Optane Memory "Pin to cache" scalability, cache hit rate metrics and supported modules for Optane Memory

[Thomas123]

Dear Support-Community,

I am a big fan of the Optane Memory Cache concept. I currently run a system with a 4TB HDD and a 32GB Optane M.2 Module. The Intel RST gives me the opportunity to pin around 5.8 GB to the cache.

My questions are:

- How does the capacity to pin data to the cache scale with the size of the optane module? Is it linear or above linear? (E.g. would a 64GB Module give me =11.6GB or >11.6GB of space to pin data to the cache? If so, how much?)

- Anandtech used the 118GB 800p as an Optane Memory module and it seemed to work. Does every Optane Module connected to an M.2 slot work as Optane Memory? Is it supported by Intel?

- Is there any way to know about the cache hit rate? I would like to assess somehow how much I would profit from a larger cache with my typical workloads.

- What is the difference between the M10 models and the 800p? According to Anandtech, there is no difference, but if this is the case, it puzzles me that there is no 128GB (118GB) Optane Memory module, which I would be inclined to buy.

Thank you very much for any hints and support.

Best regards,

Thomas

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello Thomas123, Thank you for contacting Intel® Memory & Storage Support. As we understand, you need assistance with your Intel® Optane™ Memory. If we infer correctly we will try to reply to your questions: - How does the capacity to pin data to the cache scale with the size of the optane module? Is it linear or above linear? (E.g. would a 64GB Module give me =11.6GB or >11.6GB of space to pin data to the cache? If so, how much?) We are going to be working on reviewing your inquiry. In order to provide you with the information requested. - Anandtech used the 118GB 800p as an Optane Memory module and it seemed to work. Does every Optane Module connected to an M.2 slot work as Optane Memory? Is it supported by Intel? The Intel® Optane™ SSD 800P Series 58GB, M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0, 3D Xpoint is an SSD product and this device was designed for storage and not to accelerate any other drive. The Intel® Optane™ Memory products are the ones designed for this purpose. - Is there any way to know about the cache hit rate? I would like to assess somehow how much I would profit from a larger cache with my typical workloads. In the scenario that you use a larger Optane memory and the pinning feature to accelerate specific files/folders/programs on your SATA drive, it will allow you to select more files/folders/programs and get better performance at the moment of using them. Please take into consideration that if you do not use the pinning feature the “Leading-edge algorithm in the Intel RST driver” is the one responsible of creating a high-performance solution that fits your PC usage, and the benefit of using a bigger Optane memory will depend on the size of the files that you use the most. - What is the difference between the M10 models and the 800p? According to Anandtech, there is no difference, but if this is the case, it puzzles me that there is no 128GB (118GB) Optane Memory module, which I would be inclined to buy. For 7th and 8th Gen Intel® Core™-i mobile platforms, you need the Intel® Optane™ memory M10 modules, with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 15.9 or later driver. The new M10 modules improve power management support, allowing mobile designs to use this technology. This technology (M10 module) can be used in either Desktop or Mobile Intel® Optane™ memory enabled platforms. As mentioned before the Intel® Optane™ SSD 800P Series 58GB, M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0, 3D Xpoint is an SSD product and this device was designed for storage and not to accelerate any other drive. The Intel® Optane™ Memory products are the ones designed for this purpose. We are going to be working on reviewing your inquiry. We will be contacting you back as soon as we have an update or in case further information is required. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Thomas123]

Dear Josh,

thank you very much for the support, I am looking forward to your update.

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello Thomas123, Thank you for your patience. Let us share the following information in order to reply to your previous questions: • The capacity that is available for User pinning does scale with the overall capacity of the module. And for the 64GB module vs the 32GB module, it is approximately doubled. • Based on the “Frequently Asked Questions about Pinning for System Acceleration with Intel® Optane™ Memory(https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000029020/memory-and-storage.html)” Why does the Module Usage graph and table in the Pinning section of the Intel® Optane™ memory application only show a portion of the overall capacity of my module? To provide the best possible user experience, a portion of the module is specifically reserved for the most accessed content/system files and user pinned content. It uses the logic of the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) driver. This is the capacity shown in the “Module Usage” graph and table. • This distribution is managed by the RST driver and depends on the usage of the user, therefore it's not possible to give an exact number of GB used for pinning or OS. We hope you find this information helpful. If you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello Thomas123, Thank you for having contacted Intel® Memory & Storage Support. This is just a friendly reminder that your case remains open. Should you need our technical assistance please do not hesitate to contact us back. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello Thomas123, Thank you for having contacted Intel® Technical Support. I was reviewing your community post and we would like to know if you need further assistance or if we can close this case. We will be looking forward to your reply. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Thomas123]

Dear Josh,

I was unable to open the Intel Community Forums in my browser (only showed white page) and had to switch to another machine to reply.

Thank you very much for your answer concerning the scalability of the "pin" size with larger module sizes.

I still would like to learn more about the cache hit rate - Does the Optane software produce any statistics about the percentage of data that was sourced from the Optane Memory module vs. the hard drive in a given amount of time? This could give a good hint whether I should consider a cache size larger than 32 GB.

In an interview with PC World, Bill Leszinske, Intel's Corporate VP of Strategic Planning & Marketing for Storage, talked about "cache hit rates in the 90s" (in the 90 percent range, I assume), so there has to be some way to measure this.

Best regards,

Thomas

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello Thomas123, Thank you for your reply, I am sorry to hear that you experienced problems to login to the community, We are going to be working on reviewing your inquiry. We will be contacting you back as soon as we have an update or in case further information is required. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[JosafathB_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello Thomas123, Thank you for your patience. Let us share the following information that came from our higher level in order to reply to your previous question: The amount of memory sourced from the Optane Memory device really depends on the activity of the user when accessing data that has been “User Pinned”, or previously cached due to frequent usage; the purpose of the cache is to increase responsiveness of the often accessed files and data for the user, therefore, we cannot predict the amount of space used as it will depend on the usage, type and amount of data accessed daily. This memory management is done by the RST driver and depends highly on user activity. We hope you find this information helpful. If you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Santiago_A_Intel]

Hi Thomas123,

Greetings from Intel® SSD Support Group.

This is a friendly reminder your case remains open, awaiting for your reply.

Please let us know if you might need further assistance.

Have a nice day.

Santiago A.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Santiago_A_Intel]

Hi Thomas123,

Greetings from Intel® SSD Support Group.

This is to let you know this case is being closed.

Please feel free to get back to Intel® communities, whenever you might feel necessary.

Have a nice day.

Santiago A.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation