Doug S (foo.delete@this.bar.bar) on July 28, 2022 9:00 pm wrote:
> Wes Felter (wmf.delete@this.felter.org) on July 28, 2022 7:53 pm wrote:
> > Intel To Wind Down Optane Memory Business - 3D XPoint Storage Tech Reaches Its End
> >
> > Even though it never lived up to Intel's promises I'm not aware of any
> > alternative persistent memory tech. I guess that whole field is over.
>
>
> Few are going to miss it, or even notice it is gone.
>
> The supposed allure of Optane was that it provided storage that was cheaper per bit
> than DRAM while being faster in terms of IOPS than flash. The problem is flash's performance
> improved a lot faster than Optane's, while DRAM's per bit cost maintained roughly the
> same ratio, so Optane's already small niche narrowed further over time.

Yes, the main problem of optane-like solutions for both storage _and_ NV applications is that if the random read/write performance of flash-based solution is good enough for your application you will rather go for capacity, and here flash wins at price.

> The only real advantage it had was as "byte addressable flash" when used in a DIMM form factor,
> but that's really of limited utility. Most people have no desire for their RAM to be unchanged
> when they reboot their system, they just want RAM that's protected against power loss.

Byte addressable becomes moot if you cannot rely on being able to rewrite that byte forever and not have to care about error connection. Also byte addressable has practical latency implications on the bus when you want to use it as NVRAM, meaning that cheaper (though smaller) MRAM can likely work equally well in practice.

> It seems odd to me there isn't (as far as I know?) a market for DIMMs with an integrated battery
> that can perform refreshes to cover power loss. You only need it for as long as is required to
> regain power and reboot the systems. There isn't any need for DIMMs that will maintain their state
> for months without power like Optane was capable of. Yes battery backed DIMMs will cost more per
> bit, but it will be at full DRAM performance rather than more like flash performance, so while
> it isn't the same thing it is close enough for those who have a need for non volatile RAM.

Actually there are some solutions (battery backed, also battery+flash backed) that I've seen advertised for embedded.