Intel Optane Memory Now Available

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Optane Memory Now Available

After talking about it for a long time, Intel Optane Memory is now officially available. A 16GB module will cost just $44 USD or $77 for a 32GB capacity...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Optane-Memory-Launch

[stevenc]

adjusts to your computing habits with intelligent software that learns your computing behaviors

And that totally creeps me out. Do not want. "Intel ME", anyone?

[M@yeulC]

This is surprisingly cheap, especially if that's the technology that blows SSDs out of the water.

[milkylainen]

This is surprisingly cheap, especially if that's the technology that blows SSDs out of the water.

It's faster alright. Will a normal user notice if no hints were given on storage media? I bet not. Cheap? If you count a markup of 4-8x for the storage size compared to a good SSD as cheap, then yeah.

[edwaleni]

The initial 16Gb and 36Gb modules are in M.2 format, require a Kaby Lake or newer CPU and Windows 10 to run the software and driver.

It is really designed to increase magnetic disk performance right now. If you already have SSD's, there is no material benefit.

[johanb]

And that totally creeps me out. Do not want. "Intel ME", anyone?

I might be wrong, but I think the drivers are on the motherboard so it probably doesn't know what programs you are using but only what blocks on your HDD is referenced most often and what is expected to be fetched next just like a CPU cache. Atleast that's how hybrid HDDs works I believe so it's possibly not privacy infringing at all.

This is surprisingly cheap, especially if that's the technology that blows SSDs out of the water.

It's pretty expensive per GB, $77 for 32GB is $2.4/GB which is the best bang for the buck of the two is still incredibly expensive. A m.2 nvme SSD like the PM961 128gb is $0.8/GB so is costs just 30% more but has 4x the storage. I don't know the speeds of the optane module but i highly doubt that it's faster.

It is some nice tech, but currently incredibly overpriced. Wait a few generations until the price drops and then it might be worth the price. Currently it's better to just buy a SSD.

[artivision]

I could buy it as a RAM or SSD replacement with the right price, not as an extra component.

[Michael]

The initial 16Gb and 36Gb modules are in M.2 format, require a Kaby Lake or newer CPU and Windows 10 to run the software and driver.

It is really designed to increase magnetic disk performance right now. If you already have SSD's, there is no material benefit.

I've been able to confirm should work fine on Linux.

[torsionbar28]

This is surprisingly cheap, especially if that's the technology that blows SSDs out of the water.

Read the materials again, the performance numbers are against a mechanical hard drive, not an SSD. This product is essentially an intelligent cache for existing mechanical disk drives. It does not "blow SSDs out of the water" by any means.

And that "intelligent learns your behaviors" 1984 crap makes me say DO NOT WANT.

I could buy it as a RAM or SSD replacement with the right price, not as an extra component.

Ok. But that's really not what this is. Sure you might get away with a little less RAM with this widget installed, but RAM is cheap, so who cares.

[starshipeleven]

I might be wrong, but I think the drivers are on the motherboard so it probably doesn't know what programs you are using but only what blocks on your HDD is referenced most often and what is expected to be fetched next just like a CPU cache. Atleast that's how hybrid HDDs works I believe so it's possibly not privacy infringing at all.

Correct guess, wrong explanation. This is still a SSD with a firmware and a badass controller, drivers aren't doing the smart part of the job. It will see what blocks are called up more often, but it has no real way of knowing what is what.

Unless the firmware is talking at low level with Intel ME that is snooping all you do from its ring -1 premium seat, anyway (hence the limitation to some specific Intel hardware). Tinfoils, don them.