INTEL OPTANE MEMORY H10: IS IT A PC PERFORMANCE …...Executive Summary Intel recently released a revolutionary device called Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage

Executive SummaryIntel recently released a revolutionary device called Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage. This storage solution

combines Intel Optane memory media with an Intel® QLC 3D NAND solid state drive (SSD) on an M.2 2280 form factor that

can easily fit into modern slim laptops and desktop systems, including mini PCs and All-in-One PCs.

Intel Optane memory H10 takes a unique approach to handling and accelerating access to data. The solution uses an

intelligent caching algorithm that recognizes the most frequently accessed applications, files, and data. It dynamically

and automatically moves that data to the faster Intel Optane memory media, while keeping other, less-frequently used

applications and data on NAND media.

INTEL® OPTANE™ MEMORY H10: IS IT A PC PERFORMANCE GAME CHANGER?Benchmark test results show performance gains from Intel Optane memory H10 with solid state storage compared to traditional NAND solid state drives (SSDs).

Figure 1. Intel® Optane™ memory H10 combines Intel Optane memory media with Intel® QLC 3D NAND technology on a single M.2 card

Study conducted by Prowess Consulting and commissioned by Intel (April 2019).

2 |

To see if that unique design translates into faster performance, Prowess Consulting set out to compare

Intel Optane memory H10 to traditional NAND SSDs. We ran a series of benchmark tests comparing

the following drives on both mobile and desktop systems:

• 32 GB/512 GB Intel Optane memory H10 with solid state storage (32 GB Intel Optane memory with

512 GB QLC NAND SSD storage)

• 512 GB Intel® SSD 760p triple-level cell (TLC) drive

• 512 GB Samsung® SSD 970 EVO TLC drive

• 512 GB Intel SSD 660p quad-level cell (QLC) drive

We also tested the following Serial ATA (SATA) SSD on desktop systems only:

• 512 GB Intel SSD 545s TLC drive

Our results showed significant performance advantages for mobile and desktop devices configured

with Intel Optane memory H10, particularly for workloads operating at lower queue depths (QDs), as

shown in the Iometer test results. (See Appendix A for complete configuration information and

Appendix C for complete test results.)

Intel® Optane™ memory H10: 100% Read Mobile

Desktop

Intel® Optane™ memory H10: 70/30 Read/Write

Intel® Optane™ memory H10: 100% Read

Intel® Optane™ memory H10: 70/30 Read/Write

Up to

3.51x faster100% read performance at QD11

Up to


Up to

1.66x faster70/30 R/W performance at QD12

Up to


Up to


Up to


Up to


Up to


Figure 2. Intel® Optane™ memory H10 performed consistently higher in Iometer benchmark results, compared to other tested SSDs. In addition, drives in desktop devices outperformed the same drives in mobile devices—likely because desktop PCs are not subject to the space and heat constraints of small, slim laptops and 2-in-1 devices.

Our testing shows that Intel Optane memory H10 with solid state storage can provide the capacity

benefits of a QLC 3D NAND drive without compromising performance. In addition, the unique caching

ability of Intel Optane memory H10 can provide a significant performance boost for demanding

applications and workloads.

3 |

Overcoming the Storage BottleneckOver the last several years, PC processors have become faster and more efficient to keep up with our

hunger for processing mountains of data. But storing and quickly accessing that data has become a

bottleneck. PCs still need to shuttle blocks of data between the drive and the processor, which can

drag down even the fastest CPU.

Most modern PCs have moved beyond sluggish hard drives to smaller, higher-performing SSDs,

but even the fastest SSDs have limitations, based on inherent design characteristics for NAND-based

media. For example, NAND-based architecture requires erasing blocks of data before new data can

be written.

Intel Optane memory H10 with solid state storage promises to overcome many of those challenges

through an original design that combines Intel Optane memory media for higher performance with

affordable Intel QLC 3D NAND technology for capacity.

Intel Optane Memory Media

With Intel Optane memory media, a proprietary microscopic material is sliced into columns, with each

column containing a selector cell and a memory cell, as shown in Figure 3. The columns are bisected

by rows of perpendicular wires that allow each memory cell to be individually addressed. In addition,

the grids are stacked three-dimensionally for increased density. The entire design is transistor-less;

each memory cell can be read or written to by varying the voltage sent to its selector.

This unique architecture offers non-volatility and low, consistent latencies that allow the media to reach

peak random read/write performance quickly at low QDs (where QD is the number of outstanding

input/output [I/O] requests).

NAND SSDs, in contrast, have inherently higher latencies that force the drives to rely on higher QDs

to handle multiple requests and gradually ramp up performance (see Figure 4).9

Figure 3. Intel® Optane™ memory media offers properties of both memory and storage by using a revolutionary 3D matrix that offers high density with low latency

4 |

SSD vendors often tout the performance of their drives at high QDs, but most applications operate at

low QDs, where NAND performance significantly lags behind Intel Optane memory media.

Figure 5 shows the results of testing provided by Intel, including the reads and writes for several

common client workloads.9 Although it’s difficult to discern individual points on the graph, the takeaway

is that the vast majority—around 90 percent—of the tested workloads operate at QD 1 or 2. That data

has significant implications for how Intel Optane memory could improve performance for common

applications used by enterprise workers, home users, developers, and others.

Traditional SSD benchmarks and spec documents focus on this range

~90% of all application workloads operate in this range

1

0%

50%

100%

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

IOP

S, L

ow t

o H

igh

Que

ue D

epth

Dis

trib

utio

n

Average QD HDD SATA SSD NAND SSD Intel® Optane™ Memory

Queue Depth

Figure 4. Queue depth (QD) distribution and 4K random read input/output operations per second (IOPS) across different storage devices9

Figure 5. Various client workloads and their associated queue depths (QDs); all of the measured workloads operate primarily at low queue depths

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Consumer Reads

Of�ce ReadsSolidWorks® Reads

Developer Reads

Consumer Writes

Of�ce Writes

Developer Writes

SolidWorks® Writes

9+

Queue Depth

Que

ue D

epth

Dis

trib

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n

5 |

Intel Optane Memory H10 with Solid State StorageTo maximize performance and capacity with affordability in a small form factor, Intel Optane memory

H10 with solid state storage pairs two physical drives on a single M.2 card: Intel Optane memory media

and high-density Intel QLC 3D NAND–based storage. This eliminates the need to choose between

performance and capacity. The NAND SSD portion of the drive is built with Intel QLC 3D NAND

technology, which Intel claims offers an areal density advantage of 33 percent more than the Intel TLC

3D NAND technology. Data is accessed seamlessly by the system, with no user configuration

or intervention required.

According to Intel, key operating system files are pre-optimized for accelerated performance. Other

frequently used applications and files are gradually recognized by the drive after first use, and then are

moved to Intel Optane memory media for accelerated performance. Users should experience faster

performance once those files have been automatically cached in the faster media.

Intel offers the drive in a variety of memory/storage capacities to meet different needs:

• 16 GB Intel Optane memory + 256 GB Intel QLC 3D NAND technology

• 32 GB Intel Optane memory + 512 GB Intel QLC 3D NAND technology

• 32 GB Intel Optane memory + 1 TB Intel QLC 3D NAND technology

Prowess TestingAccording to Intel, the drive excels at accelerating performance when multitasking while performing

productivity tasks, content creation, and gaming. To test those claims, our engineers performed a

series of benchmark tests comparing the performance of Intel Optane memory H10 with solid state

storage to several other Intel TLC NAND and Intel QLC NAND SSDs, in addition to a Samsung EVO TLC

SSD. We ran a series of tests on the full set of drives on both mobile and desktop PCs.

Our goal was to use synthetic benchmark suites to simulate a range of real-world workloads. In

addition, we used the Iometer benchmark to identify how Intel Optane memory media would respond

to a range of read/write workloads at low QDs. Our expectation was that the results would help

identify if the drive performs better, as claimed, than NAND SSDs in the lower QD ranges where most

applications operate.

6 |

Table 1 lists the mobile and desktop systems that we used for our benchmark testing, and Table 2 lists

the drives we compared on both mobile and desktop systems.

Mobile Desktop

System HP® Spectre x360 Convertible

13-ap0xxx

MSI® MPG Z390 GAMING PLUS

(MS-7B51) motherboard

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-8565U

processor at 1.80 GHz

Intel Core i7-9700K processor at

3.60 GHz

Memory 16 GB RAM 16 GB RAM

Graphics Intel® UHD Graphics 620 Intel UHD Graphics 630

Windows® Version Windows 10 Pro Version 1809

OS Build 17763.316

Windows 10 Pro Version 1809

OS Build 17763.316

We compared performance for four drives on mobile devices and five drives on desktop devices.

Storage Device Mobile Desktop

512 GB Intel® Solid State

Drive (SSD) 760p TLC

NAND drive

√ √

32 GB/512 GB Intel®

Optane™ memory H10 with

solid state storage

√ √

512 GB Samsung® SSD 970

EVO TLC drive

√ √

512 GB Intel SSD 660p QLC

NAND drive

√ √

512 GB Intel SSD 545s

Serial ATA (SATA) TLC drive

– √

Detailed Benchmark TestingTo simulate different workloads, Prowess ran a series of benchmark tests, including the PCMark® 8

benchmark, the PCMark 10 benchmark, the PCMark Vantage benchmark, and the SYSmark® 2018

benchmark. We also ran several tests using Iometer, which gave us granular control over read/write

ratios and allowed us to specify low QDs for a more accurate representation of where typical real-world

applications operate.

Preparation and Methodology for Test Runs

Prowess engineers carefully prepared all test machines and drives prior to initial testing and between

test runs in order to eliminate as many extraneous variables as possible. Test runs were conducted on

a fresh installation of the operating system and required drivers. All background tasks with the potential

to introduce variability were disabled during testing, including system-management tasks, Windows®

Defender antivirus, standby mode, and hibernation mode. C-states (idle power saving modes) were left

enabled across all tests for consistency and to match the out-of-box state of all tested devices.

Table 2. Storage devices tested on both mobile and desktop systems

Table 1. Specifications for the mobile and desktop devices used for testing

7 |

Engineers limited networking to local area network (LAN) access only to help eliminate

networking variability.

Each benchmark test consisted of four test passes, beginning from a clean installation. The first pass

was a “cold” run that was not measured. Between each pass, test engineers cleared the single-level

cell (SLC) cache, restarted the system, and waited 10 minutes to allow the system to complete any

automated start-up activities.

Recording Results

At the end of each set of four test runs, testers recorded the median score of the last three runs. To

gauge the performance of Intel Optane memory H10, we used the Intel SSD 760p as a baseline for

comparison. This drive is a good representation of a typical mainstream TLC NAND SSD found in

modern devices. We wanted to determine if the Intel Optane memory H10 could match or exceed TLC

NAND performance, even though it relies on a QLC NAND SSD for higher capacity. In the charts below,

the Intel SSD 760p score is always set to the baseline value of “1,” with performance of all other drives

shown in relation to the Intel SSD 760p.

Benchmark Test ResultsWe compared drive performance by running a series of benchmarks because each benchmark suite

offers a slightly different assessment of storage performance. Summaries and graphs of each of the

benchmark results are shown in the following sections. Complete test results are in Appendix C.

Iometer

Iometer generates workloads to perform I/O operations for stressing the system and measuring

performance. Iometer was particularly relevant for our testing because it allowed us to specify various

read/write workloads running at various QDs. Because most applications operate at QD1 or QD2, as

discussed earlier in this paper, we limited our testing to those configurations. We tested 4K 100 percent

random workloads at ratios corresponding to typical real-world usages, which tend to be read-heavy:

90/10 read/write, 80/20 read/write, and 70/30 read/write. We also tested at 100 percent read and 100

percent write.

As the graphs in Figures 6 through 9 demonstrate, Intel Optane memory H10 excelled over all the

comparison drives at both QD1 and QD2, on both mobile and desktop PCs, and for all mixed read/

write workloads.

8 |

Iometer IOPS Results (QD1): MobileRelative performance, normalized to Intel® SSD 760p. Higher is better.

100% Read 90/10 80/20 70/30 100% Write0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

1.00 1.11 1.21 1.00 1.00

3.39

2.29

1.08 0.971.21 1.08 1.00

1.67

0.91 1.00 1.00 0.980.88 0.97

4.11

Intel® Solid State Drive (SSD) 760p Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 Samsung® SSD 970 EVO Intel® SSD 660p

Read/Write Ratio

Figure 6. Iometer input/output operations per second (IOPS) at queue depth 1 (QD1) for drives in mobile systems

Relative performance, normalized to Intel® SSD 760p. Higher is better.

Iometer IOPS Results (QD2): Mobile

100% Read 90/10 80/20 70/30 100% Write0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

1.00 1.11 1.21 1.00 1.00

2.531.92

1.08 1.051.12 1.05 1.001.41

1.00 0.94 1.00 1.150.91 1.05

3.54


Read/Write Ratio

Figure 7. lometer input/output operations per second (IOPS) at queue depth 2 (QD2) for drives in mobile systems


Iometer IOPS Results (QD1): Desktop

100% Read 90/10 80/20 70/30 100% Write0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

1.00 0.93 1.01 0.98 1.00 1.00

6.10

4.64

0.98 0.961.07 1.04 1.04 1.03 1.00

3.80

0.95 1.02 1.02 1.00 1.001.04 0.89 0.49

6.88

Intel® Solid State Drive (SSD) 760p

Intel® SSD 545s Serial ATA (SATA)

Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 Samsung® SSD 970 EVO Intel® SSD 660p

Read/Write Ratio

Figure 8. Iometer input/output operations per second (IOPS) at queue depth 1 (QD1) for drives in desktop systems

Iometer IOPS Results (QD2): Desktop

100% Read 90/10 80/20 70/30 100% Write0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

1.00 1.01 1.16 1.04 1.00 1.00

5.02

3.35

1.07 0.961.09 1.02 0.94 0.95 0.89

2.32

0.970.97 0.87 0.77 1.00 1.051.00 1.04 0.68

6.62 Relative performance, normalized to Intel® SSD 760p. Higher is better.




Read/Write Ratio

Figure 9. Iometer input/output operations per second (IOPS) at queue depth 2 (QD2) for drives in desktop systems

9 |

PCMark® 8

The PCMark 8 benchmark offers good insights into storage bandwidth and includes test passes for

several workloads, including home, creative, and work, with each set consisting of representative tasks.

The tests use embedded traces built from popular software programs, including Adobe® Creative

Suite® and Microsoft® Office applications.

Specifically, the three PCMark 8 benchmark tests use the following workloads:

Home:

Common tasks typical of

daily home use

• Web Browsing

• Writing

• Casual Gaming

• Photo Editing

• Video Chat

Creative:

Demanding entertainment

and media tasks

• Web Browsing

• Photo Editing

• Batch Photo Editing

• Video Editing

• Media to Go

• Mainstream Gaming

• Video Group Chat

Work:

Basic office and

work tasks

• Web Browsing

• Writing

• Video Chat

• Spreadsheet Use

In our testing, Intel Optane memory H10 showed higher or nearly identical scores across mobile and

desktop test suites for home, creative, and work workloads, as shown in Figures 10 and 11.

On mobile devices, Intel Optane memory H10 scored 1–3 percent higher than other drives for the

home, creative, and work workloads.

The results don’t show large Intel Optane memory H10 gains for these particular benchmark workloads.

However, it should be noted that Intel Optane memory H10 makes use of QLC media, compared to

the TLC media used in some of the comparison NAND SSDs. Historically, as NAND density has

increased from SLC to multi-level cell (MLC), TLC, QLC, and beyond, the capacity gains have come

at the cost of performance and endurance. These test results indicate that in many cases, the addition

of Intel Optane memory can help counteract that trend by allowing QLC NAND drives to perform

comparably to TLC NAND drives in a small form factor and at high capacities, without expanding the

size of the physical drive.


1.00 1.03 0.99 1.01 1.00 1.01 0.98 1.00 1.00 1.01 0.98 1.00

PCMark® 8 Results: Mobile

1.00

Home Creative Work

1.50

0.50

0.00



Figure 10. PCMark® 8 benchmark scores for drives in mobile devices

10 |

On desktop PCs, Intel Optane memory H10 had nearly equivalent scores as the other drives for all

three workloads.

1.00 1.01 1.01 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.99 0.99 0.99 1.00

PCMark® 8 Results: Desktop

1.00

Home Creative Work

1.50

0.50

0.00





Figure 11. PCMark® 8 benchmark scores for drives in desktop systems

PCMark 10 Extended

The PCMark 10 benchmark is a major revision from the PCMark 8 benchmark, and it is designed to

work with Windows 10. Like the PCMark 8 benchmark, this benchmark provides useful insights into

storage bandwidth. The extended benchmark includes four test groups:

• Essentials: Includes web browsing, video conferencing, and app start-up time

• Productivity: Includes tests based on spreadsheets and writing

• Digital content creation: Includes photo editing, video editing, and a rendering and

visualization test

• Gaming: Includes tests for real-time graphics and physics

In addition to the test groups above, we extracted separate results for application start-up time from the

essentials group. App start-up is an activity that is performed frequently by all users, so we wanted to

determine if Intel Optane memory H10 would boost performance for this critical task.

The PCMark 10 benchmark results were similar to those of the PCMark 8 benchmark: higher or nearly

identical scores across mobile and desktop test suites for the overall test suite, in addition to the

individual workloads, as shown in Figures 12 and 13.

On the mobile devices, Intel Optane memory H10 showed comparable or higher results to the other

drives for overall results, and 3–5 percent gains for the essentials test group. Intel Optane memory H10

scores ranged from 1–4 percent higher for the productivity test group, and 1–5 percent higher for the

digital content creation test group. Gaming test group results for Intel Optane memory H10 on mobile

devices were more varied, ranging from slightly lower performance to as much as 6 percent higher

(compared to the Samsung SSD 970 EVO). However, mobile devices are not ideal platforms for gaming,

because the small, confined form factor can lead to excess heat, forcing the system to artificially

constrain performance during periods of high CPU utilization.

11 |

Intel Optane memory H10 did, indeed, boost app start-up time, compared to all the other drives, with

recorded scores up to 12 percent higher than the Samsung SSD 970 EVO.


1.00 1.00 0.96 0.99 1.00 1.03 0.98 0.99 1.00 1.01 0.97 1.00 1.00 1.01 0.96 1.00 1.00 0.98 0.92 0.98 1.00 1.06 0.94 0.97

PCMark® 10 Results: Mobile

1.00

Overall Results Essentials Productivity Digital Content Creation Gaming App Start-Up

1.50

0.50

0.00



Figure 12. PCMark® 10 benchmark scores for drives in mobile devices

On the desktop machines, Intel Optane memory H10 showed up to 4 percent higher scores overall,

compared to the other drives, and 6–9 percent gains for the essentials test group. Scores were roughly

equivalent for the productivity test group and the digital content creation test group. Gaming test group

scores for Intel Optane memory H10 on desktop machines were higher, as expected: ranging from 2–5

percent higher than the comparison drives.

Intel Optane memory H10 showed significantly higher scores (higher is better) for app start-up times,

compared to all other tested drives. Scores were 16 to 22 percent higher.

1.00 1.04 1.01 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.09 1.02 1.01 1.01 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.01 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.05 1.02 1.00 1.001.00 1.21 1.01 1.04 0.99

PCMark® 10 Results: Desktop

1.00

Overall Results Essentials Productivity Digital Content Creation Gaming App Start-Up

1.50

0.50

0.00





Figure 13. PCMark® 10 benchmark scores for drives in desktop systems

PCMark Vantage HDD Suite

The PCMark Vantage HDD Suite is a collection of synthetic test sets simulating real-world application

usage, and it is the only commonly-used benchmark that includes a specific HDD test focusing on

storage performance. Individual tests simulate the following application and task workloads: Windows

Defender, gaming, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows start-up, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media

Center, Windows Media Player, and application loading.

For both mobile and desktop systems, Intel Optane memory H10 achieved higher scores overall and on

nearly all the individual workload tests (see Figures 14 and 15).

On the mobile devices, Intel Optane memory H10 scored 12 percent higher than the closest competitor

(Samsung SSD 970 EVO) overall.

12 |

In addition, Intel Optane memory H10 showed further gains on individual workload tests on mobile

devices (see Table 3).

Table 3. PCMark® Vantage HDD benchmark results, showing percentage gains for Intel® Optane™ memory H10 versus the comparison drives (mobile devices)

PCMark® Vantage

HDD Test

Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 vs.

Comparison Drives (Mobile Devices)

Overall 12–20% higher

Windows® Defender 38–46% higher

Gaming 48–65% higher

Windows Photo Gallery 35–48% higher

Windows Start-Up 40–51% higher

Windows Media Player 6–16% higher

App Loading 35–57% higher


1.00 1.20 1.07 1.06

PCMark® Vantage Results: Mobile

1.00

Overall Results

1.50

0.50

0.00



Figure 14. PCMark® Vantage benchmark overall scores for drives in mobile devices

On desktop PCs, Intel Optane memory H10 scored 40 percent higher than the closest competitor

(Samsung SSD 970 EVO) and more than 225 percent higher than the Intel SSD 660p QLC 3D

NAND SSD for the overall workload results.

In addition, Intel Optane memory H10 showed further gains on individual workload tests on desktop

PCs (see Table 4).

Table 4. PCMark® Vantage HDD benchmark results, showing percentage gains for Intel® Optane™ memory H10 versus the comparison drives (desktop systems)

PCMark® Vantage

HDD Test

Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 vs.

Comparison Drives (Desktops)

Overall 40–225% higher

Windows® Defender 102–326% higher

Gaming 98–597% higher

Windows Photo Gallery 84–563% higher

Windows Start-Up 40–298% higher

Windows Media Player 49–239% higher

App Loading 51–158% higher

13 |



1.00

1.69

1.20 0.52 0.58

PCMark® Vantage Results: Desktop

1.00

Overall Results

1.50

0.50

0.00



Figure 15. PCMark® Vantage benchmark overall scores for drives in desktop systems

Intel Optane memory H10 significantly outperformed other drives on desktop systems for the individual

test groups—by several hundred percent, in some cases. It’s impossible to say with certainty why the

desktop systems outperformed the mobile systems, but it’s possible that the mobile devices artificially

constrained performance to prevent overheating during tests that heavily taxed the CPU. Mobile devices

throttle performance by design to address thermal constraints that are more common in the tight

confines of a half-inch thick device. Desktop systems typically do not have this constraint because they

are larger and can accommodate more airflow.

Note that Intel Optane memory H10 scored slightly worse than other drives on two individual PCMark

Vantage HDD tests: video editing with Windows Movie Maker and streaming with Windows Media

Center. It’s interesting to note that both of those tests have approximately 50/50 read/write ratios, when

all of the other tests used read/write ratios of 78/22 or higher, up to 100 percent read, in some cases.

It’s not surprising that the Intel Optane memory H10 caching mechanism would lose its advantage

during high write/low read operations. However, these types of write-heavy workloads are less common

for most users, who typically run closer to a 70/30 read/write mix.

The Iometer test results give credence to the theory that mobile device performance was constrained

due to heat, because the 100 percent write tests showed performance levels at or below the

comparison TLC NAND SSDs.

SYSmark® 2018

The SYSmark 2018 benchmark is an application-based benchmark that reflects usage patterns

of business users in the areas of productivity, creativity, and responsiveness. The SYSmark 2018

benchmark test results measure overall system performance and responsiveness, without focusing

explicitly on storage.

The test suites incorporate several productivity and creative applications, including Microsoft Office

2016, Adobe® Acrobat® DC, Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe® Lightroom®, and other apps.

14 |

As shown in Figure 16, on the mobile devices, Intel Optane memory H10 overall scores were 1–3

percent higher than the other tested drives. Productivity scores were slightly below the Intel SSD

760p, but on par with or higher than other drives. Creativity scores were 3–4 percent higher, and

responsiveness scores ranged from equal to the Intel SSD 760p to 3–4 percent higher than the other

tested drives.

1.00 1.01 0.98 0.98 1.00 0.99 0.98 0.99 1.00 1.03 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.97 0.96

SYSmark® 2018 Results: Mobile

1.00

Overall Rating CreativityProductivity Responsiveness

1.50

0.50

0.00



Figure 16. SYSmark® 2018 benchmark scores for drives in mobile devices

As shown in Figure 17, Intel Optane memory H10 performed better on the desktop systems. Overall

scores were 2–5 percent higher than the other tested drives. Productivity scores were equivalent to

the other drives, and creativity scores were up to 4 percent higher than all other drives. Responsiveness

tests showed major gains for Intel Optane memory H10, with scores 8–11 percent higher than the

other tested drives.

As stated earlier, it seems likely that mobile devices scored lower due to heat constraints from the

smaller form-factor devices.

1.00 1.04 1.02 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.04 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.08 1.00 0.98 0.97

SYSmark® 2018 Results: Desktop

1.00

Overall Rating CreativityProductivity Responsiveness

1.50

0.50

0.00




Figure 17. SYSmark® 2018 benchmark scores for drives in desktop systems

ConclusionsOur benchmark results show impressive performance for Intel Optane memory H10. By pairing a high-

capacity QLC drive with Intel Optane memory, Intel has found a unique and effective way to provide

TLC-level performance or higher without sacrificing capacity. In addition, the low-latency characteristics

of Intel Optane memory H10 mean the drive really hits its stride at low QDs, where the vast majority of

applications operate. Our Iometer testing demonstrated the low QD advantage in dramatic fashion—

performance more than 40 to 60 percent higher than the closest competitor drive for mobile devices

running mixed 70/30 read/write workloads, and performance more than 270 percent higher (QD1) and

more than 130 percent higher (QD2) for desktop devices running 70/30 workloads.

15 |

Several of the benchmark tests also showed higher scores for Intel Optane memory H10 in desktop

PCs, versus mobile devices. We did not perform additional tests to conclusively determine the cause

of this variance, but it was likely due to thermal and power constraints in mobile devices. Mobile

platforms have extremely small, tightly packed components, which can lead to excess heat. To prevent

overheating, systems periodically need to constrain performance during periods of continuous high

CPU utilization. Desktop PCs have much more space for larger heat sinks and to allow for greater

airflow, so there is no need to artificially constrain performance. That allows the entire system—including

data access from Intel Optane memory H10—to perform at peak levels in desktop PCs.

Overall, our tests showed the potential for Intel Optane memory H10 to accelerate performance for a

wide range of users, from gamers and home users to office professionals and content creators. Based

on our benchmark results, Intel Optane memory H10 with solid state storage is likely to shine in nearly

any user scenario with high read/write-ratio workloads and applications running at low QDs.

Appendix A: Devices and ConfigurationsMobileDevice Intel® Optane™

Memory H10

Intel® SSD 760p Samsung® SSD 970 EVO

Intel SSD 660p

Driver Version Intel® Chipset SATA/

PCIe® with Intel® Rapid

Storage Technology

(Intel® RST) Premium

Controller 17.0.0.1072

Microsoft® Storage

Spaces Controller

10.0.17763.292

Microsoft Storage

Spaces Controller

10.0.17763.292

Microsoft Storage

Spaces Controller

10.0.17763.292

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-8565U


Intel Core i7-8565U


Intel Core i7-8565U


Intel Core i7-8565U processor at 1.80 GHz

Model Number HP® Spectre x360

Convertible 13-ap0xxx

HP Spectre x360


HP Spectre x360


HP Spectre x360


Memory 16 GB

2400 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

2400 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

2400 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

2400 DDR4

dual-channel

Graphics Intel® UHD Graphics

620

Intel UHD Graphics

620

Intel UHD Graphics

620

Intel UHD Graphics

620

Benchmark

Operating System

Windows® 10 Pro

Version 1809 OS Build

17763.316

Windows 10 Pro


17763.316

Windows 10 Pro


17763.316

Windows 10 Pro Version 1809 OS Build 17763.316

BIOS American Megatrends®

Inc. B.25, 12/7/2018,

microcode version

0x9A

American Megatrends

Inc. B.25, 12/7/2018,

microcode version

0x9A

American Megatrends

Inc. B.25, 12/7/2018,

microcode version

0x9A

American Megatrends

Inc. B.25, 12/7/2018,

microcode version

0x9A

C-States Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled

Intel Optane

Memory

Enabled N/A N/A N/A

16 |

DesktopDevice Intel® Optane™

Memory H10

Intel® SSD

760p

Samsung® SSD 970 EVO

Intel SSD 660p Intel SSD 545s SATA

Driver Version Intel® Chipset

SATA/PCIe®

with Intel®

Rapid Storage

Technology (Intel®

RST) Premium

Controller

17.0.0.1072

Microsoft®

Storage Spaces

Controller

10.0.17763.292

Microsoft Storage

Spaces Controller

10.0.17763.292

Microsoft Storage

Spaces Controller

10.0.17763.292

Microsoft Storage

Spaces Controller

10.0.17763.292

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-

9700K processor

at 3.60 GHz

Intel Core i7-

9700K processor

at 3.60 GHz

Intel Core i7-

9700K processor

at 3.60 GHz

Intel Core i7-9700K processor at 3.60 GHz

Intel Core i7-9700K processor at 3.60 GHz

Model Number MSI® MPG

Z390 GAMING

PLUS (MS-7B51)

(0x0000074E -

0x92763720)

MPG Z390

GAMING PLUS

(MS-7B51)

(0x0000074E -

0x92763720)

MPG Z390

GAMING PLUS

(MS-7B51)

(0x0000074E -

0x92763720)

MPG Z390

GAMING PLUS

(MS-7B51)

(0x0000074E -

0x92763720)

MPG Z390

GAMING PLUS

(MS-7B51)

(0x0000074E -

0x92763720)

Memory 16 GB

1066 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

1066 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

1066 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

1066 DDR4

dual-channel

16 GB

1066 DDR4

dual-channel

Graphics Intel® UHD

Graphics 630

Intel UHD

Graphics 630

Intel UHD

Graphics 630

Intel UHD

Graphics 630

Intel UHD

Graphics 630

Benchmark

Operating

System

Windows® 10 Pro

Version 1809 OS

Build 17763.316

Windows 10 Pro

Version 1809 OS

Build 17763.316

Windows 10 Pro

Version 1809 OS

Build 17763.316



BIOS American

Megatrends® Inc.

1.3T, 11/12/2018,

microcode version

0xA2

American

Megatrends Inc.

1.3T, 11/12/2018,

microcode version

0xA2

American

Megatrends Inc.

1.10, 8/22/2018,

microcode version

0x98

American

Megatrends Inc.

1.3T, 11/12/2018,

microcode version

0xA2

American

Megatrends Inc.

1.10, 8/22/2018,

microcode version

0x98

C-STATE Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled

Intel Optane

Memory

Enabled N/A N/A N/A N/A

Network Settings

LAN-only except for PCMark 8 benchmarking, which required Internet access.

Storage Drivers

All tests other than the Intel Optane memory H10 tests were performed using the Microsoft

storage driver.

Intel Optane memory system acceleration driver settings were configured as follows to match the

power profile of the Microsoft storage driver:

• Host Initiated Power Management (HIPM) enabled

• Device Initiated Power Management (DIPM) disabled

• Software Initiated Power Management (SIPM) disabled

17 |

Registry Settings

The following registry settings were used to set configurations and override BIOS settings:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorA\

Parameters\Device

• “Controller0Phy{0}DIPM” = DWORD:0

• “Controller0Phy{0}HIPM” = DWORD:1

• “Controller0Phy{0}SIPM” = DWORD:0

• “Controller0Phy{0}LPMState” = DWORD:0

• “Controller0Phy{0}LPMDState” = DWORD:1

Where {0} indicates the port number of the SATA drive for performance tests.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorA\Parameters\

Device\NvmeApstEnabled = DWORD: 0

System BIOS Configuration

• C-states enabled

• Aggressive LPM enabled

• Modern standby disabled (if supported)

• RTD3 disabled (if supported)

Power Options

• Turn off hard disk after > Never

• Dim display after > Never

• Turn off display after > Never

• Sleep after > Never

• Hibernate after > Never

• Disable UAC (User Account Control) and notifications

• Disable Windows Automatic updates

• Disable error reporting

• Disable Windows SmartScreen

• Turn off all Action Center messages

• Hide Windows Action Center

• Disable Indexing Service/Windows Search

• Disable Windows Defender (antivirus)

• Disable scheduled disk defrag

• Disable scheduled tasks

18 |

Appendix B: Benchmark Software VersionsBenchmark Version

PCMark® Vantage 1.2.0.0

PCMark 10 5.10.676

PCMark 8 5.9.665

SYSmark® 2018 1.0.0.39

Iometer 1.1.0

Appendix C: Detailed Benchmark ResultsIometerMobile: QD1 4K File

Read/Write

Distribution

Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™ Memory H10


Intel SSD 660p

IOPS 100% Read 12,312.58 50,659.49 12,528.11 14,437.85

90/10 12,371.15 41,940.78 13,305.90 14,944.66

80/20 14,725.92 33,765.25 14,313.41 15,863.45

70/30 17,073.64 28,444.20 15,574.13 17,129.87

100% Write 44,323.69 39,190.72 43,388.76 42,818.47

Total MB/s 100% Read 50.43 207.50 51.31 59.13

90/10 50.67 171.78 54.50 61.21

80/20 60.31 138.30 58.62 64.97

70/30 69.93 116.50 63.79 70.16

100% Write 181.54 160.52 177.72 175.38

% CPU

Utilization

100% Read 0.59 15.57 1.16 1.36

90/10 0.52 13.89 1.10 1.34

80/20 0.53 12.93 1.16 1.49

70/30 0.67 12.24 1.37 1.58

100% Write 1.43 13.30 3.92 4.18

19 |

Desktop:

QD1

4K File

Read/Write

Distribution

Intel®

SSD 760p

(Baseline

Drive)



Intel SSD 660p

Intel SSD 545s SATA

IOPS 100% Read 6,560.53 45,132.90 6,078.30 6,621.58 6,421.09

90/10 6,408.26 39,073.12 6,272.03 6,831.06 6,669.32

80/20 6,854.42 31,817.56 6,589.74 7,142.54 7,034.26

70/30 7,348.15 27,958.45 6,945.14 7,518.28 7,521.05

100% Write 35,483.96 37,062.51 35,491.41 31,726.73 17,218.15

Total MB/s 100% Read 26.87 184.86 24.89 27.12 26.30

90/10 26.24 160.04 25.69 27.98 27.31

80/20 28.07 130.32 26.99 29.25 28.81

70/30 30.09 114.51 28.44 30.79 30.80

100% Write 145.34 151.80 145.37 129.95 70.52

% CPU

Utilization

100% Read 1.26 17.34 1.15 1.03 1.22

90/10 1.23 16.48 1.16 1.92 1.23

80/20 1.10 15.62 1.29 1.97 1.32

70/30 1.16 15.18 1.26 2.03 1.50

100% Write 2.42 17.02 2.90 2.37 2.31

Mobile: QD2 4K File

Read/Write

Distribution

Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive)



Intel SSD 660p

IOPS 100% Read 22,539.30 79,677.40 24,993.63 27,351.33

90/10 25,021.22 63,332.27 27,060.63 28,050.01

80/20 28,196.62 54,121.11 29,668.11 29,486.57

70/30 32,977.40 46,487.94 32,898.17 31,119.61

100% Write 68,474.80 62,254.41 78,636.87 72,156.30

Total MB/s 100% Read 92.32 326.35 102.37 112.03

90/10 102.48 259.40 110.84 114.89

80/20 115.49 221.68 121.52 120.77

70/30 135.07 190.41 134.75 127.46

100% Write 280.47 254.99 322.09 295.55

% CPU

Utilization

100% Read 0.75 20.61 1.74 1.88

90/10 0.80 17.18 1.91 2.12

80/20 0.82 15.77 1.98 2.15

70/30 0.96 14.04 2.37 2.31

100% Write 4.28 18.73 6.28 5.89

20 |

Desktop:

QD2

4K File

Read/Write

Distribution

Intel®

SSD 760p

(Baseline

Drive)



Intel SSD 660p

Intel SSD 545s SATA

IOPS 100% Read 12,888.55 85,288.95 13,062.56 14,994.08 13,403.17

90/10 13,606.55 68,370.37 14,563.37 14,865.54 13,833.22

80/20 16,780.29 56,214.06 15,840.77 15,916.75 14,995.14

70/30 21,175.85 49,104.82 20,592.03 18,341.47 16,323.80

100% Write 67,472.84 67,502.72 71,113.16 70,053.34 45,802.93

Total MB/s 100% Read 52.79 349.34 53.50 61.41 54.89

90/10 55.73 280.04 59.65 60.88 56.66

80/20 68.73 230.25 64.88 65.19 61.42

70/30 86.73 201.13 84.34 75.12 66.86

100% Write 276.36 276.49 291.27 286.93 187.60

% CPU

Utilization

100% Read 1.80 20.30 1.61 1.44 1.61

90/10 1.51 17.97 1.60 2.06 1.70

80/20 1.62 17.00 1.52 1.99 1.73

70/30 1.73 16.10 1.61 2.05 1.83

100% Write 4.26 19.26 4.35 4.39 6.14

PCMark 8Mobile Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10


Intel SSD 660p

Home 4,112 4,215 4,080 4,151

Creative 5,240 5,278 5,155 5,255

Work 5,176 5,244 5,085 5,155

Desktop Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive )

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10



Home 4,703 4,762 4,703 4,711 4,738

Creative 5,649 5,686 5,697 5,685 5,698

Work 5,798 5,760 5,761 5,755 5,799

PCMark 10Mobile Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10


Intel SSD 660p

Overall Results 2,958 2,969 2,829 2,928

Essentials 9,016 9,273 8,791 8,953

Productivity 7,126 7,173 6,936 7,127

Digital Content Creation

3,204 3,225 3,091 3,198

Gaming 1,001 979 918 980

Application Start-Up

13,285 14,136 12,483 12,826

21 |


(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10



Overall Results 3,450 3,591 3,492 3,463 3,452

Essentials 10,471 11,395 10,675 10,615 10,562

Productivity 8,059 8,192 8,035 8,085 8,019

Digital Content Creation

4,151 4,208 4,189 4,156 4,155

Gaming 1,090 1,144 1,116 1,090 1,088

Application Start-Up

16,978 20,620 17,090 17,670 16,804

PCMark VantageMobile Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10


Intel SSD 660p

Overall Results 109,375 130,933 116,863 115,592

HDD 1—Windows®

Defender

385.742 561.741 385.742 405.818

HDD 2—Gaming 447.498 660.833 400.453 432.623

HDD 3—Windows Photo Gallery

498.881 736.079 546.610 513.837

HDD 4—Windows Start-Up

507.615 768.160 534.715 550.542

HDD 5—Windows Movie Maker

595.288 402.462 745.484 743.197

HDD 6—Windows Media Center

1,043.112 899.463 1,527.145 1,216.465

HDD 7—Windows Media Player

314.793 364.497 322.113 342.844

HDD 8—App Loading

495.090 666.274 424.516 482.926


(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10



Overall

Results

111,020 187,294 132,793 57,932 64,549

HDD 1—

Windows®

Defender

405.818 848.433 420.945 198.964 229.821

HDD 2—

Gaming

319.380 920.492 464.351 132.129 280.054

HDD 3—Windows Photo Gallery

310.429 991.578 539.240 149.602 243.369

HDD 4—Windows Start-Up

538.029 990.138 709.554 248.717 333.854

HDD 5—Windows Movie Maker

750.100 704.309 796.981 415.578 338.856

HDD 6—Windows Media Center

1,424.652 1,271.097 1,878.524 1,223.477 448.781

HDD 7—Windows Media Player

407.379 607.495 386.896 179.416 272.655

HDD 8—App Loading

534.105 808.851 493.637 315.491 313.979

22 |

SYSmark 2018Mobile Intel® SSD 760p

(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10


Intel SSD 660p

Overall Rating 1,496 1,508 1,459 1,472

Productivity 1,396 1,384 1,363 1,377

Creativity 1,546 1,596 1,535 1,549

Responsiveness 1,555 1,553 1,504 1,492


(Baseline Drive)

Intel® Optane™

Memory H10


Intel SSD 660p

Intel SSD 545s SATA

Overall Rating 2,045 2,132 2,019 2,029 2,047

Productivity 1,707 1,726 1,715 1,700 1,705

Creativity 2,651 2,768 2,751 2,648 2,749

Responsiveness 1,891 2,047 1,909 1,851 1,832

23 |

1 Iometer benchmark test results on mobile devices: At 100 percent read at QD1, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 3.51x faster than the next closest competitor, the

Intel® SSD 660p (50,659.50 IOPS versus 14,437.86 IOPS).

2 Iometer benchmark test results on mobile devices: At 70/30 read/write at QD1, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 1.66x faster than the next closest competitor, the Intel®

SSD 660p (28,444.20 IOPS versus 17,129.88 IOPS).

3 Iometer benchmark test results on mobile devices: At 100 percent read at QD2, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 2.91x faster than the next closest competitor, the

Intel® SSD 660p (79,677.41 IOPS versus 27,351.34 IOPS).

4 Iometer benchmark test results on mobile devices: At 70/30 read/write at QD2, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 1.41x faster than the next closest competitor, the Intel®


5 Iometer benchmark test results on desktop PCs: At 100 percent read at QD1, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 6.82x faster than the next closest competitor, the Intel®


6 Iometer benchmark test results on desktop PCs: At 70/30 read/write at QD1, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 3.72x faster than the next closest competitor, the Intel®

SSD 545s (27,958.45 IOPS versus 7,521.05 IOPS).

7 Iometer benchmark test results on desktop PCs: At 100 percent read at QD2, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 5.69x faster than the next closest competitor, the Intel®


8 Iometer benchmark test results on desktop PCs: At 70/30 read/write at QD2, Intel® Optane™ memory H10 was up to 2.32x faster than the next closest competitor, the Intel®


9 Source: Intel testing as of July 2018. System Configuration: CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8086K processor; BIOS version 9008 (x64) build date: 05/16/2018, EC version

MBEC-Z370-0203, Intel® Management Engine (Intel® ME) firmware Ver11.8.50.3399; motherboard: ASUS® Z370-A; operating system: Windows® 10 RS4 1803; driver:

Microsoft® Inbox Driver; DRAM: 8 GB x 2 Corsair Vengeance® LPX DDR4 (Model: CMK16GX4M2A2666C16R); 1 TB WD Blue® 2.5” hard-disk drive (HDD) (model:

WD10JPVX); 32 GB Intel® Optane™ memory, 118 GB Intel Optane SSD 800P; 900P; SATA SSD: 512 GB Intel® SSD 545s; NVM Express® (NVMe™) SSD: 512 GB Intel® SSD

760p PCIe®, M.2, NVMe SSD; all testing done internally by Intel.

Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel® microprocessors. Performance

tests are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations, and functions. Any change to any of those factors

may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated

purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products.

Performance results are based on testing by Prowess Consulting as of April 2019 and may not reflect all publicly available security updates. See

configuration disclosure for details. No product or component can be absolutely secure.

The analysis in this document was done by Prowess Consulting and commissioned by Intel. The software licenses involved belong to Intel and

were used by permission for this testing and analysis.

Results have been simulated and are provided for informational purposes only. Any difference in system hardware or software design of

configuration may affect actual performance.

Cost reduction scenarios described are intended as examples of how a given product, in the specified circumstances and configurations, may

affect future costs and provide cost savings. Circumstances will vary. Prowess and Intel do not guarantee any costs or cost reduction.

Prowess and the Prowess logo are trademarks of Prowess Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2019 Prowess Consulting, LLC. All rights reserved.

Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Documents

INTEL OPTANE MEMORY H10: IS IT A PC PERFORMANCE …...Executive Summary Intel recently released a revolutionary device called Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage