Intel Optane vs AMD StoreMI, which is better ...

In 2017, Intel released the Optane technology based on the "black technology" 3D XPoint technology, which allows traditional HDDs to achieve read and write performance comparable to SSDs.

In 2018, Intel's old rival AMD updated its second-generation Ruilong processor and also released its own HDD hard disk acceleration solution-StoreMI technology.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these two solutions? And look at our analysis and actual measurement.

The original intention of the two schemes is to obtain a low-cost, high-performance large-capacity memory by accelerating the mechanical hard disk. However, there are many differences in implementation.

To put it simply, Optane technology uses algorithm perception to mirror a file frequently called from a mechanical hard disk to Optane hardware based on 3D XPoint technology, thereby achieving a significant performance improvement.

AMD's solution is even simpler and more crude, packaging mechanical hard drives, solid-state drives, and DRAM memory (optional) into a logical partition. Then, the software algorithm allocates storage to improve the overall performance.

Optane was released with Intel200 series motherboards. Due to time constraints, basically all the current Intel motherboards on the market except the H310 and H110 motherboards support Optane technology. But AoTeng products must occupy an M. 2 hard drive slots, only one M for some. For a 2-slot motherboard, M. 2 SSD and Optane must choose one from the other, and there is some embarrassment.

In contrast, StoreMI currently only supports X470 and B450 series motherboards, and the cheaper B450 motherboard is not yet available. The selection surface is narrow. But the advantage is that consumers who use the first generation of Ruilong processors can also get StoreMI technology support if they use the X470 motherboard.

No matter what kind of technology, as long as it is a consumer-grade product, it can't escape the price level. So who is more advantageous in terms of cost of using Optane and StoreMI?

If you want to use Optane technology, you must purchase Optane hardware based on 3D XPoint technology. We inquired about the quotation of the cheapest 16GB version of Optane products:

At present, the price of 16GB Optane is around 130 yuan, while the 32GB version requires more than 300 yuan. If it is simply used to accelerate the mechanical hard disk, 16GB is basically enough.

For AMD, StoreMI is almost "completely free" because it does not require additional hardware support. Although this is indeed the case, the use of X470, which is much more expensive than the B350 motherboard, has in fact meant higher platform costs. In addition, StoreMI must be used on platforms with solid-state drives. And this "solid state drive" is not just traditional NAND, it can also be Optane hardware.

In terms of construction cost, the two basically have a mutual advantage.

Having said that, as a consumer-grade technology, the portability and difficulty of use must not be too high. If the operation difficulty of ordinary consumers is too great, it will seriously affect the user experience.

If we go back to the time when the Optane technology was just released a year ago, the deployment of the Optane acceleration technology would be a disaster. The stability of the software, the logic of operation, and the options that need to be adjusted are all full of engineers. The difficulty of use is far beyond the ability of ordinary consumers.

But now, Intel has simplified the deployment of Optane to a "fool-style" one-click completion method. Both efficiency and ease of use are as perfect as possible.

In contrast to StoreMI, the entire software has not yet been launched in Chinese, and even the test documents I got in my hand are English documents with dozens of thousands of words. Fortunately, software deployment is not very complicated. But there is no detailed instructions, the possibility of loss caused by the misuse of ordinary consumers is still greater. Hope that AMD will add Chinese and deployment guide instructions as soon as possible in subsequent version updates.

Regarding performance, we conducted an actual measurement. The test used two sets of platforms:

Let's test the performance of this mechanical hard drive first:

Test results after deploying Optane technology:

It can be seen that due to the powerful random performance of 3DXPoint, the 4K performance here has been improved by orders of magnitude.

So if you use 2GB DDR4 memory, 250GB 860EVO and the same 10TB hard drive to form a StoreMI array, what will the performance be?

It can be seen that with the addition of memory, StoreMI's continuous read and write performance is very powerful, and the write performance is basically the performance of the 860EVO SATA solid state drive.

Compared to Optane, StoreMI relies more on the performance of SSDs in the array. Due to the addition of memory, it looks very good in running points. But the difference between the two in 4K performance is not that big.

In addition to performance, the security issue is probably the most concerned. Optane technology itself relies on 3DXpoint technology, and as a non-volatile memory, 3DXPoint technology does not lose data due to sudden power failure and so on. And if there is a problem with Optane, it will not affect the data in the mechanical hard disk.

StoreMI is deeply integrated due to the bundling method. If the StoreMI removal is not completed correctly, both the SSD and the mechanical hard drive cannot be used normally. Once one of them is damaged, the entire StoreMI array will suffer. Performing related recovery requires very complicated operations. And data security cannot be guaranteed.

Overall, as a product that has been released for a year, Optane is more mature and reliable. StoreMI tends to integrate existing resources to improve performance, but the overall degree of completion is still slightly immature. If Ao Teng can basically rest assured to ordinary consumers. So at this stage StoreMI has not reached this level. Of course, the above methods of tossing mechanical hard drives are not as practical and effective as large-capacity SSDs.

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