Entering 2022, Dramless solutions have become another industry outlet after PCIe4.0 with good performance and controllable costs.
Looking back at the technical route of the SSD industry in recent years, it can be found that "rapid popularization and landing" has become the value pursued by major storage manufacturers, and the exaggerated read and write speed and the technical concept of shelving the shelf have been unable to adapt to the current consumption trend.
More practical, more user-friendly, more cost-effective solutions, perhaps the best solution in the new era of storage.
Yangtze River Storage, as a new force entering the storage industry, whether it is the first Xtacking architecture flash memory particles, or the whole SSD product line from scratch, they have always regarded user experience, user value, and user feelings as the foundation of their lives, and have always insisted on using technological innovation to innovate products, drive and help users, and obtain a better storage experience.
The state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD
So we once again ushered in the PCIe3.0 SSD of Yangtze River Storage's first DRAMLess solution, the State-of-The-State TiPlus5000.
In order to let everyone quickly understand the product characteristics of the state-oriented TiPlus5000, the author summarizes the technical characteristics of this product in a general way before the evaluation begins, and then analyzes them one by one.
The first DRAMless solution SSD with built-in HMB mechanism, continuous reading of more than 3500MB/s, straight to the PCIe3.0 SSD performance ceiling
The new generation of Xtacking architecture flash memory particles, efficient and stable
SLC intelligent cache design, durable read and write stress-free
5 years warranty, no worries after sale
01 Internal and external structure analysis Dramless is the highlight
First look at the product, "Plus" means to strengthen, enhance, corresponding to mainstream users with certain performance needs, moderate gamers, and office users, more emphasis on the balanced performance of the product, and more friendly in terms of price.
Plus means enhanced version
In addition to the difference in positioning, the outstanding highlight of the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD is DRAMless. This can be seen from the product design of the state-oriented TiPlus5000.
In terms of appearance, it is no different from the conventional M.2 interface products, the same 2280 standard design, just a single notch at the top of the gold finger, showing the particularity of the state-oriented TiPlus5000, that is, supporting NVMe transmission protocol;
2280 standard design
Unveiling the sticker on the front, the internal design can be seen that the state-oriented TiPlus5000 still uses a single PCB design, and the back of the product does not leave a flash solder joint that can continue to expand, and the front is four flash memory particles marked with the Yangtze River storage logo, and a master control particle from the domestic main control manufacturer Lianyun research and development. There are no separate DRAM particles that we are familiar with, for data caching.
Product front
Product back
In terms of main control, the use of domestic emerging master control manufacturers Lianyun research and development of the number of MAP1202 master control chip, familiar with the master control chip friends may not be unfamiliar, this chip is a new research and development, based on NVMe 1.3/1.4 technology developed DRAMless main control chip, using 22nm process, ultra-low power design, and the realization of NAND interface high-performance adaptive, up to support 1600MT/s particle performance, It can effectively play the full performance of pcIe3.0 protocol.
Domestic Lianyun MAP1202 master control
In terms of particles, needless to say, the use of Yangtze River Storage Xtacking2.0 architecture, which is the Yangtze River Storage self-developed Xtacking architecture of the iterative product, the outstanding advantage of the architecture is that the creative processing of peripheral circuits and storage units on two independent wafers, in favor of the choice of more advanced logic process at the same time, so that NAND to obtain higher I / O interface speed and more operational functions, when the two wafers are completed, Xtacking technology bonds two wafers through billions of vertically interconnected channels (VIA) in a single processing step to create a higher density, faster speed, and better quality NAND flash product.
Xtacking 2.0 architecture flash memory particles
Yangtze River Storage 3rd Generation 3D NAND using Xtacking 2.0 architecture, high-quality high-performance TLC flash memory particles, a single capacity of 256GB, a total of four of which constitute a total storage capacity of 1TB.
02 DRAMLess explained
As just mentioned, the outstanding highlight of the TiPlus5000 SSD adopts the DRAMless solution, and the performance reaches the PCIe3.0 industry ceiling of 3500MB/s. So what exactly is DRAMless? What is the magic of what makes the state-causing TiPlus5000 SSD achieve such performance?
In fact, to truly understand the DRAMless solution, you must first know the specific role of DRAM. Slightly different from the conventional CPU cache, the most important significance of the independent DRAM of SSDs is to store ftL flash mapping tables, which is conducive to flash memory particles to quickly read, retrieve, update and even correct FLT flash mapping tables.
LAB and PBA correspondence (figure from the Internet)
To understand the FTL flash mapping table, we also have to introduce the concepts of logical address LAB and physical address PBA for SSD storage. (PS: This paragraph description is too hardcore, novice friends can directly skip)
In the era of mechanical hard disk, we can directly overwrite the data through the disk as a storage medium, and in the era of solid-state drives, the flash memory particles cannot directly overwrite and write data like the disk, and need to be erased first and then written; at the same time, too much erasure will greatly shorten the life of flash memory particles, so in order to be able to more conveniently call and modify the data information distributed on different blocks, better check and monitor the life of flash blocks. The industry has introduced the concept and mechanism of mutual conversion between logical address LAB and actual physical address PBA.
WORKING OF FTL Flash Mapping Table (Figure from the Internet)
The FTL flash mapping table is a description file formed by the mutual mapping between the physical address of the flash memory unit and the logical address of the file system, and its existence can quickly transform the logical address instructions of the file system into the physical address, quickly locate, and quickly modify, so as to avoid excessive flash erasure and cause life problems.
The existence of FTL flash mapping tables can significantly improve the read and write efficiency of flash memory, and DRAM as a container for storing and calling FTL flash mapping tables, its significance is extraordinary. Some people may ask such a question, DRAM as a volatile medium, after the power loss of data will be lost, so what about the storage including the mapping table? The answer is that before the SSD powers down, it writes the map table to the Flash particles, and when it is powered up again, it needs to read out the map table and put it in the DRAM.
03 HMB technology is at the core
Talking about this, DRAMless, it is easy to understand. That is, in the product design stage, the DRAM module is removed, and the heavy responsibility of the storage mapping table is placed in SRAM, or in the flash memory particle, and the flash mapping table is called and corrected by using the master control HMB mechanism.
The so-called HMB technology, the full name is Host Memory Buffer, translated into Chinese is the host memory buffer, this technology has actually been born in the industry for a long time, it is actually a mechanism, that is, the host side (Host) can currently not need to use the memory resources, through the NVMe protocol to provide SSD use, this memory resources are subject to the Windows system, the maximum capacity is not more than 64MB, In other words, it borrows the main memory of the PC to achieve FTL mapping table access and accelerate to improve performance, which is mostly used for RAMless SSDs without external cache.
HMB working mechanism
In fact, since the beginning of its birth, this technology has been used as a backup solution for many manufacturers to save costs and improve profit margins, so there is no more dimension exploration in terms of technology upgrades and performance performance, resulting in DRAMless becoming synonymous with low-performance cheap products.
However, with the improvement of hardware level, the high performance based on Yangtze River Storage's self-developed Xtacking flash memory particles and the optimized main control chip make the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD maintain higher performance even under the DRAMless scheme.
04 Performance Test Continuous performance is called PCIe3.0 SSD ceiling
Entering the performance test section, for the DRAMless solution features, we will comprehensively consider the dimensions of continuous performance, 4k randomness, cache performance, comprehensive performance, and game loading.
In terms of continuous performance, it still uses two mainstream test software, CrystalDiskMark and Txbench, and comprehensively judged. The biggest of these two software is the ability to customize the test load, queue depth, and threading according to the product positioning, and at the same time, it can quickly and intuitively present the results, which is one of the best choices for us to understand the performance of SSDs.
CrystalDiskMark testing
Txbench test
Through the comparison of CrystalDiskMark and Txbench two software, it is found that the maximum continuous read speed of the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD can basically maintain the performance level of 3600MB/s, and the continuous write speed can also reach 3200MB/s, to know that the mainstream PCIe3.0 SSD with independent DRAM The maximum continuous read speed is also around 3500MB/s. It can be seen that the PERFORMANCE OF THE DIMMLESS SCHEME AFTER IMPROVING AND OPTIMIZING THE YANGTZE RIVER STORAGE STATE.
As for the 4K random performance part, directly refer to the 4K test results of CrystalDiskMark, under the queue depth of QD512, the maximum 4K random read of the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD reaches 1818MB/s, and the maximum 4K random write also reaches 1647MB/s, after simple data conversion, it can be known that the maximum 4K random read of the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD is roughly 465K IOPS. The maximum 4K random write is also maintained at 421K IOPS.
Excellent 4K performance can significantly accelerate the user's rapid response to daily small tasks, which has a considerable improvement effect on the actual experience.
05 slc cache, comprehensive performance in the upstream of the industry
As we all know, in the current consumer storage industry, the existence of the slc cache model has become an acceptable solution for both users and manufacturers, which can solve the contradiction between absolute performance and cost procurement, and accelerate the popularity of SSD products.
In terms of slc cache testing, we tested with the old storage software HD Tune.
SLC cache test
Through the test found that in the almost full disk data writing test, the performance of the state-causal TiPlus5000 SSD in the first half of the write is still quite stable, has been maintained at a high level, with the increase in the amount of writes, about 80GB or so, the speed began to decline, from which it can be inferred that the SLC cache space of the state-causal TiPlus5000 SSD is about 80GB.
To further validate the caching policy of the state-causing TiPlus5000 SSD, we also tested the 128KB QD32 cache in fileless mode by applying io Meters to enterprise storage.
IO Meter testing
Through the performance change curve in the picture, it can be known that in the range of 0-28 seconds, the performance of the state-causing TiPlus5000 SSD is basically maintained at the average value of about 2898MB/s, and when the write time reaches 29 seconds, the performance has dropped significantly, and the performance change that has been consistent in the HD TUNE test has been maintained before, and after simple calculations (that is, 2.89GB/s*28s), the state-causal TiPlus5000 SSD is tested in the IO Meter cache. The cache capacity hovers roughly around 80GB.
Based on the testing of HD TUNE and IO Meter, the cache strategy of the state-causing TiPlus5000 SSD is still a fixed SLC Cache mode, and its capacity size is about 80GB.
In terms of comprehensive performance, the new version of PC Mark10 Professional Edition built-in complete system disk test, the test can simulate the normal system operation scenario, through the internal calculation of the program, the performance of the disk in the real system environment in the form of numerical value, has considerable reference value.
PC makr10 comprehensive test
Under the test, there are three values worth referencing, the total score, the state-oriented TiPlus5000 solid-state drive got 2473 points, showing the performance advantages of the state-oriented TiPlus5000 solid-state drive in the integrated system environment, as for the hard disk bandwidth and average access time dimension, the state-oriented TiPlus5000 solid-state drive also with the new master control and new particles in the process process and IO queue advantages, has achieved quite good results.
As a comparison item, the pc Mark10 score of the previous generation of PCIe3.0 flagship products of an international brand is 2247, although there are interference factors such as platform differences and firmware optimization, in terms of scoring range, the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD of the DRAMless program is still remarkable in the performance part.
06 Game loading test is remarkable
In terms of game testing, we will use the professional FFXIV Benchmark for comparison testing, which is a demo test software for game loading time and graphics card adaptation rating, which can automatically simulate actual game scenes such as game loading and screen lighting after opening, and record the game loading time, screen rendering effect, and finally rating and scoring.
State-of-the-art TiPlus5000 SSD onboarding test
A brand of FLAMEless solution PCIe3.0 SSD onboarding test
By comparing the reference materials, it can be seen that in the same game scenario, in the two tests of loading time and total score, the state-causing TiPlus5000 SSD has a fairly obvious performance advantage compared with a brand OFRAMless solution SSD product.
To a certain extent, it reflects that in the same game scenario, the State-of-State TiPlus5000 SSD can provide a faster response speed, thereby creating a better gaming experience for users.
07 DRAMless New Helmsman New technologies bring a new pattern
As a new technology that is constantly evolving, DRAMless has begun to be picked up by major storage manufacturers around 2021, and the consideration behind it is nothing more than the acceptability of performance and the rapid evolution of market demand.
Acceptability of performance, as the name suggests, with the optimization of major storage manufacturers on the main control firmware, the climb of flash memory particle performance, making the once weak DRAMless program, re-revitalized, with higher product performance, which is the deep reason for the fire of DRAMless products;
Of course, high-performance products have long existed in the market, and the mature DRAM solution has proved its product value, so why bother to repeat production again? The answer is that the market demand for low-cost high-performance, products with significant cost performance is expanding, and THE FLAMELESS program, without independent DRAM procurement and manufacturing costs, has an innate advantage in terms of factory cost and market price, coupled with good performance performance, naturally has become the most able to cater to and meet the current stage of the market's consumer demand.
The birth of the state-oriented TiPlus5000 SSD also stems from this. On the new DRAMless track, the major storage manufacturers have already lit up their swords, spelling technology, talking about experience, seeing services, and the horn of all-round competition has been blown, but I hope that the major domestic shipwrights fighting in DRAMless can make the TiPlus5000 solid-state drive as the rudder, set sail, and tap the new world.