Intel's upcoming high-capacity SSDs reportedly run hot, require a heatsink

[Scorpus]

Intel is readying two new lines of high-capacity solid state drives - Fultondale and Pleasantdale - for release sometime in late 2014. However during internal testing of the SSDs, Intel has discovered a few issues that require some changes to the typical SSD design.

VR-Zone reports that the new drives run hotter than typical current-gen SSDs, so Intel has had to incorporate a small, ribbed heatsink on the bottom to facilitate better heat dissipation. Fultondale and Pleasantdale will still be packaged in 2.5-inch cases, but going on leaked images, they look thicker than a typical 2.5-inch solid state.

It's expected these new drives will come in capacities as large as 800 and 1,600 GB, with two boards inside. One of the boards will contain NAND and the memory controller, and the other just NAND. Under maximum workload, the drives will draw 25W of power, which is likely the reason a heatsink is necessary.

Not much else is known about these drives, but it appears they're being designed for data centers rather than consumer devices and desktops. Expect more information and a full unveiling at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing, scheduled for Q4 2014.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/54876-intels-upcoming-high-capacity-ssds-reportedly-run-hot-require-a-heatsink.html

 

[GhostRyder]

Ill wait till I see the read and write speeds of these drives, but if they are not significantly better than the Samsung 840 EVO 1tb drives, then I don't understand why it needs a heat sink. I mean the 800gb option sounds like it runs hotter and is bigger (In physical size) than the 1tb 840 Evo. The 1600 option is a different story and that's the one im going to be watching. Though since these are going to be enterprise grade, they should be very nice at least in that sense because that means they will probably be very tough and designed for higher levels of reading and writing than that of a standard SSD.

 

[9Nails]

Those Samsung 840's take what, 3 - 4 watts peak power consumption, 0.3 watt at idle? Tim states that these drives take 25 watts, so they're truly different. Something requires a lot more energy could be either higher performance or incredibly inefficient. I'm betting on high performance.

I'm curious what the lifespan will be. If they are enterprise-grade drives this should be good! (But on the same token, the enterprise/datacenter is a climate controller, power conditioned area. Consumer's present a more hostile environment.)

 

[tipstir]

Tech is already in tablets and smart cell phone just using NAND internal storage. They degrade in time. SSD sure going to overheat. They need to really think this out. Before they too quick to push it out to the market.

 

[PC nerd]

Kind of defeats the object of buying an SSD. You want it to be cool and use as little power as possible, but this drive has it the wrong way.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Fultondale... that just rolls right off the tongue doesn't it? I hope one of Intel's competitor's makes a product line code-named 'Al' or 'Fred'

 

[Darth Shiv]

Fultondale... that just rolls right off the tongue doesn't it? I hope one of Intel's competitor's makes a product line code-named 'Al' or 'Fred'

Like falling down stairs on crutches...

 

[cliffordcooley]

If heat is an issue, why does it appear the heat-sinks are enclosed under a cover plate? That would be counterproductive, if the drive mounting location has good ventilation. And to be honest, I couldn't image a server environment that doesn't have good ventilation.