Intel Optane SSD 800P Review: A Speedy M.2 Solid State Drive With 3D XPoint For The Masses
Performance Summary: The Intel Optane SSD 800P series drives we tested offered a mixed-bag of performance. With sequential transfers, a single 800P series drive doesn’t compete very well against some of today’s leading NAND-based NVMe solid state drives. With small file transfers, 4K random and mixed workloads, and in terms of latency, consistency, and overall QoS, however, the Intel SSD 800P is a serious contender. In fact, it’s only the flagship, and pricier Intel Optane SSD 900P that clearly outpaces the SSD 800P in the latter performance categories. Intel’s Optane architecture is simply superior to today’s NAND-based SSDs in this regard.
Intel will initially be offering two drives in the Optane SSD 800P series – the M.2 80mm (2280) 58GB and 118GB models we showed you here. Suggested pricing for the drives is $129 for the 58GB capacity and $199 for the 118GB drive. At those prices, the Optane SSD 800P is approachable for a large segment of the market, but the drives are relatively expensive, even versus some of the best NAND-based M.2 NVMe SSDs available today. At Intel’s MSRPs, the Optane SSD 800P series drives cost roughly $1.70 – $2.22 per gigabyte, which is a far cry from of the $0.50 - $0.60 of today’s fastest NAND-based NVMe drives.In some ways, the release of the Intel Optane SSD 800P series feels like the early days of solid state storage on the PC. Capacities a relatively low, pricing is high, and the performance improvements aren’t a clean sweep across the board. But in-line with Intel’s claims, the Optane SSD 800P series offers strong performance where it will matter most for the majority of PC users. Boot times, application load times, and overall system responsiveness are strong with an Intel Optane SSD 800P. Pair one (or two!) of these drives with some more affordable bulk storage, and you’ll have a speedy storage setup, without breaking the bank.
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