Reynolds

Provided by: Intel

Firmware version: 8DV1004 ADVERTISEMENT

Welcome to Myce’s review of the Intel DC P3700 1.6TB NVMe Enterprise

SSD (hereafter referred to as the Intel P3700).

This is the first NVMe drive we have reviewed. NWMe stands

for ‘Non-Volatile Memory express’. NVMe, is a specification that allows a

solid-state drive to make effective use of a high-speed Peripheral Component

Interconnect Express bus in a computer. Intel has taken a leadership role in

the implementation of NVMe and is the first to bring an NVMe drive to market.

Fortunately for Myce, our partner OakGate Technology has

been at the forefront of NVMe testing and validation. OakGate’s Marketing

Director, Vipul Mehta says – "OakGate Technology was the first company to

offer an advanced test platform for NVMe flash storage. Working closely with

industry leaders, the company has incorporated a number of cutting-edge

features and functions for PCIe flash products supporting both NVMe and AHCI

protocols. Today, all leading suppliers of solid state storage rely on

OakGate’s systems for test and validation of their NVMe products." Check

out Oakgate’s website – here

So please read this review for an authoritative performance

assessment of the Intel P3700 – it is a truly amazing drive!

Market Positioning and Specification

Market Positioning

This is how Intel positions the Intel P3700 –

Specification

Here is Intel’s specification for the Intel P3700 series –

NVMe

Here is a brief introduction to NVMe, taken from the NVMe

organisation’s website –

The NVM Express specification, developed

cooperatively by more than 80 companies from across the industry, was released

on March 1, 2011, by the NVMHCI Work Group (commonly referred to as the NVM

Express Work Group). The NVM Express 1.0 specification defines an optimized

register interface, command set and feature set for PCI Express®

(PCIe®) Solid-State Drives (SSDs). The NVM Express 1.1 specification

was released on October 11, 2012 adding additional Enterprise and Client

capabilities. The goal is to deliver the full performance capabilities of

current and next generation non-volatile memory, supporting at least a 10 year

life of the interface, while standardizing the PCIe SSD interface to enable

broad ecosystem support.

The significant advances in performance

enabled by non-volatile memory-based storage technology, as embodied in

PCIe-based SSDs, has demanded the surrounding platform infrastructure evolve to

keep pace, to realize the full potential of these devices. A primary goal of

NVM Express is to provide a scalable interface that unlocks the potential of

PCIe-based SSDs now and at least a decade into the future. The interface

efficiently supports multi-core architectures, ensuring thread(s) may run on

each core with their own SSD queue and interrupt without any locks required.

For Enterprise class solutions, there is support for end-to-end data

protection, security and encryption capabilities, as well as robust error

reporting and management capabilities.

The NVM Express Work Group is directed by a

multi-member Promoter Group of companies that includes Cisco, Dell, EMC, HGST,

Intel, LSI, Micron, NetApp, Oracle, PMC-Sierra, Samsung, SanDisk and Seagate.

Product Image

Here are some pictures of the Intel P3700 1.6TB we tested –

Now let’s head to the next page, to look at Myce’s

Enterprise Testing Methodology…..