Micron's New 3610 SSD With G9 QLC Aims To Bring Gen5 Storage To Everyone
Micron's out at the Consumer Electronics Show shouting, 'You get a Gen5 SSD, you get Gen5 SSD, you get a Gen5 SSD!'. Okay, maybe not quite literally, but it did use the annual tech showcase as a launchpad for its new Micron 3610 NVMe solid state drive family, which it's billing as the industry's first PCIe Gen5 Q9 QLC SSDs for client computing.
The bigger implication there is that it's "democratizing premium speed" and power efficiency for consumer devices like ultra-thin laptops and AI-ready gadgets. It's a positive sign after Micron recently announced plans to pull its Crucial brand from the consumer market to focus its efforts on "larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments," which is code for feeding the AI beast (i.e., data center customers, for the most part).
Micron's 3610 SSDs, on the other hand, are built for mainstream PCs. The company also points out that it's only SSD line to pack 4TB of storage capacity in a compact, single-sided M.2 2230 form factor.
"The 3610 SSD combines cutting-edge PCIe Gen5 technology, Micron’s most-advanced G9 QLC NAND, and a sleek, single-sided design to deliver premium performance, capacity, and power efficiency," said Mark Montierth, senior vice president and general manager of Micron’s Mobile and Client Business Unit. "The 3610 will enable ultra-thin devices that meet the growing demands of on-device AI, immersive streaming and performance-intensive workloads."
In addition to 4TB, Micron's offering 2TB and 1TB capacities. All three feature rated sequential read speeds of up to 11,000MB/s (11GB/s). Sequential writes check in at 9,300MB/s (9.3GB/s) for the 4TB and 2TB models, and 7,200MB/s (7.2GB/s) for the 1TB model.
Meanwhile, both the 4TB and 2TB capacities are rated deliver up to 1,500,000 IOPS for 4K random reads and 1,600,000 IOPS for 4K random writes. Those numbers adjust to 850,000 IOPS and 1,500,000 IOPS, respectively, for the 1TB model.
"As AI PCs, immersive gaming and hybrid work accelerate computing requirements, storage must meet the challenge with revolutionary gains. The Micron 3610 SSD embodies that revolution — bringing Micron’s trusted PCIe Gen5 data center-grade innovation to client devices and reinforcing Micron’s leadership in NAND technology," Micron says.
These DRAM-less SSDs slot in between Micron's premium Gen5 4600 series and its previous generation Gen4 models. The caveat is that Micron's not selling these directly to consumers; instead, the Micron 3610 series will end up in the hands of OEM system builders.
