I forgot to make a video about this $150,000 server
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the discovery of a high-end server with Intel's Optane technology during a studio's spring cleaning. It delves into the features and benefits of Optane, including its use as persistent memory modules and its latency advantages over traditional NAND flash. The script also explores the reasons behind the discontinuation of Optane, citing factors such as delayed release, pricing, and competition. The video concludes with a demonstration of Optane's performance and a discussion on its current market availability and potential uses.
Takeaways
- 💻 The studio stumbled upon a forgotten $15,000 server with two CPUs, eight SSDs, and 6.3TB of Optane persistent memory modules, initially intended for a detailed review.
- 🤖 Intel's Optane business was discontinued in June 2022, leaving the advanced technology without further development despite its unique capabilities.
- 🔍 Optane technology bridged the gap between conventional memory and storage devices, offering low latency and functioning as both SSD storage and RAM-like memory.
- ⚡ The server utilized Optane in 'memory mode' to simulate an enormous amount of RAM, but with the drawback of data loss upon restart due to security measures.
- 🚨 A test with SolidWorks flow simulation demonstrated the potential of Optane memory to handle large datasets, which could drastically reduce computational times for complex simulations.
- 🤧 The script explains how Optane's 'app direct' and 'storage' modes work, allowing it to be used as high-speed storage or directly by applications for a hybrid approach.
- ⚙️ Setting up Optane proved challenging due to poorly organized BIOS settings, highlighting an industry-wide issue with motherboard configurations.
- 💰 Cost and compatibility issues with RAM made Optane a difficult sell despite its performance advantages, contributing to its market struggles.
- ⭐ Optane's late arrival to the market and subsequent price drops in DDR4 RAM undermined its potential cost advantage during a global RAM shortage.
- 🤴 AMD's competitive advancements with their EPYC processors further pressured Intel's Optane, emphasizing the importance of timely innovation and market adaptation.
- 🚀 Despite Optane's discontinuation, leftover inventory offers value for specific applications, like DIY network appliances or as durable SSDs for intensive write environments.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is about Intel Optane technology, its features, uses, challenges, and eventual discontinuation.
What are some of the key components of the $15,000 server mentioned in the script?
-The $15,000 server includes two CPUs, eight SSDs, and 6.3 terabytes of RAM.
What is Intel Optane persistent memory, and how is it different from conventional RAM and SSDs?
-Intel Optane persistent memory modules function somewhere between conventional RAM and storage devices. They offer lower latency than regular NAND flash SSDs and can be used in memory mode, where they appear as RAM to the operating system.
What are the two main modes of using Intel Optane persistent memory, and how do they differ?
-The two main modes are memory mode and storage mode. Memory mode allows Optane modules to function as RAM, while storage mode presents Optane as an SSD with low latency compared to traditional NAND flash.
Why did Intel Optane face challenges in the market, according to the script?
-Intel Optane faced challenges due to delays in its release, pricing compared to conventional RAM, compatibility issues with CPU models, and competition from other technologies like AMD's EPYC processors.
What is the significance of the 'large memory footprint version' of CPUs mentioned in the script?
-The 'large memory footprint version' of CPUs is necessary for fully utilizing Intel Optane persistent memory. These CPUs support more RAM, allowing users to maximize the benefits of Optane.
Why did Micron, the manufacturer of Optane, decide to discontinue the product?
-Micron discontinued Optane due to financial losses. Despite being a cool technology, it wasn't profitable, and Micron wanted to stop losing money.
What challenges did the creators of the video face in configuring the Optane server?
-The creators faced challenges in configuring the Optane server due to poor organization of the BIOS settings, making it difficult to find the necessary configurations.
What is the recommended ratio of Optane to RAM for optimal performance, and how does it compare to the ratio in the server mentioned in the script?
-The recommended ratio is 4:1 Optane to RAM for optimal performance. However, the server mentioned in the script had a ratio closer to 16:1, which is higher than the recommendation.
Despite its discontinuation, is Intel Optane still available for purchase, and why?
-Yes, Intel Optane is still available for purchase because Intel has over half a billion dollars of inventory left. They haven't aggressively promoted it, but it's still being sold, often at closeout deals.
Outlines
🔍 Rediscovering a Forgotten Server
During a spring cleaning session at their studio, the team stumbles upon a long-forgotten $15,000 server originally sent by Intel, equipped with two CPUs, eight SSDs, and an impressive 6.3 terabytes of Optane persistent memory. Initially, a deeper exploration of the server's features was planned but got delayed. The narrative shifts to discussing the now-defunct Intel Optane technology, its unique position between conventional memory and storage devices, and its low latency characteristics. The video script delves into the practical applications and limitations of Optane in professional settings, such as simulations that require significant amounts of memory.
🛠 Experimenting with Optane's Capabilities
The team embarks on an experiment to leverage the Optane memory by reducing the server's conventional RAM, aiming to understand the performance impact. However, they encounter limitations due to Intel's design, which requires Optane to be paired with standard RAM. They explore alternative modes to utilize Optane, such as 'App Direct' and 'Storage' modes, but face challenges due to the server's BIOS configurations. The segment highlights the difficulties in navigating motherboard BIOS settings and the industry-wide inconsistency in terms configuration and documentation.
📊 Analyzing Optane's Performance and Market Challenges
The script further examines the performance benefits of Optane through benchmark tests, comparing it against conventional SSDs and showcasing its superior latency. It then transitions to discussing the broader market challenges that led to Optane's discontinuation, including its delayed launch, the competitive RAM market, and the requirement for pairing with conventional RAM, which made it less economically viable. The narrative also touches on Intel's strategic missteps, such as the introduction of CPUs with large memory footprint versions that significantly increased costs, and how these factors, coupled with the rise of AMD's competitive offerings, contributed to Optane's decline.
🤔 Reflecting on Optane's Legacy and Lessons Learned
The final segment reflects on the remaining stock of Optane products and their current market positioning, suggesting that despite its technological innovations, Optane failed to capture a significant market share. The narrative critiques Intel's product strategy and pricing, suggesting that better management and market positioning could have altered Optane's fate. The script concludes with a sponsorship message, linking the theme of data privacy and control to the broader narrative of technological innovation and market dynamics.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Optane Persistent Memory
💡3D XPoint
💡Memory Mode
💡App Direct Mode
💡Storage Mode
💡Latency
💡3D Space Mesh Generation
💡Data Wiping
💡Mixed Mode
💡Latency Impact on Performance
Highlights
Spring cleaning at the studio led to the discovery of a $15,000 server with two CPUs, eight SSDs, and 6.3 terabytes of RAM.
The server was obtained from Intel three years ago and features Optane persistent memory modules.
Intel's Optane business was closed in June 2022, which affected the contacts who originally sent the server.
Optane is a family of products that bridge the gap between conventional memory and storage devices, offering low latency and high-speed performance.
The 3D XPoint chips inside the SSD have 100 times less latency than regular NAND flash.
The Intel Optane persistent memory module has 512GB of storage, appearing as a stick of DDR4 memory.
In memory mode, Optane modules are treated as a large amount of RAM by the operating system.
Optane memory has the downside of generating a new cryptographic key upon restart, wiping all data it contained.
No special coding is needed to use memory mode, and the CPU's memory controller automatically manages data transfer between RAM and Optane.
The server has 12 Optane persistent memory modules, totaling 6 terabytes, enough to store nearly 12 high-bit rate float plane exclusives in system memory.
Using Optane in memory mode can significantly speed up complex professional applications, potentially reducing processing time from a week to a day.
Optane's latency is several times higher than memory, which would impact performance in certain applications.
Intel's recommended ratio for optimal performance is 4 to 1 Optane to RAM; the server's ratio is more like 16 to 1.
Storage mode allows Optane to function like an SSD with super low latency compared to traditional NAND flash.
Setting up storage mode was challenging due to the poorly organized BIOS on the Intel motherboard.
Mixed mode configuration offers a blend of RAM and low-latency storage, managed by the BIOS.
Optane's price was a significant factor in its discontinuation, as it was more expensive than RAM and offered less bandwidth.
Optane's arrival was delayed, and by the time it was released, competitors like AMD had launched more advanced and affordable alternatives.
Despite its discontinuation, Optane is still available due to Intel's large inventory from 2022.
Optane's endurance is superior to NAND, making it ideal for applications requiring frequent data retention and overwriting.
Although Optane showed potential in latency reduction, its speed was limited compared to modern Gen 5 drives.
Transcripts
we just kicked off Spring cleaning at
our studio which wouldn't normally be a
video except we came across this a
$15,000 server with two CPUs eight ssds
and a whopping
6.3 terabytes of ram when we got this
from Intel 3 years ago we did a quick
unboxing promising a deeper dive into
some of its more exotic features and
then promptly forgot about it well that
Ram I showed you guys is is n Ram at all
but optain persistent memory modules you
might know that Intel's optain business
was sadly shuttered in June of 2022
which means the contacts who originally
sent us this have sadly moved on we on
the other hand haven't so all these
years later I am finally going to do
what I said I was going to do and finish
building the rer piece I mean sorry I
mean digging into what made optain so
special and cool and
what ultimately killed it just like I'm
going to kill this segue to our sponsor
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before we go any further some of you
probably need a refresher isn't Intel
optain and SSD what's it doing in a ram
slot well optane was more of a family
than an individual product ranging from
inexpensive hard drive accelerators for
pre-builts where the manufacturer was
too cheap to install a real SSD to
incredibly low latency not to mention
expensive storage for the fastest
servers in existence what all of these
uses had in common though was they
looked like conventional memory and
storage devices but functioned somewhere
in between and that's exactly what we're
looking at here this appears to be a
normal SSD but the 3D Cross Point chips
inside it have just 100th the latency of
regular Nan flash as for this guy well
it looks like a stick of ddr4 memory but
it's actually an Intel optain persistent
memory series 100 module with a whopping
512 gigs of storage on it and this
server has 12 of them for a total of 6
tabes that's enough to fit nearly 12
High bit rate float plane exclusives
solely in system memory wait a second
lus memory I thought you just said it
was storage I did but the simplest way
to take advantage of it is in memory
mode where your optain modules just show
up to your operating system as a whole
whack load of RAM now the bad thing
about this mode is that it forces optane
to have one of the big downsides of RAM
for security reasons every time an
optain module in memory mode gets
restarted it generates a new
cryptographic key effectively wiping all
of the data that it contained the good
news is that optane can handle many more
wipes than regular ssds so this is
unlikely to harm it and what's also cool
is that no special coding is needed to
immediately use memory mode and the
cpu's memory controller will even
automatically move colder data off of
the memory onto the optain and vice
versa let me show you how this would
work in a demanding professional
application right now you're looking at
solid works flow simulator but we aren't
simulating anything at the moment
because first we need to generate a mesh
which is essentially a 3D Space full of
data sampling points where some fluid
let's say air is going to interact with
some object say this heat sink it's not
using that much RAM though what 45 gigs
48 gigs that's a lot of ram okay it's a
lot of ram but it's 2% of what we have
the issue is that it just takes hours
for the CPU to process a large enough
mesh like this for it to fill up all of
that Ram let alone the optain that's in
there and this is a really silly way of
doing this so what you're saying is flow
doesn't need that much RAM obtaine is
pointless no no no Flo Sim does need
heaps and heaps of ram just a model like
this doesn't necessarily if we were
trying to run something that's super
complex like crashing a car into a
barrier having terabytes of memory could
be the difference between a finishing in
a day and a finishing in a week of
course though this isn't memory its
latency is several times higher which
would obviously impact performance the
question is though how much to find out
we came up with a rather terrible idea
why don't we just remove a bunch of the
actual Ram so that the system has no
choice but to use the obtaine and then
we can do a before and
after it's not going to do anything is
it
nope oh jeez there goes the alarm wait
maybe there's no way no sadly Intel
thought of that and requires each stick
of obtain pm to be paired with a stick
of ram in order for the system to
function at all and they have a
recommended ratio of 4 to1 optained to
RAM for Optimal Performance ours however
it's more like a 16 to1 ratio and the
server came straight from Intel
so what do we do with the rest of it as
it turns out many customers simply used
higher ratios but there are some other
ways to take advantage of the persistent
part of our persistent memory app direct
mode and storage mode which Alex is
showing us now yes app direct mode
exposes the optain directly to the
application which can use it like
storage Ram or somewhere in between
unfortunately we aren't able to show
this off because doing so would require
us to code our own program that
explicitly takes advantage of it and
this is a task that almost no company's
worth billions of dollars found to be
worthwhile so doing it for a YouTube
video would have a dubious Roi to say
the least what we can show you is
storage mode have you ever wondered what
would happen if you could plug your SSD
into a high-speed memory slot well
basically this storage mode presents the
obtained tier operating system much like
an SSD just with super low latency
compared to traditional Mand flash
setting this bit up though was what
caused this project to be stalled for
months because we just couldn't figure
out how to do it not because Alex is
dumb or because I'm dumb but rather
because the BIOS on this Intel
motherboard is so poorly organized now
okay okay sorry this is going to be a
bit of a tangent but motherboard
manufactures can you please figure your
shiz out I mean we have this
industrywide problem where every single
motherboard maker calls the exact same
setting something ever so slightly
different and then puts it in a
different place meaning even if you are
quite knowledgeable and not dumb and you
know exactly what you're looking for
there's a solid chance you won't be able
to find it we were easily able to figure
out how to use app direct mode on Dell
super micro Lenovo and HP server boards
since they had decent documentation but
no not the Intel one we even called up
Patrick from serve the home who
literally wrote the guide on how to do
this and he couldn't figure it out
either okay look at this Lis I'm going
to go back to the main
menu we're looking for the memory
controller spot where do you think that
is well I would go to Advanced and then
I would probably go to memory
configuration so this is why we needed
Emily to help us find it yes it is under
PCI configuration um option ROM
controller and that's where the memory
controller is of course I can't believe
we didn't think of that Anyway by using
storage mode we're able to select how
much of the optain we want to be
presented as an SSD and we can create
volumes with it much like with a raid
array with the maximum performance
occurring when you interleave across
multiple optained dims that are
operating on the same CPU which
essentially creates a raid zero array on
opan now as you might have guessed this
does come with the risk of data loss so
if you don't care as much about
performance you might want to mirror the
data across both CPUs or I don't know
maybe just buy an
SSD but all of that aside the coolest
configuration is mixed mode this allows
you to set a target for how much of your
optain will be storage and how much will
be Ram creating a Best of Both Worlds
situation where the BIOS handles all of
the complex bits and you get both cheap
RAM and super low latency storage all
right what's your memory percentage goal
what do you mean goal it's doesn't
really do exact it just kind of gets
close to the percentage that you want I
think we all know the answer to that
nice so we
reboot
need sorry seemed
mad okay all right no you don't seem mad
you
seem rightfully like we need to discuss
this come on come on create name space
here we go there we go how about now
there we go
I love how surprised it is it's making a
YouTube thumbnail face speaking of which
we're working on a really cool video now
that YouTube has AB testing for
thumbnails Maria is creating a like
cringe YouTuber face version of every
thumbnail for a little bit and then just
like a nice relaxed one and then we're
going to make a video about which ones
people actually prefer whatever they say
they prefer it could change our
thumbnail practices there we go all
right okay what we're looking at right
now is our G Drive which is a
conventional nbme SSD and our o Drive
which is our optain drive and this
measure is seconds per transfer which is
essentially the latency of each
operation on the drive now what we're
going to do is we're going to run
Crystal disc mark on both of these
drives at the same
time and
theoretically yes yep the regular nvme
is way more which is bad o is opan opan
which makes sense because it barely even
appears that's how low the latency of
this is which doesn't matter for
everything and in fact if we have a look
at our Crystal dis Mark
results it's not that fast in terms of
sequential transfer speeds it's just
that it's really really responsive wow
we've done it we go okay we can actually
see what the crap we're looking at now
here we go this is what we expect to see
all three tests are running right now
there we go yes and our SATA is much
higher in terms of latency not to
mention that it can be very inconsistent
see that initial Spike when we first hit
it that's a yikes and while nvme is a
lot better it doesn't have that super
super flat line when all of them are
running the same test that we see with
optane where the latency is negligible
which which can be a huge benefit for
certain applications and not terribly
important for others which is cool in
some cases really cool so then why does
optain no longer
exist the answer is many many reasons
the first and biggest problem is that
optin arrived 2 years late it was
supposed to come with Skylake in 2017
with speeds that matched the ddr4 2666
that would be paired with those
processors but obtaine didn't arrive
until Cascade Lake which used 2933 megat
transfer per second dims that meant that
by choosing optain you would be giving
up memory bandwidth to every application
that doesn't need the extra capacity
that is not ideal also in 2017 there was
a global drram shortage as phones like
the Samsung Galaxy S6 Google pixel and
HTC1 M9 started using ddr4 while Samsung
and Micron were struggling to ramp up
production 16 gigs of RAM hit prices of
over
$200 that would have been a perfect
opportunity for an almost Ram product at
a lower price except that by 2019 that
same 16 gigs of RAM was down to more
like a hundo also remember how we
mentioned that each stick of obtained PM
requires a stick of ram to pair with it
in order for it to work
well yeah so companies that were looking
into optain they weren't just comparing
the price of opan versus Ram they had to
look at the cost of an optain module and
a stick of ram compared to just getting
two sticks of ram that uh oh by the way
are going to run faster Tom's Hardware
has an article from 2019 about the
pricing quoting a single stick of this
512 gig optain at a cool
$675 meaning that this server that we
casually lost when it was new had
$81,000 worth of optane in it that
sounds like a lot because it is but in
2019 a single stick of 128 gigs of ECC
memory was roughly
$4500 meaning optain was only about
onethird of the price so wait hold on a
second that was in 2019 that still
sounds pretty good I mean the demo we
just did looked pretty good optained for
the win right well I do love your
optimism remember guys we spoiled the
ending earlier and everyone dies but it
doesn't have to be a total loss there's
maybe a valuable lesson here for the
industry to maybe learn this time intel
if you're listening and everyone you
need to stop locking your products
because I didn't buy enough of your
products the Cascade Lake CPUs that did
eventually sh with obtaine had two
variants a standard version and a large
memory footprint version in the case of
the Zeon plattinum 8260 that we've got
in this server The Standard Version
supported only 1 tab of ram a number
that's pretty easy to hit with regular
old Dam meaning that if you wanted to
really take advantage of optane you
needed the zeeon Platinum 8260 L well I
mean that's no problem right I mean how
much more could it
$3,400 oh yeah and since you're buying
two of them it's an extra
$6800 before you buy a single flipping
optane module can see why they used L as
the suffix for those adding insult to
injury you know what also happened
between 2017 and 2019 while intel was
struggling to get optane out of the door
AMD launched epic Rome and then epic
Milan featuring more cores more memory
channels support for four ttes of ram
without a silly large memory footprint
tax oh and by the way they were also
cheaper this added up to not a whole lot
of people buying optane and Micron who
owned the Fab where all the optane was
being built finally said you know what
enough is enough it was and still is a
very cool technology but in 2021 Micron
figured you know it be a lot cooler how
about not losing 400 million ion dollar
a year so one year later Intel killed
optain which um raises one interesting
question why can you still buy it well
about that even though there hasn't been
a Fab making the stuff for years now in
20122 Intel revealed that they still had
over half a billion dollars of inventory
left over and they haven't exactly been
pushing it that hard I mean what is this
pricing Intel do you want this on your
books forever
there are some awesome closeout deals
out there these 16 gig accelerators are
amazing there are go-to drives for a DIY
Network Appliance or a NZ because
they're literally five bucks and opan
features substantially more right
endurance than nand which is great if
you want to constantly retain and
overwrite comprehensive system logs and
this one on new egg is still among if
not the best drive on the market even if
it is starting to show its age in some
ways for example it'll have outstanding
latency like we talked about before but
it runs at a quarter the maximum speed
of a modern Gen 5 Drive which is a bit
of a yikes so in
conclusion Intel do you want this thing
back we uh honestly really don't know
what to do with it but I do know how to
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