Intel Introduces DC P4501 3D NAND NVMe SSDs

Intel has introduced its newest SSD series called the DC P4501. The new drive series uses 3D TLC NAND which makes it a price friendly and a read oriented drive.

DC P4501 Form Factor and Protocol

The DC P4501 series comes in two different form factors, a classic 2.5-inch size and in an M.2 2280 form factor. Both drive sizes are highly compatible with a lot of hardware. The 2.5-inch version isn’t an SATA drive tho; the fact that they’re NVMe-based already give that away. Instead, it uses the 32GB/s U.2 interface that allows the drive to deliver its true potential.

The drives take advantage of the PCI-express 3.0 bus with an x4 speed for up to 32GB/s throughput and usage of the latest available NVMe 1.2 protocol.

Capacity Options and Performance

There will be four capacity options to choose from, but they aren’t the usual 128GB to 1TB sizes. The Intel DC P4501 will come as 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB versions.

A TLC-based drive comes with a great read performance, but the write performance is somewhat lower. But it is still a lot faster than SATA drives. With 3200MB/s read performance and 900MB/s write performance, the numbers speak for themselves. The 4K random read performance is rated up to 360K IOPS and up to 46K IOPS when writing.

Endurance and Warranty

As for the endurance, the drive has a 1 DWPD rating with random write operations and 3 DWPD with sequential write operations. Intel backs both of the drives with a 5-year warranty.

Power-Loss Protection

Both the U.2 and the M.2 version of the DC P4501 drive offer power-loss protection. The drives have a bank of capacitors which give the drives enough power to finish any outstanding write operations. This is a great protection from accidental data loss in the event of a power failure.

Pricing and Availability

Intel didn’t announce a time of availability or a price at this time.