Samsung Joins The 60 TB SSD Club, Looking Forward To 120 TB Drives
Multiple companies offer high-capacity SSDs, but until recently, only two companies offered high-performance 60 TB-class drives with a PCIe interface: Solidigm and Western Digital. As our colleagues from Blocks & Files discovered, Samsung quietly rolled out its BM1743 61.44 TB solid-state drive in mid-June and now envisions 120 TB-class SSDs based on the same platform.
Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB features a proprietary controller and relies on Samsung's 7th Generation V-NAND (3D NAND) QLC memory. Moreover, Samsung believes that its 7th Gen V-NAND 'has the potential to accommodate up to 122.88 TB,'
Samsung plans to offer the BM1743 in two form factors: U.2 for PCIe 4.0 x4 to address traditional servers and E3.S for PCIe 5.0 x4 interfaces to address machines designed to offer maximum storage density. BM1743 can address various applications, including AI training and inference, content delivery networks, and read-intensive workloads. To that end, its write endurance is 0.26 drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years.
Regarding performance, Samsung's BM1743 is hardly a champion compared to high-end drives for gaming machines and workstations. The drive can sustainably achieve sequential read speeds of 7,200 MB/s and write speeds of 2,000 MB/s. It can handle up to 1.6 million 4K random reads and 110,000 4K random writes for random operations.
Power consumption details for the BM1743 have not been disclosed, though it is expected to be high. Meanwhile, the drive's key selling point is its massive storage density, which likely outweighs concerns over its absolute power efficiency for intended applications, as a 60 TB SSD still consumes less than multiple storage devices offering similar capacity and performance.
As noted above, Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB faces limited competition in the market, so its price will be quite high. For example, Solidigm's D5-P5336 61.44 TB SSD costs $6,905. Other companies, such as Kioxia, Micron, and SK Hynix, have not yet introduced their 60TB-class SSDs, which gives Samsung and Solidigm an edge for now.
SSDs
Posted by The Techinical Support
NVIDIA's AD102 GPU Pops Up in MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Cards 
As GPU families enter the later part of their lifecycles, we often see chip manufacturers start to offload stockpiles of salvaged chips that, for one reason or another, didn't make the grade for the tier of cards they normally are used in. These recovered chips are fairly unremarkable overall, but they are unsold silicon that still works and has economic value, leading to them being used in lower-tier cards so that they can be sold. And, judging by the appearance of a new video card design from MSI, it looks like NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace generation of chips has reached that stage, as the Taiwanese video card maker has put out a new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super card based on a salvaged AD102 GPU.
Typically based on NVIDIA's AD103 GPU, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super series sits a step below the company's flagship RTX 4080/4090 cards, both of which are based on the bigger and badder AD102 chip. But with some number of AD102 chips inevitably failing to live up to RTX 4080 specifications, rather than being thrown out, these chips can instead be used to make RTX 4070 cards. Which is exactly what MSI has done with their new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC graphics card.
The card itself is relatively unremarkable – using a binned AD102 chip doesn't come with any advantages, and it should perform just like regular AD103 cards – and for that reason, video card vendors rarely publicly note when they're doing a run of cards with a binned-down version of a bigger chip. However, these larger chips have a tell-tale PCB footprint that usually makes it obvious what's going on. Which, as first noticed by @wxnod, is exactly what's going on with MSI's card.
Ada Lovelace Lineup: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 TiS (AD103), RTX 4070 TiS (AD102), & RTX 4090 (AD102)
The tell, in this case, is the rear board shot provided by MSI. The larger AD102 GPU uses an equally larger mounting bracket, and is paired with a slightly more complex array of filtering capacitors on the back side of the board PCB. Ultimately, since these are visible in MSI's photos of their GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC, it's easy to compare it to other video cards and see that it has exactly the same capacitor layout as MSI's GeForce RTX 4090, thus confirming the use of an AD102 GPU.
Chip curiosities aside, all of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics cards – no matter whether they are based on the AD102 or AD103 GPU – come with a GPU with 8,448 active CUDA cores and 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, so it doesn't (typically) matter which chip they carry. Otherwise, compared to a fully-enabled AD102 chip, the RTX 4070 Ti Super specifications are relatively modest, with fewer than half as many CUDA cores, underscoring how the AD102 chip being used in MSI's card is a pretty heavy salvage bin.
As for the rest of the card, MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC is a relatively hefty card overall, with a cooling system to match. Being overclocked, the Ventus also has a slightly higher TDP than normal GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super cards, weighing in at 295 Watts, or 10 Watts above baseline cards.
Meanwhile, MSI is apparently not the only video card manufacturer using salvaged AD102 chips for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super, either. @wxnod has also posted a screenshot obtained on an Inno3D GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super based on an AD102 GPU.
GPUs
Ada Lovelace Lineup: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 TiS (AD103), RTX 4070 TiS (AD102), & RTX 4090 (AD102)
Micron Ships Crucial-Branded LPCAMM2 Memory Modules: 64GB of LPDDR5X For $330 
As LPCAMM2 adoption begins, the first retail memory modules are finally starting to hit the retail market, courtesy of Micron. The memory manufacturer has begun selling their LPDDR5X-based LPCAMM2 memory modules under their in-house Crucial brand, making them available on the latter's storefront. Timed to coincide with the release of Lenovo's ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop – the first retail laptop designed to use the memory modules – this marks the de facto start of the eagerly-awaited modular LPDDR5X memory era.
Micron's Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module 2 (LPCAMM2) modules are available in capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB. These are dual-channel modules that feature a 128-bit wide interface, and are based around LPDDR5X memory running at data rates up to 7500 MT/s. This gives a single LPCAMM2 a peak bandwidth of 120 GB/s. Micron is not disclosing the latencies of its LPCAMM2 memory modules, but it says that high data transfer rates of LPDDR5X compensate for the extended timings.
Micron says that LPDDR5X memory offers significantly lower power consumption, with active power per 64-bit bus being 43-58% lower than DDR5 at the same speed, and standby power up to 80% lower. Meanwhile, similar to DDR5 modules, LPCAMM2 modules include a power management IC and voltage regulating circuitry, which provides module manufacturers additional opportunities to reduce power consumption of their products.
Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief
It's worth noting, however, that at least for the first generation of LPCAMM2 modules, system vendors will need to pick between modularity and performance. While soldered-down LPDDR5X memory is available at speeds up to 8533 MT/sec – and with 9600 MT/sec on the horizon – the fastest LPCAMM2 modules planned for this year by both Micron and rival Samsung will be running at 7500 MT/sec. So vendors will have to choose between the flexibility of offering modular LPDDR5X, or the higher bandwidth (and space savings) offered by soldering down their memory.
Micron, for its part, is projecting that 9600 MT/sec LPCAMM2 modules will be available by 2026. Though it's all but certain that faster memory will also be avaialble in the same timeframe.
Micron's Crucial LPDDR5X 32 GB module costs $174.99, whereas a 64 GB module costs $329.99.
Memory
Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief
NVIDIA's AD102 GPU Pops Up in MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Cards
As GPU families enter the later part of their lifecycles, we often see chip manufacturers start to offload stockpiles of salvaged chips that, for one reason or another, didn't make the grade for the tier of cards they normally are used in. These recovered chips are fairly unremarkable overall, but they are unsold silicon that still works and has economic value, leading to them being used in lower-tier cards so that they can be sold. And, judging by the appearance of a new video card design from MSI, it looks like NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace generation of chips has reached that stage, as the Taiwanese video card maker has put out a new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super card based on a salvaged AD102 GPU.
Typically based on NVIDIA's AD103 GPU, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super series sits a step below the company's flagship RTX 4080/4090 cards, both of which are based on the bigger and badder AD102 chip. But with some number of AD102 chips inevitably failing to live up to RTX 4080 specifications, rather than being thrown out, these chips can instead be used to make RTX 4070 cards. Which is exactly what MSI has done with their new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC graphics card.
The card itself is relatively unremarkable – using a binned AD102 chip doesn't come with any advantages, and it should perform just like regular AD103 cards – and for that reason, video card vendors rarely publicly note when they're doing a run of cards with a binned-down version of a bigger chip. However, these larger chips have a tell-tale PCB footprint that usually makes it obvious what's going on. Which, as first noticed by @wxnod, is exactly what's going on with MSI's card.
Ada Lovelace Lineup: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 TiS (AD103), RTX 4070 TiS (AD102), & RTX 4090 (AD102)
The tell, in this case, is the rear board shot provided by MSI. The larger AD102 GPU uses an equally larger mounting bracket, and is paired with a slightly more complex array of filtering capacitors on the back side of the board PCB. Ultimately, since these are visible in MSI's photos of their GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC, it's easy to compare it to other video cards and see that it has exactly the same capacitor layout as MSI's GeForce RTX 4090, thus confirming the use of an AD102 GPU.
Chip curiosities aside, all of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics cards – no matter whether they are based on the AD102 or AD103 GPU – come with a GPU with 8,448 active CUDA cores and 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, so it doesn't (typically) matter which chip they carry. Otherwise, compared to a fully-enabled AD102 chip, the RTX 4070 Ti Super specifications are relatively modest, with fewer than half as many CUDA cores, underscoring how the AD102 chip being used in MSI's card is a pretty heavy salvage bin.
As for the rest of the card, MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC is a relatively hefty card overall, with a cooling system to match. Being overclocked, the Ventus also has a slightly higher TDP than normal GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super cards, weighing in at 295 Watts, or 10 Watts above baseline cards.
Meanwhile, MSI is apparently not the only video card manufacturer using salvaged AD102 chips for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super, either. @wxnod has also posted a screenshot obtained on an Inno3D GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super based on an AD102 GPU.
GPUs
Ada Lovelace Lineup: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 TiS (AD103), RTX 4070 TiS (AD102), & RTX 4090 (AD102)
Micron Ships Crucial-Branded LPCAMM2 Memory Modules: 64GB of LPDDR5X For $330
As LPCAMM2 adoption begins, the first retail memory modules are finally starting to hit the retail market, courtesy of Micron. The memory manufacturer has begun selling their LPDDR5X-based LPCAMM2 memory modules under their in-house Crucial brand, making them available on the latter's storefront. Timed to coincide with the release of Lenovo's ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop – the first retail laptop designed to use the memory modules – this marks the de facto start of the eagerly-awaited modular LPDDR5X memory era.
Micron's Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module 2 (LPCAMM2) modules are available in capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB. These are dual-channel modules that feature a 128-bit wide interface, and are based around LPDDR5X memory running at data rates up to 7500 MT/s. This gives a single LPCAMM2 a peak bandwidth of 120 GB/s. Micron is not disclosing the latencies of its LPCAMM2 memory modules, but it says that high data transfer rates of LPDDR5X compensate for the extended timings.
Micron says that LPDDR5X memory offers significantly lower power consumption, with active power per 64-bit bus being 43-58% lower than DDR5 at the same speed, and standby power up to 80% lower. Meanwhile, similar to DDR5 modules, LPCAMM2 modules include a power management IC and voltage regulating circuitry, which provides module manufacturers additional opportunities to reduce power consumption of their products.
Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief
It's worth noting, however, that at least for the first generation of LPCAMM2 modules, system vendors will need to pick between modularity and performance. While soldered-down LPDDR5X memory is available at speeds up to 8533 MT/sec – and with 9600 MT/sec on the horizon – the fastest LPCAMM2 modules planned for this year by both Micron and rival Samsung will be running at 7500 MT/sec. So vendors will have to choose between the flexibility of offering modular LPDDR5X, or the higher bandwidth (and space savings) offered by soldering down their memory.
Micron, for its part, is projecting that 9600 MT/sec LPCAMM2 modules will be available by 2026. Though it's all but certain that faster memory will also be avaialble in the same timeframe.
Micron's Crucial LPDDR5X 32 GB module costs $174.99, whereas a 64 GB module costs $329.99.
Memory
Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief
SK hynix Wraps up Dev Work on High-End PCB01 PCIe 5.0 SSD for OEMs, Launching Later This Year 
SK hynix early in Friday announced that the company has finished the development of it's PCB01 PCIe Gen5 SSD, the company's forthcoming high-end SSD for OEMs. Based on the company's new Alistar platform, the PCB01 is designed to deliver chart-topping performance for client machines. And, as a sign of the times, SK hynix is positioning the PCB01 for AI PCs, looking to synergize with the overall industry interest in anything and everything AI.
The bare, OEM-focused drives have previously been shown off by SK hynix, and make no attempt to hide what's under the hood. The PCB01 relies on SK hynix's Alistar controller, which features a PCIe Gen5 x4 host interface on the front end and eight NAND channels on the back end, placing it solidly in the realm of high-end SSDs. Paired with the Alistar controller is the company's latest 238-layer TLC NAND (H25T1TD48C & H25T2TD88C), which offers a maximum transfer speed of 2400 MT/second. Being that this is a high-end client SSD, there's also a DRAM chip on board, though the company isn't disclosing its capacity.
As with other high-end PCIe 5.0 client SSDs, SK hynix is planning on hitting peak read speeds of up to 14GB/second on the drive, while peak sequential write speeds should top 12GB/second (with pSLC caching, of course) – performance figures well within the realm of possibility for an 8 channel drive. As for random performance, at Computex the company was telling attendees that the drives should be able to sustain 4K random read and write rates of 2 million IOPS, which is very high as well. The SSDs are also said to consume up to 30% less power than 'predecessors,' according to SK hynix, though the company didn't elaborate on that figure. Typically in the storage industry, energy figures are based on iso-performance (rather than peak performance) – essentially measuring energy efficiency per bit rather than toal power consumption – and that is likely the case here as well.
At least initially, SK Hynix plans to release its PCB01 in three capacities – 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB. The company has previously disclosed that their 238L TLC NAND has a capacity of 512Gbit, so these are typical capacity figures for single-sided drives. And while the focus of the company's press release this week was on OEM drives, this is the same controller and NAND that is also going into the company's previously-teased retail Platinum P51 SSD, so this week's reveal offers a bit more detail into what to expect from that drive family as well.
Specs aside, Ahn Hyun, the Head of the N-S Committee at SK hynix, said that multiple global CPU providers for on-device AI PCs are seeking collaboration for the compatibility validation process, which is underway, so expect PCB01 drives inside PCs in this back-to-school and holiday seasons.
"We will work towards enhancing our leadership as the global top AI memory provider also in the NAND solution space by successfully completing the customer validation and mass production of PCB01, which will be in the limelight," Ahn Hyun said.
SSDs
![](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/samsung-joins-60-tb-ssd-club-looking_14.html&text=Samsung Joins The 60 TB SSD Club, Looking Forward To 120 TB Drives <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21465/samsung-joins-the-60-tb-ssd-club-looking-forward-to-120-tb-drives"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21465/samsung-ssd-bm1743-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Multiple companies offer high-capacity SSDs, but until recently, only two companies offered high-performance 60 TB-class drives with a PCIe interface: Solidigm and Western Digital. As our colleagues from <a href="https://blocksandfiles.com/2024/07/02/samsung-bm1743-qlc-flash/">Blocks & Files</a> discovered, Samsung quietly rolled out its BM1743 61.44 TB solid-state drive in mid-June and now envisions 120 TB-class SSDs based on the same platform.</p>
<p>Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB features a proprietary controller and relies on Samsung's 7<sup>th</sup> Generation V-NAND (3D NAND) QLC memory. Moreover, Samsung believes that its 7<sup>th</sup> Gen V-NAND 'has the potential to accommodate up to 122.88 TB,' </p>
<p>Samsung plans to offer the BM1743 in two form factors: U.2 for PCIe 4.0 x4 to address traditional servers and E3.S for PCIe 5.0 x4 interfaces to address machines designed to offer maximum storage density. BM1743 can address various applications, including AI training and inference, content delivery networks, and read-intensive workloads. To that end, its write endurance is 0.26 drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years.</p>
<p>Regarding performance, Samsung's BM1743 is hardly a champion compared to high-end drives for gaming machines and workstations. The drive can sustainably achieve sequential read speeds of 7,200 MB/s and write speeds of 2,000 MB/s. It can handle up to 1.6 million 4K random reads and 110,000 4K random writes for random operations.</p>
<p>Power consumption details for the BM1743 have not been disclosed, though it is expected to be high. Meanwhile, the drive's key selling point is its massive storage density, which likely outweighs concerns over its absolute power efficiency for intended applications, as a 60 TB SSD still consumes less than multiple storage devices offering similar capacity and performance.</p>
<p>As noted above, Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB faces limited competition in the market, so its price will be quite high. For example, Solidigm's D5-P5336 61.44 TB SSD costs <a href="https://www.shopblt.com/item/solidigm-d5-p5336-61.44tb-2.5in-pcie/750y_sbfpf2bv614t001.html">$6,905</a>. Other companies, such as Kioxia, Micron, and SK Hynix, have not yet introduced their 60TB-class SSDs, which gives Samsung and Solidigm an edge for now.</p>
</p> SSDs){kind=link}
![](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/samsung-joins-60-tb-ssd-club-looking_14.html&media=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tPn_AFP2U5IcXR_HW8ypUEus3lSXbRYrzcRzizCUjGlPAtSeWkoj0h1LUD75EAntO6fs_DPmAADW4BizLGhUx_WMeIJoHvXhclLAH1NoLtCaF89XewnHfckDJeaK9_2WSrhbwQvOrMfuptKQ&description=Samsung Joins The 60 TB SSD Club, Looking Forward To 120 TB Drives <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21465/samsung-joins-the-60-tb-ssd-club-looking-forward-to-120-tb-drives"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21465/samsung-ssd-bm1743-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Multiple companies offer high-capacity SSDs, but until recently, only two companies offered high-performance 60 TB-class drives with a PCIe interface: Solidigm and Western Digital. As our colleagues from <a href="https://blocksandfiles.com/2024/07/02/samsung-bm1743-qlc-flash/">Blocks & Files</a> discovered, Samsung quietly rolled out its BM1743 61.44 TB solid-state drive in mid-June and now envisions 120 TB-class SSDs based on the same platform.</p>
<p>Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB features a proprietary controller and relies on Samsung's 7<sup>th</sup> Generation V-NAND (3D NAND) QLC memory. Moreover, Samsung believes that its 7<sup>th</sup> Gen V-NAND 'has the potential to accommodate up to 122.88 TB,' </p>
<p>Samsung plans to offer the BM1743 in two form factors: U.2 for PCIe 4.0 x4 to address traditional servers and E3.S for PCIe 5.0 x4 interfaces to address machines designed to offer maximum storage density. BM1743 can address various applications, including AI training and inference, content delivery networks, and read-intensive workloads. To that end, its write endurance is 0.26 drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years.</p>
<p>Regarding performance, Samsung's BM1743 is hardly a champion compared to high-end drives for gaming machines and workstations. The drive can sustainably achieve sequential read speeds of 7,200 MB/s and write speeds of 2,000 MB/s. It can handle up to 1.6 million 4K random reads and 110,000 4K random writes for random operations.</p>
<p>Power consumption details for the BM1743 have not been disclosed, though it is expected to be high. Meanwhile, the drive's key selling point is its massive storage density, which likely outweighs concerns over its absolute power efficiency for intended applications, as a 60 TB SSD still consumes less than multiple storage devices offering similar capacity and performance.</p>
<p>As noted above, Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB faces limited competition in the market, so its price will be quite high. For example, Solidigm's D5-P5336 61.44 TB SSD costs <a href="https://www.shopblt.com/item/solidigm-d5-p5336-61.44tb-2.5in-pcie/750y_sbfpf2bv614t001.html">$6,905</a>. Other companies, such as Kioxia, Micron, and SK Hynix, have not yet introduced their 60TB-class SSDs, which gives Samsung and Solidigm an edge for now.</p>
</p> SSDs){kind=link}
![](https://web.whatsapp.com/send?text=Samsung Joins The 60 TB SSD Club, Looking Forward To 120 TB Drives <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21465/samsung-joins-the-60-tb-ssd-club-looking-forward-to-120-tb-drives"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21465/samsung-ssd-bm1743-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Multiple companies offer high-capacity SSDs, but until recently, only two companies offered high-performance 60 TB-class drives with a PCIe interface: Solidigm and Western Digital. As our colleagues from <a href="https://blocksandfiles.com/2024/07/02/samsung-bm1743-qlc-flash/">Blocks & Files</a> discovered, Samsung quietly rolled out its BM1743 61.44 TB solid-state drive in mid-June and now envisions 120 TB-class SSDs based on the same platform.</p>
<p>Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB features a proprietary controller and relies on Samsung's 7<sup>th</sup> Generation V-NAND (3D NAND) QLC memory. Moreover, Samsung believes that its 7<sup>th</sup> Gen V-NAND 'has the potential to accommodate up to 122.88 TB,' </p>
<p>Samsung plans to offer the BM1743 in two form factors: U.2 for PCIe 4.0 x4 to address traditional servers and E3.S for PCIe 5.0 x4 interfaces to address machines designed to offer maximum storage density. BM1743 can address various applications, including AI training and inference, content delivery networks, and read-intensive workloads. To that end, its write endurance is 0.26 drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years.</p>
<p>Regarding performance, Samsung's BM1743 is hardly a champion compared to high-end drives for gaming machines and workstations. The drive can sustainably achieve sequential read speeds of 7,200 MB/s and write speeds of 2,000 MB/s. It can handle up to 1.6 million 4K random reads and 110,000 4K random writes for random operations.</p>
<p>Power consumption details for the BM1743 have not been disclosed, though it is expected to be high. Meanwhile, the drive's key selling point is its massive storage density, which likely outweighs concerns over its absolute power efficiency for intended applications, as a 60 TB SSD still consumes less than multiple storage devices offering similar capacity and performance.</p>
<p>As noted above, Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB faces limited competition in the market, so its price will be quite high. For example, Solidigm's D5-P5336 61.44 TB SSD costs <a href="https://www.shopblt.com/item/solidigm-d5-p5336-61.44tb-2.5in-pcie/750y_sbfpf2bv614t001.html">$6,905</a>. Other companies, such as Kioxia, Micron, and SK Hynix, have not yet introduced their 60TB-class SSDs, which gives Samsung and Solidigm an edge for now.</p>
</p> SSDs | https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/samsung-joins-60-tb-ssd-club-looking_14.html){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Samsung Joins The 60 TB SSD Club, Looking Forward To 120 TB Drives <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21465/samsung-joins-the-60-tb-ssd-club-looking-forward-to-120-tb-drives"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21465/samsung-ssd-bm1743-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>Multiple companies offer high-capacity SSDs, but until recently, only two companies offered high-performance 60 TB-class drives with a PCIe interface: Solidigm and Western Digital. As our colleagues from <a href="https://blocksandfiles.com/2024/07/02/samsung-bm1743-qlc-flash/">Blocks & Files</a> discovered, Samsung quietly rolled out its BM1743 61.44 TB solid-state drive in mid-June and now envisions 120 TB-class SSDs based on the same platform.</p>
<p>Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB features a proprietary controller and relies on Samsung's 7<sup>th</sup> Generation V-NAND (3D NAND) QLC memory. Moreover, Samsung believes that its 7<sup>th</sup> Gen V-NAND 'has the potential to accommodate up to 122.88 TB,' </p>
<p>Samsung plans to offer the BM1743 in two form factors: U.2 for PCIe 4.0 x4 to address traditional servers and E3.S for PCIe 5.0 x4 interfaces to address machines designed to offer maximum storage density. BM1743 can address various applications, including AI training and inference, content delivery networks, and read-intensive workloads. To that end, its write endurance is 0.26 drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years.</p>
<p>Regarding performance, Samsung's BM1743 is hardly a champion compared to high-end drives for gaming machines and workstations. The drive can sustainably achieve sequential read speeds of 7,200 MB/s and write speeds of 2,000 MB/s. It can handle up to 1.6 million 4K random reads and 110,000 4K random writes for random operations.</p>
<p>Power consumption details for the BM1743 have not been disclosed, though it is expected to be high. Meanwhile, the drive's key selling point is its massive storage density, which likely outweighs concerns over its absolute power efficiency for intended applications, as a 60 TB SSD still consumes less than multiple storage devices offering similar capacity and performance.</p>
<p>As noted above, Samsung's BM1743 61.44 TB faces limited competition in the market, so its price will be quite high. For example, Solidigm's D5-P5336 61.44 TB SSD costs <a href="https://www.shopblt.com/item/solidigm-d5-p5336-61.44tb-2.5in-pcie/750y_sbfpf2bv614t001.html">$6,905</a>. Other companies, such as Kioxia, Micron, and SK Hynix, have not yet introduced their 60TB-class SSDs, which gives Samsung and Solidigm an edge for now.</p>
</p> SSDs&body=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/07/samsung-joins-60-tb-ssd-club-looking_14.html){kind=link}
![Micron: U.S. Fabs Will Start Operating in 2026 - 2029 <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21459/micron-u-s-fabs-will-start-operating-in-2026-2029"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21459/micron-server-datacenter-general-generic-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>When Micron announced plans to build two new fabs in the U.S. in 2022, the company vaguely said both would come online by the decade's end. Then, in 2023, it began to optimize its spending, which pushed production at these fabrication facilities. This week, the company outlined more precise timeframes for when its fabs in <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/17573/micron-breaks-ground-on-its-15-billion-euv-dram-fab-in-the-us">Idaho</a> and <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/17606/micron-announces-100-billion-us-fab-complex-a-20year-plan">New York</a> will start operations: this will happen from calendar 2026 to calendar 2029.</p>
<p>"<em>These fab construction investments are necessary to support supply growth for the latter half of this decade,</em>" a statement by Micron in its Q3 FY2024 financial results report <a href="https://investors.micron.com/static-files/a531c7f0-fca2-48f3-8f24-79c945aaa2d2">reads</a>. "<em>This Idaho fab will not contribute to meaningful bit supply until fiscal 2027 and the New York construction capex is not expected to contribute to bit supply growth until fiscal 2028 or later. The timing of future [wafer fab equipment] spend in these fabs will be managed to align supply growth with expected demand growth.</em>"</p>
<p>Micron's fiscal year 2027 starts in September 2026, so the new fab near Boise, Idaho, is set to start operations between September 2026 and September 2027. The company's fiscal 2028 starts in September 2027, so the fab will likely begin operations in calendar 2028 or later, probably depending on the demand for DRAM memory in the coming years. That said, Micron's U.S. memory fabs will begin operations between late 2026 and 2029, which aligns with the company's original plans. </p>
<p>Construction of the fab in Idaho is well underway. In contrast, construction of the New York facility has yet to begin as the company is working on regulatory and permitting processes in the state. </p>
<p>Micron's capital expenditure (CaPex) plan for FY2024 is approximately $8.0 billion, with a decrease in year-over-year spending on wafer fabrication equipment (WFE). In Q4 FY2024, the company will spend around $3 billion on fab construction, new wafer fab tools, and various expansions/upgrades.</p>
<p>Looking ahead to FY2025, the company plans a substantial increase in capex, targeting a mid-30s percentage of revenue to support various technological and facility advancements. In particular, it expects its quarterly CapEx to average above the $3 billion level seen in the fourth quarter of FY2024, which means that it plans to spend about $12 billion in its fiscal 2025, which begins in late September.</p>
<p>Half or more of the total CapEx increase in FY2025 (i.e., over $2 billion) will be allocated to constructing new fabs in Idaho and New York. Meanwhile, the FY2025 CapEx will significantly rise to fund high-bandwidth memory (HBM) assembly and testing and the construction of fabrication and back-end facilities. This increase also includes investments in technology transitions to meet growing demand. </p>
<p>"<em>Fab construction in Idaho is underway, and we are working diligently to complete the regulatory and permitting processes in New York,</em>" said Sanjay Mehrotra, chief executive officer of Micron, at the company's conference call with investors and financial analysts (via <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4701253-micron-technology-inc-mu-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript?source=content_type%3Areact%7Csection%3ATranscripts%7Csection_asset%3ATranscripts%7Cfirst_level_url%3Asymbol%7Cbutton%3ATitle%7Clock_status%3ANo%7Cline%3A1">SeekingAlpha</a>). "<em>This additional leading-edge greenfield capacity, along with continued technology transition investments in our Asia facilities, is required to meet long-term demand in the second half of this decade and beyond. These investments support our objective to maintain our current bit share over time and to grow our memory bit supply in line with long-term industry bit demand.</em>"</p>
</p> Memory](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sYBOzrT5Wpplf5gnLRIKKXwseS11V-6XijJQOvDbnVRGR6DPMGq7Njon_MmZ1s3PPBPZMPlmps4DrafvM3EsBykdzxhsRUb4AHOV-Zq2Tsvr02K8j_y6NNtCG4Obpu2jglJccLsZAoJyXDEv1OLCqt4Hmb0U9Jd6xcad-fBj2eFl4=w72-h72-p-k-no-nu)
Micron: U.S. Fabs Will Start Operating in 2026 - 2029 
When Micron announced plans to build two new fabs in the U.S. in 2022, the company vaguely said both would come online by the decade's end. Then, in 2023, it began to optimize its spending, which pushed production at these fabrication facilities. This week, the company outlined more precise timeframes for when its fabs in Idaho and New York will start operations: this will happen from calendar 2026 to calendar 2029.
"These fab construction investments are necessary to support supply growth for the latter half of this decade," a statement by Micron in its Q3 FY2024 financial results report reads. "This Idaho fab will not contribute to meaningful bit supply until fiscal 2027 and the New York construction capex is not expected to contribute to bit supply growth until fiscal 2028 or later. The timing of future [wafer fab equipment] spend in these fabs will be managed to align supply growth with expected demand growth."
Micron's fiscal year 2027 starts in September 2026, so the new fab near Boise, Idaho, is set to start operations between September 2026 and September 2027. The company's fiscal 2028 starts in September 2027, so the fab will likely begin operations in calendar 2028 or later, probably depending on the demand for DRAM memory in the coming years. That said, Micron's U.S. memory fabs will begin operations between late 2026 and 2029, which aligns with the company's original plans.
Construction of the fab in Idaho is well underway. In contrast, construction of the New York facility has yet to begin as the company is working on regulatory and permitting processes in the state.
Micron's capital expenditure (CaPex) plan for FY2024 is approximately $8.0 billion, with a decrease in year-over-year spending on wafer fabrication equipment (WFE). In Q4 FY2024, the company will spend around $3 billion on fab construction, new wafer fab tools, and various expansions/upgrades.
Looking ahead to FY2025, the company plans a substantial increase in capex, targeting a mid-30s percentage of revenue to support various technological and facility advancements. In particular, it expects its quarterly CapEx to average above the $3 billion level seen in the fourth quarter of FY2024, which means that it plans to spend about $12 billion in its fiscal 2025, which begins in late September.
Half or more of the total CapEx increase in FY2025 (i.e., over $2 billion) will be allocated to constructing new fabs in Idaho and New York. Meanwhile, the FY2025 CapEx will significantly rise to fund high-bandwidth memory (HBM) assembly and testing and the construction of fabrication and back-end facilities. This increase also includes investments in technology transitions to meet growing demand.
"Fab construction in Idaho is underway, and we are working diligently to complete the regulatory and permitting processes in New York," said Sanjay Mehrotra, chief executive officer of Micron, at the company's conference call with investors and financial analysts (via SeekingAlpha). "This additional leading-edge greenfield capacity, along with continued technology transition investments in our Asia facilities, is required to meet long-term demand in the second half of this decade and beyond. These investments support our objective to maintain our current bit share over time and to grow our memory bit supply in line with long-term industry bit demand."
Memory
G.Skill Intros Low Latency DDR5 Memory Modules: CL30 at 6400 MT/s 
G.Skill on Tuesday introduced its ultra-low-latency DDR5-6400 memory modules that feature a CAS latency of 30 clocks, which appears to be the industry's most aggressive timings yet for DDR5-6400 sticks. The modules will be available for both AMD and Intel CPU-based systems.
With every new generation of DDR memory comes an increase in data transfer rates and an extension of relative latencies. While for the vast majority of applications, the increased bandwidth offsets the performance impact of higher timings, there are applications that favor low latencies. However, shrinking latencies is sometimes harder than increasing data transfer rates, which is why low-latency modules are rare.
Nonetheless, G.Skill has apparently managed to cherry-pick enough DDR5 memory chips and build appropriate printed circuit boards to produce DDR5-6400 modules with CL30 timings, which are substantially lower than the CL46 timings recommended by JEDEC for this speed bin. This means that while JEDEC-standard modules have an absolute latency of 14.375 ns, G.Skill's modules can boast a latency of just 9.375 ns – an approximately 35% decrease.
G.Skill's DDR5-6400 CL30 39-39-102 modules have a capacity of 16 GB and will be available in 32 GB dual-channel kits, though the company does not disclose voltages, which are likely considerably higher than those standardized by JEDEC.
The company plans to make its DDR5-6400 modules available both for AMD systems with EXPO profiles (Trident Z5 Neo RGB and Trident Z5 Royal Neo) and for Intel-powered PCs with XMP 3.0 profiles (Trident Z5 RGB and Trident Z5 Royal). For AMD AM5 systems that have a practical limitation of 6000 MT/s – 6400 MT/s for DDR5 memory (as this is roughly as fast as AMD's Infinity Fabric can operate at with a 1:1 ratio), the new modules will be particularly beneficial for AMD's Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000-series processors.
G.Skill notes that since its modules are non-standard, they will not work with all systems but will operate on high-end motherboards with properly cooled CPUs.
The new ultra-low-latency memory kits will be available worldwide from G.Skill's partners starting in late August 2024. The company did not disclose the pricing of these modules, but since we are talking about premium products that boast unique specifications, they are likely to be priced accordingly.
Memory
ASMedia Preps USB4 v2 Controller and PHY 
The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) introduced USB4 version 2.0 in fall 2022, and it expects systems and devices with the tech to emerge later this year and into next year. These upcoming products will largely rely on Intel's Barlow Ridge controller, a full-featured Thunderbolt 5 controller that goes above and beond the baseline USB4 v2 spec. And though extremely capable, Intel's Thunderbolt controllers are also quite expensive, and Barlow Ridge isn't expected to be any different. Fortunately, for system and device vendors that just need a basic USB4 v2 solution, ASMedia is also working on its own USB4 v2 controller.
At Computex 2024, ASMedia demonstrated a prototype of its upcoming USB4 v2 physical interface (PHY), which will support USB4 v2's new Gen 4 (160Gbps) data rates and the associated PAM-3 signal encoding. The prototype was implemented using an FPGA, as the company yet has to tape out the completed controller.
Ultimately, the purpose of showing off a FPGA-based PHY at Computex was to allow ASMedia to demonstrate their current PHY design. With the shift to PAM-3 encoding for USB4 v2, ASMedia (and the rest of the USB ecosystem) must develop significantly more complex controllers – and there's no part of that more critical than a solid and reliable PHY design.
As part of their demonstration, ASMedia had a classic eye diagram display. The eye diagram demoed has a clear opening in the center, which is indicative of good signal integrity, as the larger the eye opening, the less distortion and noise in the signal. The horizontal width of the eye opening represents the time window in which the signal can be sampled correctly, so the relatively narrow horizontal spread of the eye opening suggests that there is minimal jitter, meaning the signal transitions are consistent and predictable. Finally, the vertical height of the eye opening indicates the signal amplitude and the rather tall eye opening suggests a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), meaning that the signal is strong compared to any noise present.
ASMedia itself is one of the major suppliers for discrete USB controllers, so the availability of ASMedia's USB4 v2 chip is crucial for adoption of the standard in general. While Intel will spearhead the industry with their Barlow Ridge Thunderbolt 5/USB4 v2 controller, ASMedia's controller is poised to end up in a far larger range of devices. So the importance of the company's USB4 v2 PHY demo is hard to overstate.
Demos aside, ASMedia is hoping to tape the chip out soon. If all goes well, the company expects their first USB4 v2 controllers to hit the market some time in the second half of 2025.
Peripherals
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NVIDIA's AD102 GPU Pops Up in MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Cards
As GPU families enter the later part of their lifecycles, we often see chip manufacturers start to offload stockpiles of salvaged chips that, for one reason or another, didn't make the grade for the tier of cards they normally are used in. These recovered chips are fairly unremarkable overall, but they are unsold silicon that still works and has economic value, leading to them being used in lower-tier cards so that they can be sold. And, judging by the appearance of a new video card design from MSI, it looks like NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace generation of chips has reached that stage, as the Taiwanese video card maker has put out a new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super card based on a salvaged AD102 GPU.
Typically based on NVIDIA's AD103 GPU, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super series sits a step below the company's flagship RTX 4080/4090 cards, both of which are based on the bigger and badder AD102 chip. But with some number of AD102 chips inevitably failing to live up to RTX 4080 specifications, rather than being thrown out, these chips can instead be used to make RTX 4070 cards. Which is exactly what MSI has done with their new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC graphics card.
The card itself is relatively unremarkable – using a binned AD102 chip doesn't come with any advantages, and it should perform just like regular AD103 cards – and for that reason, video card vendors rarely publicly note when they're doing a run of cards with a binned-down version of a bigger chip. However, these larger chips have a tell-tale PCB footprint that usually makes it obvious what's going on. Which, as first noticed by @wxnod, is exactly what's going on with MSI's card.
Ada Lovelace Lineup: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 TiS (AD103), RTX 4070 TiS (AD102), & RTX 4090 (AD102)
The tell, in this case, is the rear board shot provided by MSI. The larger AD102 GPU uses an equally larger mounting bracket, and is paired with a slightly more complex array of filtering capacitors on the back side of the board PCB. Ultimately, since these are visible in MSI's photos of their GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC, it's easy to compare it to other video cards and see that it has exactly the same capacitor layout as MSI's GeForce RTX 4090, thus confirming the use of an AD102 GPU.
Chip curiosities aside, all of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics cards – no matter whether they are based on the AD102 or AD103 GPU – come with a GPU with 8,448 active CUDA cores and 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, so it doesn't (typically) matter which chip they carry. Otherwise, compared to a fully-enabled AD102 chip, the RTX 4070 Ti Super specifications are relatively modest, with fewer than half as many CUDA cores, underscoring how the AD102 chip being used in MSI's card is a pretty heavy salvage bin.
As for the rest of the card, MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X Black OC is a relatively hefty card overall, with a cooling system to match. Being overclocked, the Ventus also has a slightly higher TDP than normal GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super cards, weighing in at 295 Watts, or 10 Watts above baseline cards.
Meanwhile, MSI is apparently not the only video card manufacturer using salvaged AD102 chips for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super, either. @wxnod has also posted a screenshot obtained on an Inno3D GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super based on an AD102 GPU.
GPUs
Ada Lovelace Lineup: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 TiS (AD103), RTX 4070 TiS (AD102), & RTX 4090 (AD102)
Micron Ships Crucial-Branded LPCAMM2 Memory Modules: 64GB of LPDDR5X For $330
As LPCAMM2 adoption begins, the first retail memory modules are finally starting to hit the retail market, courtesy of Micron. The memory manufacturer has begun selling their LPDDR5X-based LPCAMM2 memory modules under their in-house Crucial brand, making them available on the latter's storefront. Timed to coincide with the release of Lenovo's ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop – the first retail laptop designed to use the memory modules – this marks the de facto start of the eagerly-awaited modular LPDDR5X memory era.
Micron's Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module 2 (LPCAMM2) modules are available in capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB. These are dual-channel modules that feature a 128-bit wide interface, and are based around LPDDR5X memory running at data rates up to 7500 MT/s. This gives a single LPCAMM2 a peak bandwidth of 120 GB/s. Micron is not disclosing the latencies of its LPCAMM2 memory modules, but it says that high data transfer rates of LPDDR5X compensate for the extended timings.
Micron says that LPDDR5X memory offers significantly lower power consumption, with active power per 64-bit bus being 43-58% lower than DDR5 at the same speed, and standby power up to 80% lower. Meanwhile, similar to DDR5 modules, LPCAMM2 modules include a power management IC and voltage regulating circuitry, which provides module manufacturers additional opportunities to reduce power consumption of their products.
Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief
It's worth noting, however, that at least for the first generation of LPCAMM2 modules, system vendors will need to pick between modularity and performance. While soldered-down LPDDR5X memory is available at speeds up to 8533 MT/sec – and with 9600 MT/sec on the horizon – the fastest LPCAMM2 modules planned for this year by both Micron and rival Samsung will be running at 7500 MT/sec. So vendors will have to choose between the flexibility of offering modular LPDDR5X, or the higher bandwidth (and space savings) offered by soldering down their memory.
Micron, for its part, is projecting that 9600 MT/sec LPCAMM2 modules will be available by 2026. Though it's all but certain that faster memory will also be avaialble in the same timeframe.
Micron's Crucial LPDDR5X 32 GB module costs $174.99, whereas a 64 GB module costs $329.99.
Memory
Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief
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