Samsung launches sixth-generation V-NAND with performance and efficiency improvements

[Shawn Knight]

Forward-looking: The performance and efficiency improvements will allow Samsung to expand the reach of its 3D V-NAND into markets like next-gen mobile devices, enterprise servers and the automotive industry where reliability is paramount.

Samsung has commenced mass production of a 250GB SATA solid state drive that integrates the company’s sixth generation (1xx-layer) 256-gigabit (Gb) three-bit V-NAND for use by PC OEMs worldwide.

The South Korean tech giant’s new V-NAND utilizes the company’s unique “channel hole etching” technology which adds around 40 percent more cells to the previous 9x-layer single-stack structure. This is accomplished by constructing an electrically conductive mold stack made of 136 layers then vertically making cylindrical holes from the top to the bottom which creates uniform 3D charge trap flash (CTF) cells.

Tall mold stacks typically make NAND chips more vulnerable to errors and read latencies but Samsung has built a speed-optimizing circuit design to circumvent this limitation. Data transfer speeds are now “below 450 microseconds (μs) for write operations and below 45μs for reads” and compared to the previous generation, is more than 10 percent faster while consuming over 15 percent less power.

Samsung also realized a 20 percent improvement in manufacturing productivity by reducing the number of channel holes needed.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81312-samsung-launches-sixth-generation-v-nand-performance-efficiency.html

 

[Danny101]

So what are the transfer rates? Read, write, random reads, writes? I don't know of any Sata SSD that has yet come close to saturating the Sata III connection, unless I'm misunderstanding the numbers.

 

[Matt12345170]

So what are the transfer rates? Read, write, random reads, writes? I don't know of any Sata SSD that has yet come close to saturating the Sata III connection, unless I'm misunderstanding the numbers.

According to Sandisk;

SATA III (revision 3.x) interface, formally known as SATA 6Gb/s, is a third generation SATA interface running at 6.0Gb/s. The bandwidth throughput, which is supported by the interface, is up to 600MB/s. This interface is backwards compatible with SATA 3 Gb/s interface.

The 860 Pro is up to 560 MB/s sequential read and 530 MB/s write, so I'd say they are quite close to the ceiling of the interface.

For a little bit more information, SuperUser contributor MariusMatutiae has a nice little write up.

While data is actually sent at 6 Gb/s, it is encoded to counteract two common defects in telecommunications, DC Bias and Clock Recovery. This is often accomplished using a specific coding algorithm called 8b/10b Encoding. It is not the only encoding algorithm which has been devised to this end (there is also a Manchester encoding), but it has become the de facto standard for SATA data transfer.

In 8b/10b encoding, eight bits of signal are replaced by 10 bits of (signal + code). This means that, out of the 6 Gb the channel sends in a second, only 8/10 (4/5) are signal. 4/5’s of 6 Gb is 4.8 Gb, which in turn equals 600 MB. This is what degrades the 6 Gb/s channel into a mere(?) 600 MB/s channel.

 

[Danny101]

According to Sandisk;



The 860 Pro is up to 560 MB/s sequential read and 530 MB/s write, so I'd say they are quite close to the ceiling of the interface.

For a little bit more information, SuperUser contributor MariusMatutiae has a nice little write up.

So at this point, it's unlikely to get much better than that.

 

[dualkelly]

So what are the transfer rates? Read, write, random reads, writes? I don't know of any Sata SSD that has yet come close to saturating the Sata III connection, unless I'm misunderstanding the numbers.

M.2 blows past sata III connection rates at this point any ssds put out by samsung saturates the sata 3 connection.

 

[Danny101]

M.2 blows past sata III connection rates at this point any ssds put out by samsung saturates the sata 3 connection.

Yes, I have a desktop with a M.2. in it and appreciate the speed. My concern with Sata SSD's is with laptops, particularly with older and cheaper ones that I have been upgrading. While much better performance, I was still left little satisfied. I'm also recognizing the factor that processor and memory speeds are playing. My primary use for these machines is internet browsing and responsiveness.

AMD E300 Dual-core 1.3 Ghz., 4 Gb DDR 3 1600 (1066 speed) memory. Now with 8 Gb memory and a SSD averaging 274MB/s, Internet speed Avg. 50 mbits/s. It boots up faster, definitely. That's where the gains ended. Lol.

So, I cannibalized the memory and SSD and moved that into a laptop containing an AMD A8-7410 Quad-Core 2.2 Ghz. 2.5Ghz. Burst with 8 GB DDR3-1600 memory. The gains were substantial all the way around. At this point, there's room to upgrade the SSD. Not sure if a Samsung running at 530MB/s will help this system much more. The processor, memory, video, and subsystem still has to be fast enough to process that information. At a some point, a bigger fuel injector isn't going to make your car any faster if it can't burn it any faster.

I might can squeeze something useful out of the E300 system with a light Linux distribution. If only Microsoft can issue a light Windows version for this thing.

All systems enjoyed extended battery life with a SSD and that sure was plus.