HighPoint Updates NVMe RAID Cards for PCIe 5.0: 50 GBps+ Direct-Attached SSD Storage
HighPoint Technologies has updated their NVMe switch and RAID solutions with PCIe 5.0, and supporting up to eight NVMe drives. The new HighPoint Rocket 1600 (switch add-in card) and 7600 series (RAID adapters) are the successors to the SSD SSD7500 series adapter cards introduced in 2020. Similar to its predecessors, the new Rocket series cards are also based on a Broadcom PCIe switch (PEX 89048). The Rocket 7600 series runs the RAID stack on the integrated ARM processor (dual-core Cortex A15)
The PEX 89048 supports up to 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes, out of which 16 are dedicated to the host connection in the Rocket adapters. The use of a true PCIe switch means that the product doesn't rely on PCIe lane bifurcation support in the host platform.
HighPoint's Gen 5 stack currently has two products each in the switch and RAID lineups - an add-in card with support for M.2 drives, and a RAID adapter with four 5.0 x8 SFF-TA-1016 (Mini Cool Edge IO or MCIO) connectors for use with backplanes / setups involving U.2 / U.3 / EDSFF drives.
The RAID adapters require HighPoint's drivers (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows), and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays. On the other hand, the AIC requires no custom drivers. RAID configurations with the AIC will need to be handled by software running on the host OS. On the hardware side, all members of the Rocket series come with an external power connector (as the solution can consume upwards of 75W) and integrate a heatsink. The M.2 version is actively cooled, as the drives are housed within the full-height / full-length cards.
The solution can theoretically support up to 64 GBps of throughput, but real-world performance is limited to around 56 GBps using Gen 5 drives. It must be noted that even Gen 4 drives can take advantage of the new platform and deliver better performance with the new Rocket series compared to the older SSD7500 series.
The cards are shipping now, with pricing ranging from $1500 (add-in card) to $2000 (RAID adapters). HighPoint is not alone in targeting this HEDT / workstation market. Sabrent has been teasing their Apex Gen 5.0 x16 solution involving eight M.2 SSDs for a few months now (involving a Microchip PCIe switch. Until that solution comes to the market, HighPoint appears to be the only game in town for workstation users requiring access to direct-attached storage capable of delivering 50 GBps+ speeds.
SSDs
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![](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for_31.html&text=HighPoint Updates NVMe RAID Cards for PCIe 5.0: 50 GBps+ Direct-Attached SSD Storage <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-carousel-fix_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>HighPoint Technologies has updated their NVMe switch and RAID solutions with PCIe 5.0, and supporting up to eight NVMe drives. The new HighPoint Rocket 1600 (switch add-in card) and 7600 series (RAID adapters) are the successors to the SSD SSD7500 series adapter cards <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16247">introduced in 2020</a>. Similar to its predecessors, the new Rocket series cards are also based on a Broadcom PCIe switch (PEX 89048). The Rocket 7600 series runs the RAID stack on the integrated ARM processor (dual-core Cortex A15)</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-config_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The PEX 89048 supports up to 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes, out of which 16 are dedicated to the host connection in the Rocket adapters. The use of a true PCIe switch means that the product doesn't rely on PCIe lane bifurcation support in the host platform.</p>
<p>HighPoint's Gen 5 stack currently has two products each in the switch and RAID lineups - an add-in card with support for M.2 drives, and a RAID adapter with four 5.0 x8 SFF-TA-1016 (Mini Cool Edge IO or MCIO) connectors for use with backplanes / setups involving U.2 / U.3 / EDSFF drives.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-prod-stack_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-vs-raid_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The RAID adapters require HighPoint's drivers (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows), and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays. On the other hand, the AIC requires no custom drivers. RAID configurations with the AIC will need to be handled by software running on the host OS. On the hardware side, all members of the Rocket series come with an external power connector (as the solution can consume upwards of 75W) and integrate a heatsink. The M.2 version is actively cooled, as the drives are housed within the full-height / full-length cards.</p>
<p>The solution can theoretically support up to 64 GBps of throughput, but real-world performance is limited to around 56 GBps using Gen 5 drives. It must be noted that even Gen 4 drives can take advantage of the new platform and deliver better performance with the new Rocket series compared to the older SSD7500 series.</p>
<p>The cards are shipping now, with pricing ranging from $1500 (add-in card) to $2000 (RAID adapters). HighPoint is not alone in targeting this HEDT / workstation market. Sabrent has been teasing their Apex Gen 5.0 x16 solution involving eight M.2 SSDs for a few months now (involving a <a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches">Microchip PCIe switch</a>. Until that solution comes to the market, HighPoint appears to be the only game in town for workstation users requiring access to direct-attached storage capable of delivering 50 GBps+ speeds.</p>
</p> SSDs){kind=link}
![](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for_31.html&media=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sKor_gS8Vnzec9eW5nqrl0zlnLJOXYga5FGgTX_kkygCE-9WmvuA4GR5JBTZ0p-r5jc4R-YK_Ub5DHP4BZefz150IXZLqSqYxa6-KraHWC_ALiuwvBryQcFnt_Rl9L8YJiWoi4VA&description=HighPoint Updates NVMe RAID Cards for PCIe 5.0: 50 GBps+ Direct-Attached SSD Storage <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-carousel-fix_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>HighPoint Technologies has updated their NVMe switch and RAID solutions with PCIe 5.0, and supporting up to eight NVMe drives. The new HighPoint Rocket 1600 (switch add-in card) and 7600 series (RAID adapters) are the successors to the SSD SSD7500 series adapter cards <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16247">introduced in 2020</a>. Similar to its predecessors, the new Rocket series cards are also based on a Broadcom PCIe switch (PEX 89048). The Rocket 7600 series runs the RAID stack on the integrated ARM processor (dual-core Cortex A15)</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-config_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The PEX 89048 supports up to 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes, out of which 16 are dedicated to the host connection in the Rocket adapters. The use of a true PCIe switch means that the product doesn't rely on PCIe lane bifurcation support in the host platform.</p>
<p>HighPoint's Gen 5 stack currently has two products each in the switch and RAID lineups - an add-in card with support for M.2 drives, and a RAID adapter with four 5.0 x8 SFF-TA-1016 (Mini Cool Edge IO or MCIO) connectors for use with backplanes / setups involving U.2 / U.3 / EDSFF drives.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-prod-stack_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-vs-raid_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The RAID adapters require HighPoint's drivers (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows), and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays. On the other hand, the AIC requires no custom drivers. RAID configurations with the AIC will need to be handled by software running on the host OS. On the hardware side, all members of the Rocket series come with an external power connector (as the solution can consume upwards of 75W) and integrate a heatsink. The M.2 version is actively cooled, as the drives are housed within the full-height / full-length cards.</p>
<p>The solution can theoretically support up to 64 GBps of throughput, but real-world performance is limited to around 56 GBps using Gen 5 drives. It must be noted that even Gen 4 drives can take advantage of the new platform and deliver better performance with the new Rocket series compared to the older SSD7500 series.</p>
<p>The cards are shipping now, with pricing ranging from $1500 (add-in card) to $2000 (RAID adapters). HighPoint is not alone in targeting this HEDT / workstation market. Sabrent has been teasing their Apex Gen 5.0 x16 solution involving eight M.2 SSDs for a few months now (involving a <a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches">Microchip PCIe switch</a>. Until that solution comes to the market, HighPoint appears to be the only game in town for workstation users requiring access to direct-attached storage capable of delivering 50 GBps+ speeds.</p>
</p> SSDs){kind=link}
![](https://web.whatsapp.com/send?text=HighPoint Updates NVMe RAID Cards for PCIe 5.0: 50 GBps+ Direct-Attached SSD Storage <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-carousel-fix_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>HighPoint Technologies has updated their NVMe switch and RAID solutions with PCIe 5.0, and supporting up to eight NVMe drives. The new HighPoint Rocket 1600 (switch add-in card) and 7600 series (RAID adapters) are the successors to the SSD SSD7500 series adapter cards <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16247">introduced in 2020</a>. Similar to its predecessors, the new Rocket series cards are also based on a Broadcom PCIe switch (PEX 89048). The Rocket 7600 series runs the RAID stack on the integrated ARM processor (dual-core Cortex A15)</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-config_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The PEX 89048 supports up to 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes, out of which 16 are dedicated to the host connection in the Rocket adapters. The use of a true PCIe switch means that the product doesn't rely on PCIe lane bifurcation support in the host platform.</p>
<p>HighPoint's Gen 5 stack currently has two products each in the switch and RAID lineups - an add-in card with support for M.2 drives, and a RAID adapter with four 5.0 x8 SFF-TA-1016 (Mini Cool Edge IO or MCIO) connectors for use with backplanes / setups involving U.2 / U.3 / EDSFF drives.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-prod-stack_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-vs-raid_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The RAID adapters require HighPoint's drivers (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows), and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays. On the other hand, the AIC requires no custom drivers. RAID configurations with the AIC will need to be handled by software running on the host OS. On the hardware side, all members of the Rocket series come with an external power connector (as the solution can consume upwards of 75W) and integrate a heatsink. The M.2 version is actively cooled, as the drives are housed within the full-height / full-length cards.</p>
<p>The solution can theoretically support up to 64 GBps of throughput, but real-world performance is limited to around 56 GBps using Gen 5 drives. It must be noted that even Gen 4 drives can take advantage of the new platform and deliver better performance with the new Rocket series compared to the older SSD7500 series.</p>
<p>The cards are shipping now, with pricing ranging from $1500 (add-in card) to $2000 (RAID adapters). HighPoint is not alone in targeting this HEDT / workstation market. Sabrent has been teasing their Apex Gen 5.0 x16 solution involving eight M.2 SSDs for a few months now (involving a <a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches">Microchip PCIe switch</a>. Until that solution comes to the market, HighPoint appears to be the only game in town for workstation users requiring access to direct-attached storage capable of delivering 50 GBps+ speeds.</p>
</p> SSDs | https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for_31.html){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=HighPoint Updates NVMe RAID Cards for PCIe 5.0: 50 GBps+ Direct-Attached SSD Storage <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-carousel-fix_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>HighPoint Technologies has updated their NVMe switch and RAID solutions with PCIe 5.0, and supporting up to eight NVMe drives. The new HighPoint Rocket 1600 (switch add-in card) and 7600 series (RAID adapters) are the successors to the SSD SSD7500 series adapter cards <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16247">introduced in 2020</a>. Similar to its predecessors, the new Rocket series cards are also based on a Broadcom PCIe switch (PEX 89048). The Rocket 7600 series runs the RAID stack on the integrated ARM processor (dual-core Cortex A15)</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-config_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The PEX 89048 supports up to 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes, out of which 16 are dedicated to the host connection in the Rocket adapters. The use of a true PCIe switch means that the product doesn't rely on PCIe lane bifurcation support in the host platform.</p>
<p>HighPoint's Gen 5 stack currently has two products each in the switch and RAID lineups - an add-in card with support for M.2 drives, and a RAID adapter with four 5.0 x8 SFF-TA-1016 (Mini Cool Edge IO or MCIO) connectors for use with backplanes / setups involving U.2 / U.3 / EDSFF drives.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-prod-stack_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21486/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for-pcie-50-50-gbps-directattached-ssd-storage"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21486/hpt-switch-vs-raid_575px.png" /></a></p>
<p>The RAID adapters require HighPoint's drivers (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows), and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays. On the other hand, the AIC requires no custom drivers. RAID configurations with the AIC will need to be handled by software running on the host OS. On the hardware side, all members of the Rocket series come with an external power connector (as the solution can consume upwards of 75W) and integrate a heatsink. The M.2 version is actively cooled, as the drives are housed within the full-height / full-length cards.</p>
<p>The solution can theoretically support up to 64 GBps of throughput, but real-world performance is limited to around 56 GBps using Gen 5 drives. It must be noted that even Gen 4 drives can take advantage of the new platform and deliver better performance with the new Rocket series compared to the older SSD7500 series.</p>
<p>The cards are shipping now, with pricing ranging from $1500 (add-in card) to $2000 (RAID adapters). HighPoint is not alone in targeting this HEDT / workstation market. Sabrent has been teasing their Apex Gen 5.0 x16 solution involving eight M.2 SSDs for a few months now (involving a <a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches">Microchip PCIe switch</a>. Until that solution comes to the market, HighPoint appears to be the only game in town for workstation users requiring access to direct-attached storage capable of delivering 50 GBps+ speeds.</p>
</p> SSDs&body=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/highpoint-updates-nvme-raid-cards-for_31.html){kind=link}
Microchip recently announced the availability of their second PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD controller - the Flashtec 5016. Like the 4016, this is also a 16-channel controller, but there are some key updates:
- PCIe 5.0 lane organization: Operation in x4 or dual independent x2 / x2 mode in the 5016, compared to the x8, or x4, or dual independent x4 / x2 mode in the 4016.
- DRAM support: Four ranks of DDR5-5200 in the 5016, compared to two ranks of DDR4-3200 in the 4016.
- Extended NAND support: 2400 MT/s NAND in the 4016, compared to the 3200 MT/s NAND support in the 5016.
- Performance improvements: The 5016 is capable of delivering 3.5M+ random read IOPS compared to the 3M+ of the 4016.
Microchip's enterprise SSD controllers provide a high level of flexibility to SSD vendors by providing them with significant horsepower and accelerators. The 5016 includes Cortex-A53 cores for SSD vendors to run custom applications relevant to SSD management. However, compared to the Gen4 controllers, there are two additional cores in the CPU cluster. The DRAM subsystem includes ECC support (both out-of-band and inline, as desired by the SSD vendor).
At FMS 2024, the company demonstrated an application of the neural network engines embedded in the Gen5 controllers. Controllers usually employ a 'read-retry' operation with altered read-out voltages for flash reads that do not complete successfully. Microchip implemented a machine learning approach to determine the read-out voltage based on the health history of the NAND block using the NN engines in the controller. This approach delivers tangible benefits for read latency and power consumption (thanks to a smaller number of errors on the first read).
The 4016 and 5016 come with a single-chip root of trust implementation for hardware security. A secure boot process with dual-signature authentication ensures that the controller firmware is not maliciously altered in the field. The company also brought out the advantages of their controller's implementation of SR-IOV, flexible data placement, and zoned namespaces along with their 'credit engine' scheme for multi-tenant cloud workloads. These aspects were also brought out in other demonstrations.
Microchip's press release included quotes from the usual NAND vendors - Solidigm, Kioxia, and Micron. On the customer front, Longsys has been using Flashtec controllers in their enterprise offerings along with YMTC NAND. It is likely that this collaboration will continue further using the new 5016 controller.
Storage
Microchip Demonstrates Flashtec 5016 Enterprise SSD Controller
Microchip recently announced the availability of their second PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD controller - the Flashtec 5016. Like the 4016, this is also a 16-channel controller, but there are some key updates:
- PCIe 5.0 lane organization: Operation in x4 or dual independent x2 / x2 mode in the 5016, compared to the x8, or x4, or dual independent x4 / x2 mode in the 4016.
- DRAM support: Four ranks of DDR5-5200 in the 5016, compared to two ranks of DDR4-3200 in the 4016.
- Extended NAND support: 2400 MT/s NAND in the 4016, compared to the 3200 MT/s NAND support in the 5016.
- Performance improvements: The 5016 is capable of delivering 3.5M+ random read IOPS compared to the 3M+ of the 4016.
Microchip's enterprise SSD controllers provide a high level of flexibility to SSD vendors by providing them with significant horsepower and accelerators. The 5016 includes Cortex-A53 cores for SSD vendors to run custom applications relevant to SSD management. However, compared to the Gen4 controllers, there are two additional cores in the CPU cluster. The DRAM subsystem includes ECC support (both out-of-band and inline, as desired by the SSD vendor).
At FMS 2024, the company demonstrated an application of the neural network engines embedded in the Gen5 controllers. Controllers usually employ a 'read-retry' operation with altered read-out voltages for flash reads that do not complete successfully. Microchip implemented a machine learning approach to determine the read-out voltage based on the health history of the NAND block using the NN engines in the controller. This approach delivers tangible benefits for read latency and power consumption (thanks to a smaller number of errors on the first read).
The 4016 and 5016 come with a single-chip root of trust implementation for hardware security. A secure boot process with dual-signature authentication ensures that the controller firmware is not maliciously altered in the field. The company also brought out the advantages of their controller's implementation of SR-IOV, flexible data placement, and zoned namespaces along with their 'credit engine' scheme for multi-tenant cloud workloads. These aspects were also brought out in other demonstrations.
Microchip's press release included quotes from the usual NAND vendors - Solidigm, Kioxia, and Micron. On the customer front, Longsys has been using Flashtec controllers in their enterprise offerings along with YMTC NAND. It is likely that this collaboration will continue further using the new 5016 controller.
Storage
The Endorfy Fortis 5 Dual Fan CPU Cooler Review: Towering Value Standard CPU coolers, while adequate for managing basic thermal loads, often fall short in terms of noise reduction and superior cooling efficiency. This limitation drives advanced users and system builders to seek aftermarket solutions tailored to their specific needs. The high-end aftermarket cooler market is highly competitive, with manufacturers striving to offer products with exceptional performance.
Endorfy, previously known as SilentiumPC, is a Polish manufacturer that has undergone a significant transformation to expand its presence in global markets. The brand is known for delivering high-performance cooling solutions with a strong focus on balancing efficiency and affordability. By rebranding as Endorfy, the company aims to enter premium market segments while continuing to offer reliable, high-quality cooling products.
SilentiumPC became very popular in the value/mainstream segments of the PC market with their products, the spearhead of which probably was the Fera 5 cooler that we reviewed a little over two years ago and had a remarkable value for money. Today’s review places Endorfy’s largest CPU cooler, the Fortis 5 Dual Fan, on our laboratory test bench. The Fortis 5 is the largest CPU air cooler the company currently offers and is significantly more expensive than the Fera 5, yet it still is a single-tower cooler that strives to strike a balance between value, compatibility, and performance.
Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Kioxia Demonstrates Optical Interface SSDs for Data Centers
A few years back, the Japanese government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO ) allocated funding for the development of green datacenter technologies. With the aim to obtain up to 40% savings in overall power consumption, several Japanese companies have been developing an optical interface for their enterprise SSDs. And at this year's FMS, Kioxia had their optical interface on display.
For this demonstration, Kioxia took its existing CM7 enterprise SSD and created an optical interface for it. A PCIe card with on-board optics developed by Kyocera is installed in the server slot. An optical interface allows data transfer over long distances (it was 40m in the demo, but Kioxia promises lengths of up to 100m for the cable in the future). This allows the storage to be kept in a separate room with minimal cooling requirements compared to the rack with the CPUs and GPUs. Disaggregation of different server components will become an option as very high throughput interfaces such as PCIe 7.0 (with 128 GT/s rates) become available.
The demonstration of the optical SSD showed a slight loss in IOPS performance, but a significant advantage in the latency metric over the shipping enterprise SSD behind a copper network link. Obviously, there are advantages in wiring requirements and signal integrity maintenance with optical links.
Being a proof-of-concept demonstration, we do see the requirement for an industry-standard approach if this were to gain adoption among different datacenter vendors. The PCI-SIG optical workgroup will need to get its act together soon to create a standards-based approach to this problem.
Storage
PCI-SIG Demonstrates PCIe 6.0 Interoperability at FMS 2024
As the deployment of PCIe 5.0 picks up steam in both datacenter and consumer markets, PCI-SIG is not sitting idle, and is already working on getting the ecosystem ready for the updats to the PCIe specifications. At FMS 2024, some vendors were even talking about PCIe 7.0 with its 128 GT/s capabilities despite PCIe 6.0 not even starting to ship yet. We caught up with PCI-SIG to get some updates on its activities and have a discussion on the current state of the PCIe ecosystem.
PCI-SIG has already made the PCIe 7.0 specifications (v 0.5) available to its members, and expects full specifications to be officially released sometime in 2025. The goal is to deliver a 128 GT/s data rate with up to 512 GBps of bidirectional traffic using x16 links. Similar to PCIe 6.0, this specification will also utilize PAM4 signaling and maintain backwards compatibility. Power efficiency as well as silicon die area are also being kept in mind as part of the drafting process.
The move to PAM4 signaling brings higher bit-error rates compared to the previous NRZ scheme. This made it necessary to adopt a different error correction scheme in PCIe 6.0 - instead of operating on variable length packets, PCIe 6.0's Flow Control Unit (FLIT) encoding operates on fixed size packets to aid in forward error correction. PCIe 7.0 retains these aspects.
The integrators list for the PCIe 6.0 compliance program is also expected to come out in 2025, though initial testing is already in progress. This was evident by the FMS 2024 demo involving Cadence's 3nm test chip for its PCIe 6.0 IP offering along with Teledyne Lecroy's PCIe 6.0 analyzer. These timelines track well with the specification completion dates and compliance program availability for previous PCIe generations.
We also received an update on the optical workgroup - while being optical-technology agnostic, the WG also intends to develop technology-specific form-factors including pluggable optical transceivers, on-board optics, co-packaged optics, and optical I/O. The logical and electrical layers of the PCIe 6.0 specifications are being enhanced to accommodate the new optical PCIe standardization and this process will also be done with PCIe 7.0 to coincide with that standard's release next year.
The PCI-SIG also has ongoing cabling initiatives. On the consumer side, we have seen significant traction for Thunderbolt and external GPU enclosures. However, even datacenters and enterprise systems are moving towards cabling solutions as it becomes evident that disaggregation of components such as storage from the CPU and GPU are better for thermal design. Additionally maintaining signal integrity over longer distances becomes difficult for on-board signal traces. Cabling internal to the computing systems can help here.
OCuLink emerged as a good candidate and was adopted fairly widely as an internal link in server systems. It has even made an appearance in mini-PCs from some Chinese manufacturers in its external avatar for the consumer market, albeit with limited traction. As speeds increase, a widely-adopted standard for external PCIe peripherals (or even connecting components within a system) will become imperative.
Storage
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's.
The Endorfy Fortis 5 Dual Fan CPU Cooler Review: Towering Value Standard CPU coolers, while adequate for managing basic thermal loads, often fall short in terms of noise reduction and superior cooling efficiency. This limitation drives advanced users and system builders to seek aftermarket solutions tailored to their specific needs. The high-end aftermarket cooler market is highly competitive, with manufacturers striving to offer products with exceptional performance.
Endorfy, previously known as SilentiumPC, is a Polish manufacturer that has undergone a significant transformation to expand its presence in global markets. The brand is known for delivering high-performance cooling solutions with a strong focus on balancing efficiency and affordability. By rebranding as Endorfy, the company aims to enter premium market segments while continuing to offer reliable, high-quality cooling products.
SilentiumPC became very popular in the value/mainstream segments of the PC market with their products, the spearhead of which probably was the Fera 5 cooler that we reviewed a little over two years ago and had a remarkable value for money. Today’s review places Endorfy’s largest CPU cooler, the Fortis 5 Dual Fan, on our laboratory test bench. The Fortis 5 is the largest CPU air cooler the company currently offers and is significantly more expensive than the Fera 5, yet it still is a single-tower cooler that strives to strike a balance between value, compatibility, and performance.
Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Kioxia Demonstrates Optical Interface SSDs for Data Centers
A few years back, the Japanese government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO ) allocated funding for the development of green datacenter technologies. With the aim to obtain up to 40% savings in overall power consumption, several Japanese companies have been developing an optical interface for their enterprise SSDs. And at this year's FMS, Kioxia had their optical interface on display.
For this demonstration, Kioxia took its existing CM7 enterprise SSD and created an optical interface for it. A PCIe card with on-board optics developed by Kyocera is installed in the server slot. An optical interface allows data transfer over long distances (it was 40m in the demo, but Kioxia promises lengths of up to 100m for the cable in the future). This allows the storage to be kept in a separate room with minimal cooling requirements compared to the rack with the CPUs and GPUs. Disaggregation of different server components will become an option as very high throughput interfaces such as PCIe 7.0 (with 128 GT/s rates) become available.
The demonstration of the optical SSD showed a slight loss in IOPS performance, but a significant advantage in the latency metric over the shipping enterprise SSD behind a copper network link. Obviously, there are advantages in wiring requirements and signal integrity maintenance with optical links.
Being a proof-of-concept demonstration, we do see the requirement for an industry-standard approach if this were to gain adoption among different datacenter vendors. The PCI-SIG optical workgroup will need to get its act together soon to create a standards-based approach to this problem.
Storage
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