3D NAND SSDs at DOORSTEP

We are stuck with using our old magnetic hard drives for decades, new ones like SSDs are too expensive to buy with no sign of relaxation in prices. But now thanks to intel(partnered with micron) and toshiba that came up with brilliant devices based on 3D NAND technology for improving the storage in the existing SSDs at low costs. Micron said that the chips with the size of gum sticks can hold data up to 3.5 TB and 2.5” SSD with over 10TB of data. Isn’t that amazing, thanks to 3D NAND i could now download my favorite daily soaps without sacrificing old ones.

Now lets talk about the technology 3D NAND which made this amazing thing possible.
Normally the regular SSD are made from flash storage. Flash uses EEPROM(electrically erasable programable read only memory) which can be either NAND or NOR depending on what logic we have used. EEPROM are made using MOSFET transistors.  Generally we prefer NAND however both have their own advantage. EEPROM and has become the dominant memory type wherever a system requires a significant amount of non-volatile, solid-state storage.

NAND flash memory wiring and structure on silicon COURTESY. WIKIPEDIA


3D NAND flash stacks memory cells one on top of another so as to increase the density, the packing may go upto 48 layers or more.






Toshiba announced that it is shipping samples of its 48-layer three-dimensional BiCS (Bit Cost Scalable) stacked cell structure flash. In simpler terms, BiCS is Toshiba's own spin on 3D NAND. The new Toshiba flash comes in 128 Gbit (16 GB) die with 2-bits-per-cell, which is the same number of bits-per-cell compared to standard 2D planar MLC NAND.

The new 3D NAND technology stacks flash cells vertically in 32 layers(intel devices) to achieve 256Gb multilevel cell (MLC) and 384Gb triple-level cell (TLC) die that fit within a standard package. These capacities can enable gum stick-sized SSDs with more than 3.5TB of storage and standard 2.5-inch SSDs with greater than 10TB. Because capacity is achieved by stacking cells vertically, the individual cell dimensions can be considerably larger. This is expected to increase both performance and endurance and make even the TLC designs well-suited for data center storage.
The key product features of this 3D NAND design include:

• Large Capacities –Three times the capacity of existing 3D technology—up to 48GB of NAND per die—enabling three-fourths of a terabyte to fit in a single fingertip-sized package.
• Reduced Cost per GB – First-generation 3D NAND is architected to achieve better cost efficiencies than planar NAND.
• Fast – High read/write bandwidth, I/O speeds and random read performance.
• Green – New sleep modes enable low-power use by cutting power to inactive NAND die (even when other die in the same package are active), dropping power consumption significantly in standby mode.
• Smart – Innovative new features improve latency and increase endurance over previous generations, and also make system integration easier.

intels new x99 chipset

It has been three years since the launch of x79 chipset without a new version being launched, but now intel came up with this new feature loaded x99 chipset which is quite an improvemnet over x79. The x79 seriously lagged some featuers like the onboard usb 3.0 support and limited SATA 6Gb/s ports. Since x99 was under development for quite a long time hence it comes loaded with features like it comes with 14 usb ports out of which 6 are usb 3.0ports, and ten 6Gb/s SATA connectors.The new x99 also support for ddr4 ram, finaly leaving out the old ddr3 rams which are out in the market since 2007. The default ddr4 speed will be 2133MHz which can go as high upto 4266MHz. x99 is completely a gamers platform, it comes in the same socket size with 2011 pins hence the name LGA 2011-3. However the 2011-3 is physically different from the LGA-2011 socket so the ivy bridge e processors will not be compitable with the new chipset. With the increasing number of core support from 6 to 8 in a processor and with the new advanced ddr4 rams it’s heaven for power users.

The architecture of x99 is completely changed, its based on PCH(platform controller hub). PCH is successor to the intel hub architecture which uses northbridge and southbridge. In PCH the graphics and the memory are directly linked to the CPU  while the slower peripherals like the usb, storage etc to the x99 chipset via DMI(direct media interface).This gives direct access of memory and graphics to the processor thus reducing the lag beacuse of the northbridge.

Image courtesy: intel.com

Talking about the gamers perspective, x99 came a long way after x79 and has some serious improvements. x99 lacks an integrated gpu so you definately have to put a dedicated one. The motherboards designed for  x99 chipset are high end and there is a lot of scope for overcloking.  x99 has got 5 PCI express 3.0 x16 slots which can be used for 4 way or 3 way SLI or crossfire setups for ultraHD gaming. So the thing is if you want to make a future safe gamers pc then x99 might be the right chipset for you.

Intel losing battle to ARM

INTEL LOSING BATTLE TO ARM

Things changes as the generation passes-by, newer model/technology replaces the old ones, but some things continue to adapt the changes and survives, today we are looking at question that wheather intel continues to outperfom or fades away with time??

Technology is upgrading and with that devices are becoming smaller, people prefer to carry there handhelds (mobiles,tablet,phablets) etc instead of their laptops,today a smartphone will do all of the basic stuff that people generally used to on their desktop or laptops, this has open a big market for the mobile processor companies, they are developing new technologies for mobile processor with ultra low power consumption, less size and high performance. As for now ARM is the leading developer of mobile proessor architecture, 9 out of 10 mobile devices(mobiles,tablets,phablets) sold have ARM processors, ARM has been making mobile processors from over two decade, it has expertise itself in low power processor technology.Intel has launched certain 32 bit atom processors for competing with ARM but is has not been as efficient as ARM,though intel is working on a new 22nm low power tri-gate chip but it wont be out until 2014,hope that do some good for intel.You must be wondering that intel has such an impressive line-up of processors then why it is not able to compete with ARM, the reason is that intel has got excellent cpu's for desktop/laptop but here we are talking about the mobile cpu's with extremely low power consuption which can run efficiently on a low power battery without compromising the performance,intel is a way behind than ARM in this category.This is scenario for mobile devices.

Now coming to high power category,  steppping into servers market , ARM has also launched its arhitecture for 64-bit(cortex A-50 series) processors   (now a days almost all high end computers use 64-bit processors and mobile devices use 32 bit procesors).Now the need for the 64-bit processor designs is ram, in 32 bit designs you can only use upto 4gb of ram,but in 64-bit processsors you can use upto 128gb.Many companies like AMD,Texas instruments,Dell,Calxeda have also announced servers based on arm 64bit architecture,this is a big blow for the intel,the reason that so many companies are going for these arm-processor based servers is that it has a very high "Comparable Performance Per Watt" ratio. Software vendors have also started to develop operating systems for ARM architecture like  Microsoft has also launched a less featured model of windows 8 i.e. windows RT, which is compitable with ARM architecture(unlike the regular  windows which runs on intel x86/64 processor architecture), so that tablets with ARM chips will be able to support  windows 8.Not only microsoft,rumurs are that apple is considering a shift from intel to ARM cpu's(just like back in 2004when it moved from power pc to intel) for its macbook series in future, if they choose to make this shift in future they need to alter there operating system(os x) to make it compitable with arm cpu, the thing is that every cpu architecture has a defined instruction set like intel has x86/64 ARM has its own differnet architecture ,so the software is written according to this instruction set, if an operating system has been made to run on intel x86 machine then it cannot on be run on ARM based machine.These companies(apple,microsoft) are shifting there primary vendor for processors because of the inability of intel to compete with ARM processors in mobile devices and low power consumption.Though intel is working on its 3d tri gate transistor fabrication technology to build it\s mobile processor but only time will tell that if intel has got guts to save itself from losing the battle to ARM. Looking at these things we can say that may be tommorow ARM may stand where intel is today.