If you thought NVMe SSDs were already super-fast, think again. Micron has officially introduced the world's first mass-produced PCIe 6.0 SSD. The all-new Micron 9650 series takes full advantage of a PCIe 6.0 x4 interface to achieve up to a whopping 28 GB/s in read speeds, double that of the world's fastest PCIe 5.0 SSDs. The drive is optimized for AI/data center deployments and comes in data center-focused E1.S and E3.S form factors. Pricing was not disclosed, but since the 9650 is a datacenter drive, don't expect a static MSRP to be announced.
Micron will have several iterations of the 9650 featuring the 9650 Pro and 9650 Max. The Pro variant will feature three capacities: 7.68 TB, 15.36 TB, and 30.72 TB. The Max variant offers lower-capacity trims across the board compared to the Pro models, with 6.4TB, 12.8TB, and 25.6TB models, respectively. Sequential read speeds peak at up to 28 GB/s, sequential write speeds 14GB/s, random read speeds 5,400 KIOPS, and random write speeds 500 KIOPS for both Pro and Max models.
Where both models differ is in mixed performance conditions and endurance. In a 70/30 random read/write split workload, the Pro drive delivers up to 1,100 KIOPS, while the Max version delivers 400 KIOPS more at 1,500 KIOPS. Random and sequential endurance ratings are similar, with the Max models having noticeably better endurance than the Pro models of similar capacities. For instance, the 9650 Pro 30.72TB has a random endurance rating of 56,064 TBW. The 9650 Max 25.6TB has a random endurance rating of 140,160 TBW.
Overall, according to Micron's numbers, its new 9650 is 40% faster in write speeds than PCIe Gen 5 SSDs, 67% faster in random read speeds, and 22% faster in random write speeds. Take this info with a pinch of salt, as Micron did not share the exact PCIe 5.0 SSD model it is referring to, but most outgoing PCIe 5.0 SSD write speeds sit around the 10GB/s to 13GB/s range.
(Image credit: Micron)
Surprisingly, power consumption has not increased to match the extra performance the 9650 offers over PCIe 5.0 drives. Micron's 9650 is rated at up to 25 watts, the same as the most power-hungry enterprise PCIe 5.0 SSDs consume today. But if you want to compare consumer PCIe 5.0 SSDs, which generally top out at 12 to 15 watts, the 9650 consumes up to 67% more power than those drives.
What has changed is the cooling requirements for Micron's new drive. The 9650 is Micron's first SSD to support both air and liquid cooling, with liquid cooling being supported specifically on the E1.S version. The introduction of OEM liquid cooling is already happening with PCIe 5.0 SSDs in the datacenter world to help tame the heat generated by these high-power-consuming drives. It may seem silly to have to liquid-cool a device that only draws 25 watts, but cooling becomes complicated quickly when you have multiple 25-watt drives sitting side by side in a server rack. Solidigm was the first manufacturer to release a liquid-cooled enterprise SSD.
We can expect drives like the 9650 to be prioritized for mass production due to the demands of AI servers. LLMs require a lot of high-speed storage to move data quickly where it's needed. And just as GPUs do, AI servers will take advantage of as much high-speed storage as modern PCIe standards allow. Also, don't expect Micron's announcement to be any indication of a consumer PCIe 6.0 coming out anytime soon; not only is the AI race consuming NAND flash at an extraordinary rate, but consumer platforms have not yet adopted PCIe 6.0 (and won't until 2030), making a consumer variant completely useless.
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