Micron Introduces 5200 Series Enterprise SATA SSDs
by Billy Tallis on January 23, 2018 8:30 AM EST
Today Micron is updating their enterprise SATA SSD family to use their 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory. Aside from the new flash, the new 5200 series is almost identical to the 5100 series, but the broad range of options has been reduced to a more manageable quantity.
Where the 5100 series included three tiers of write endurance and overprovisioning—ECO, PRO and MAX—the 5200 only includes the ECO and PRO tiers, and the PRO tier has been pared down to just two capacities.
Micron says the most popular models in the 5100 series have been the 1TB and 2TB capacities. Demand in the larger 4TB and 8TB is being held back by two factors: a dearth of alternative 4TB and 8TB SATA options is dissuading buyers that want to ensure they have multiple suppliers, and many of the use cases for such large drives also require PCIe performance.
Micron has made the requisite firmware changes to support the new 3D NAND and they have made some minor tweaks to improve performance consistency, but otherwise the 5200 uses the same basic firmware architecture as the 5100.
Unlike the 5100 series, the 5200 series won't be available in the M.2 form factor. Instead, the 5100 series will continue to service the M.2 market and the low capacity 2.5" market until 2019. The demand in those segments is largely for boot drives, and being a generation behind doesn't have much impact on that use case.
| Micron 5200 ECO Series Specifications | ||||||
| Capacity | 480 GB | 960 GB | 1.92 TB | 3.84 TB | 7.68 TB | |
| Form Factor | 2.5" SATA 6 Gbps | |||||
| Controller | Marvell 88SS1074 | |||||
| NAND | Micron 64-layer 3D TLC NAND | |||||
| Sequential Read | 540 MB/s | |||||
| Sequential Write | 385 MB/s | 520 MB/s | ||||
| 4KB Random Read | 81k IOPS | 95k IOPS | ||||
| 4KB Random Write | 33k IOPS | 28k IOPS | 22k IOPS | 17k IOPS | 9.5k IOPS | |
| Idle Power | 1.5 W | |||||
| Max Read Power | 3.0 W | |||||
| Max Write Power | 3.6 W | |||||
| Endurance | 0.87 PB | 1.75 PB | 3.5 PB | 7.7 PB | 8.4 PB | |
| Drive Writes Per Day | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.6 | |
| Warranty | 5 years | |||||
| Micron 5200 PRO Series Specifications | |||
| Capacity | 960 GB | 1.92 TB | |
| Form Factor | 2.5" SATA 6 Gbps | ||
| Controller | Marvell 88SS1074 | ||
| NAND | Micron 64-layer 3D TLC NAND | ||
| Sequential Read | 540 MB/s | ||
| Sequential Write | 520 MB/s | ||
| 4KB Random Read | 95k IOPS | ||
| 4KB Random Write | 32k IOPS | ||
| Idle Power | 1.5 W | ||
| Max Read Power | 3.0 W | ||
| Max Write Power | 3.6 W | ||
| Endurance | 2.27 PB | 5.95 PB | |
| Drive Writes Per Day | 1.3 | 1.7 | |
| Warranty | 5 years | ||
The performance changes from the 5100 series to the 5200 series are mostly insignificant. The smallest 480GB ECO model sees a drop in random read performance from 93k IOPS to 81k IOPS, but otherwise the ECO drives are rated for similar performance. Among the PRO models, the biggest performance change is a drop in random write speed from 37k IOPS to 32k IOPS.
The most significant spec changes are the write endurance ratings. The 5200 ECO has mostly increased the write endurance of at least 1 Drive Write Per Day, including almost double the endurance for the two smallest models. However, the largest 7.68 TB model is still rated for the same 8.4 PB (0.6 DWPD). On the PRO models, endurance has been greatly reduced, from 2.5 DWPD to 1.3-1.7 DWPD.
| Endurance Comparison | ||||
| Capacity | 5200 | 5100 | ||
| ECO | 480 GB | 0.87 PB 1.0 DWPD |
0.45 PB 0.5 DWPD |
|
| 960 GB | 1.75 PB 1.0 DWPD |
0.9 PB 0.5 DWPD |
||
| 1.92 TB | 3.5 PB 1.0 DWPD |
3.2 PB 0.9 DWPD |
||
| 3.84 TB | 7.7 PB 1.1 DWPD |
6.4 PB 0.9 DWPD |
||
| 7.68 TB | 8.4 PB 0.6 DWPD |
8.4 PB 0.6 DWPD |
||
| PRO | 960 GB | 2.27 PB 1.3 DWPD |
4.4 PB 2.5 DWPD |
|
| 1.92 TB | 5.95 PB 1.7 DWPD |
8.8 PB 2.5 DWPD |
||
The 5200 announcement may seem to be an uninteresting update to an uninteresting product segment, but SATA SSDs still make up a majority of Micron's enterprise SSD sales. Micron is expecting PCIe SSDs to overtake SATA SSDs in the enterprise space this year, but demand for SATA SSDs isn't plummeting. In fact, overall volume is still increasing even as SATA market share falls, because the storage industry as a whole is experiencing strong growth. Enterprise SATA SSDs will remain a major part of Micron's storage business for at least another generation or two.
Source: Micron
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MrSpadge - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
The Pro has hardly any advantage over the Eco, doesn't it? A bit of endurance and random write performance, while neither achieve any remarkable values. Fair enough if the Pro hardly costs more, though.romrunning - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
I love these statements:"Among the PRO models, the biggest performance change is a drop in random write speed from 37k IOPS to 32k IOPS."
"On the PRO models, endurance has been greatly reduced, from 2.5 DWPD to 1.3-1.7 DWPD."
So basically this is saying that this "new" PRO model is worse than the product it is replacing. Pretty pathetic. Reading between the lines, Micron is saying we are just out to make more money on this model; there's no other reason for it.
This is part of the reason why I stick with Intel enterprise SSDs for my servers.
WithoutWeakness - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
You're misreading the charts and the accompanying text. The performance drop and endurance reduction you're referencing are not a drop from the ECO series to the PRO series. They are a drop from the higher-capacity 1.92TB PRO to the lower-capacity 960GB PRO. Micron is not trying to sell you a blatantly inferior product for more money by slapping a PRO label on it.I would definitely be interested in seeing these drives get a taste of the Destroyer test to see how they compare to what's on the market.
romrunning - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Hmm.. I think you might be misreading. Check out the writer's text again, and also check out the link he included back to the 5100.For example, the 5200 PRO has 32k IOPS for both capacities in the Random Write. The 5100 PRO is cited at 37k in his text; that's NOT the 5200 ECO. In fact, according to the previous article on the 5100 series, it seems like the top end of the 5100 PRO is 43k IOPS in random write (QD=32).
So it's not between the PRO and ECO models; it's between the preceding 5100 PRO and the new 5200 PRO. In virtually every benchmark, it seems that the 5100 PRO is much better than the 5200 PRO. Perhaps the actual performance might be better in tests like the Destroyer.
WithoutWeakness - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Well look at that. I was reading it wrong. Performance and endurance drops are from the older 5100 PRO to the newer 5200 PRO. Definitely odd that Micron is lowering the bar on 2 of the most important specs for enterprise SSDs compared to the old ones, especially considering this is using their newer 2nd-gen 3D flash. Is there any pricing info for these drives yet? I would hope there is an explanation for this other than "give us your money". Given that the MAX line is completely gone they don't even have an option anymore for a higher-endurance drive.MrSpadge - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
No, romrunning understood the text correctly.I wouldn't have a problem with this spec degradation is the price is right. Because if you're in for real performance or endurance, you'd look at higher spec models anyway like the 9100 / 9200.