Intel Optane SSD 900p gets official, $599 for 480GB of 3D XPoint

Intel officially introduces its Optane SSD 900p. These new storage solutions feature 3D XPoint memory and are offered in U.2 15mm form factor (280GB) and HHHL PCIe card form factor (280GB/480GB).

The specifications of all three products are the same. They offer read speeds of up to 2500MB/s, write speeds of up to 2000MB/s, 550000 random read IOPS, and 500000 random write IOPS. The read and write latency is 10µs, the active power consumption is 14W and the idle power consumption is rated at 5W.

The 280GB versions have an endurance rating of 5.11PB written, while the 480GB is rated at 8.76PB written. All three models sport a 5-year warranty and use the PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 (and not PCIe 4.0 as indicated by earlier reports).

Pricing is $389 for the 280GB disk and $599 for the 480GB PCIe card.

Intel today announced the launch of the Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series, the first SSD for desktop PC and workstation users built on Intel® Optane™ technology. Intel, in collaboration with Roberts Space Industries*, announced the new SSD at CitizenCon, a Star Citizen community gathering in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series delivers incredibly low latency and best-in-class random read and write performance at low queue depths – up to four times faster than competitive NAND-based SSDs – opening incredible new possibilities. With the new SSDs, users will unlock more potential from their platform. The Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series is ideal for the most demanding storage workloads, including 3D rendering, complex simulations, fast game load times and more. Up to 22 times more endurance than other drives also gives the heaviest users peace of mind.

"The Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series brings the workstation-class performance and industry-leading endurance of Intel® Optane™ technology to a client SSD for the first time, and we know end users will find exciting ways to take advantage of the drive to do great things," said Bill Leszinske, Intel vice president, Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, and director of strategic planning, marketing and business development. "We are eager to see the possibilities unlocked by software developers, like Roberts Space Industries with Star Citizen, and the SSD to offer users new ways to use larger data sets and more complex workloads to do more."

During the event, Intel demonstrated the unique universe of Star Citizen on Intel® Core™ i9 processor gaming systems equipped with the Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series. The two companies also announced that an exclusive in-game ship, the Sabre Raven, will come with all Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series purchases for a limited time.

"The Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series is amazingly fast, easily the fastest drive I have ever used," said Chris Roberts, chairman and CEO at Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries. "Our Star Engine developers have been working on technology to improve loading times using new techniques developed for Star Citizen and optimized for the Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series, which is the fastest SSD we've tested. We continue to enhance Star Citizen so the performance benefits with Intel® Optane™ drives will continue to grow, alongside Star Citizen, into the future."