Want Better SSD Performance for Data-Intensive Workloads? Show SATA the Door!

Today’s data-intensive workloads place extreme demands on data centers.  AI and ML workloads are good examples that use large datasets to train models, and these workloads will abundantly grow.  To combat this influx of data, there are good, better, and best SSD options for these workloads, and one choice that is simply not an option.

Let’s start with the one that is not an option! SSDs based on the SATA interface use legacy hard drive technology while the dominant high-performance storage technology is based on flash memory.  The SATA interface is limited to 6 gigabits¹ per second (Gb/s) using one lane in one direction (half-duplex).  This is the lowest data transfer speed when compared to other SSD interfaces, and can lead to bottlenecks in servers or storage arrays, especially those equipped with fast CPUs and high-speed DRAM.  In this use case, powerful multicore processors and an abundance of RAM could be waiting for data transactions to complete, resulting in an underutilization of compute resources, raising hardware ownership costs.  The SATA interface is stalled at 6 Gb/s half-duplex data transfer performance with no future improvements or product roadmap, and is now typically used in legacy low-performing platforms.

There are faster, cost-effective SSD options better positioned for data-intensive workloads.  SSDs based on PCIe® and SAS interfaces set a new bar for today’s storage performance, latency and capacity requirements.  In particular, these are value SAS SSDs, data center NVMe™ SSDs, and enterprise NVMe SSDs.  All provide superior performance-to-cost ratios to SATA SSDs.  Comparing these SSD options to SATA, we used published specifications² as follows:

• Value SAS = KIOXIA RM7 Series SSDs
• PCIe Data Center NVMe = KIOXIA CD8P Series SSDs
• PCIe Enterprise NVMe = KIOXIA CM7 Series SSDs
• SATA Enterprise = Vendor A³SSDs

Here’s what the performance comparison⁴ looks like:

 
* MB/s = megabytes¹ per second
^ IOPS = input/output operations per second

These faster SSD options enable users to tailor their storage requirements to specific applications and workloads to obtain higher performance value, higher overall system utilization, and higher return on investment. 

Time to ditch those old SATA SSDs!  Check out the complete comparison in the technical brief available here.

NOTES:

¹ Definition of capacity - KIOXIA Corporation defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1Gb = 2³⁰ bits = 1,073,741,824 bits, 1GB = 2³⁰ bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2⁴⁰ bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.

² Specifications for the KIOXIA RM7 Series value SAS SSDs, KIOXIA CD8P data center NVMe SSDs and KIOXIA CM7 enterprise NVMe SSDs provided by KIOXIA Corporation, and are published and accurate as of the posting date.

³ The Vendor A SATA SSD performance specifications were obtained online from the vendor and are accurate as of blog posting.

⁴ Read and write speed may vary depending on the host device, read and write conditions, and file size.

TRADEMARKS:

NVMe is a registered or unregistered trademark of NVM Express, Inc. in the United States and other countries.  PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.  All other company names, product names and service names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of third-party companies.

DISCLAIMERS:

KIOXIA America, Inc. may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time.  The information presented in this blog is for informational purposes only and may contain technical inaccuracies, omissions and typographical errors.  Any performance tests and ratings are measured using systems that reflect the approximate performance of KIOXIA America, Inc. products as measured by those tests. In no event will KIOXIA America, Inc. be liable to any person for any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages arising from the use of any information contained herein, even if KIOXIA America, Inc. are advised of the possibility of such damages.