Intel already has engineering samples of Optane SSDs with PCI Express 4.0 – review

Company Intel last year criticized PCI Express Gen 4.0, although recent tests have shown that it still provides an advantage. And now it’s become known that next-generation SSDs Optane will support this interface.

It is reported that at least one Linux developer has already received drives. This means that soon the new product will appear in the release. And this also indicates the imminent appearance of new Intel processors and chipsets. All current blue models support maximum Intel PCIe 3.0. And this also indicates a curiosity – it is necessary to test new products on systems with a CPU AMD.

As noted, the drives belong to the second generation Alder Stream Optane, which was shown several months ago, but without special details. It can be assumed that in the coming months they will be announced. Although the lack of processors just can delay the output of drives until at least the second half of the year, when the appearance of the line is expected Ice lake.

These processors are credited with supporting the fourth version of the protocol, as well as the 10-nanometer process technology. As for drives, first they will be released for corporate systems and data centers, and only then for ordinary users.