Micron introduces the Micron 9650, the first SSD compatible with the latest PCIe 6.0 standard. Built for data centers, the drive achieves read speeds of nearly 28 GB/s.
Micron launches the 9650 SSD, a storage solution that, according to the manufacturer, is up to twice as fast as its predecessor. This is possible thanks to support for PCIe Gen6. This SSD is the first to support the standard. It goes without saying that the drive is not intended for laptops or desktops, but for high-performance data center environments.
Fast and Efficient
The Micron 9650 SSD achieves sequential read speeds of up to 28,000 MB/s and writes up to 14,000 MB/s, doubling the read speed compared to the previous generation. In random read operations, the drive reaches 5.5 million IOPS. Micron targets this product at AI workloads limited by slow data delivery.
In addition to performance, Micron focuses on energy efficiency. The 9650 SSD delivers up to 1,120 MB/s per watt, which is twice as efficient as the previous generation. Moreover, the 9.5 mm E1.S variant supports liquid cooling, which should help reduce power consumption in data centers.
Self-developed
Flash specialist Micron developed the entire stack of the 9650 SSD itself. The drive combines proprietary DRAM, G9 NAND, controller, and firmware. The G9 NAND cells use a six-plane architecture and offer up to 3.6 GB/s NAND I/O speed.
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What’s in a name: everything must be Pro, Max or Ultra
The Micron 9650 SSD is available in three formats: E1.S (9.5 mm and 15 mm) and E3.S. Capacities go up to 30.72 TB. There are two variants: the Pro variant for read-intensive applications and the Max variant for mixed workloads. Thus, the caricature world of meaningless Pro Max Ultra Plus Premium labels gains a few more candidates.