WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:08.120 we just kicked off Spring cleaning at our studio which wouldn't normally be a 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:12.599 video except we came across this a 00:00:08.120 --> 00:00:14.679 $15,000 server with two CPUs eight ssds 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:21.080 and a whopping 6.3 terabytes of RAM when we got this 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:25.840 from Intel 3 years ago we did a quick unboxing promising a deeper dive into 00:00:23.560 --> 00:00:30.880 some of its more exotic features and then promptly forgot about it well that 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:36.200 RAM I showed you guys is is n RAM at all but optain persistent memory modules you 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:41.079 might know that Intel's optain business was sadly shuttered in June of 2022 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:47.760 which means the contacts who originally sent us this have sadly moved on we on 00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:50.039 the other hand haven't so all these 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:54.840 years later I am finally going to do what I said I was going to do and finish 00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:00.840 building the rer piece I mean sorry I mean digging into what made optain so 00:00:58.559 --> 00:01:05.799 special and cool and what ultimately killed it just like I'm 00:01:03.239 --> 00:01:09.560 going to kill this segue to our sponsor ug green they're getting into the Nas 00:01:07.720 --> 00:01:15.479 Game and they claimed their new Nas sync dxp 4800 plus is the most powerful Nas 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:21.000 under $500 it's got four Bays for storage a 12th Gen 5 Core Intel 00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:26.079 processor 8 gigs of ddr5 memory that's expandable and more check it out at the 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:26.079 link down 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.920 below 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:40.280 before we go any further some of you probably need a refresher isn't Intel 00:01:37.520 --> 00:01:45.759 optain and SSD what's it doing in a RAM slot well optane was more of a family 00:01:43.720 --> 00:01:49.880 than an individual product ranging from inexpensive hard drive accelerators for 00:01:47.880 --> 00:01:55.079 pre-builts where the manufacturer was too cheap to install a real SSD to 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:59.920 incredibly low latency not to mention expensive storage for the fastest 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:04.200 servers in existence what all of these uses had in common though was they 00:02:02.039 --> 00:02:10.280 looked like conventional memory and storage devices but functioned somewhere 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:12.800 in between and that's exactly what we're 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:19.440 looking at here this appears to be a normal SSD but the 3D Cross Point chips 00:02:15.959 --> 00:02:22.400 inside it have just 100th the latency of 00:02:19.440 --> 00:02:27.560 regular Nan flash as for this guy well it looks like a stick of ddr4 memory but 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:33.920 it's actually an Intel optain persistent memory series 100 module with a whopping 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:37.599 512 gigs of storage on it and this 00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:40.400 server has 12 of them for a total of 6 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:45.040 tabes that's enough to fit nearly 12 High bit rate Floatplane exclusives 00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:50.360 solely in system memory wait a second lus memory I thought you just said it 00:02:47.200 --> 00:02:52.720 was storage I did but the simplest way 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:57.800 to take advantage of it is in memory mode where your optain modules just show 00:02:55.319 --> 00:03:03.400 up to your operating system as a whole whack load of RAM now the bad thing 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:09.680 about this mode is that it forces optane to have one of the big downsides of RAM 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:11.400 for security reasons every time an 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:16.040 optain module in memory mode gets restarted it generates a new 00:03:13.480 --> 00:03:21.319 cryptographic key effectively wiping all of the data that it contained the good 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:24.480 news is that optane can handle many more 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:27.200 wipes than regular ssds so this is 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:31.879 unlikely to harm it and what's also cool is that no special coding is needed to 00:03:29.799 --> 00:03:36.920 immediately use memory mode and the CPU's memory controller will even 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:39.319 automatically move colder data off of 00:03:36.920 --> 00:03:44.200 the memory onto the optain and vice versa let me show you how this would 00:03:41.480 --> 00:03:49.120 work in a demanding professional application right now you're looking at 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:53.360 solid works flow simulator but we aren't simulating anything at the moment 00:03:50.640 --> 00:03:59.879 because first we need to generate a mesh which is essentially a 3D Space full of 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:02.400 data sampling points where some fluid 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:08.720 let's say air is going to interact with some object say this heat sink it's not 00:04:05.799 --> 00:04:14.239 using that much RAM though what 45 gigs 48 gigs that's a lot of RAM okay it's a 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:18.880 lot of RAM but it's 2% of what we have the issue is that it just takes hours 00:04:16.280 --> 00:04:24.360 for the CPU to process a large enough mesh like this for it to fill up all of 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:29.880 that RAM let alone the optain that's in there and this is a really silly way of 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:31.639 doing this so what you're saying is flow 00:04:29.880 --> 00:04:37.919 doesn't need that much RAM obtaine is pointless no no no Flo Sim does need 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:40.039 heaps and heaps of RAM just a model like 00:04:37.919 --> 00:04:44.000 this doesn't necessarily if we were trying to run something that's super 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:47.280 complex like crashing a car into a barrier having terabytes of memory could 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:51.360 be the difference between a finishing in a day and a finishing in a week of 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:55.680 course though this isn't memory its latency is several times higher which 00:04:53.560 --> 00:05:02.800 would obviously impact performance the question is though how much to find out 00:04:59.039 --> 00:05:05.639 we came up with a rather terrible idea 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:10.280 why don't we just remove a bunch of the actual RAM so that the system has no 00:05:07.880 --> 00:05:13.440 choice but to use the obtaine and then we can do a before and 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:25.840 after it's not going to do anything is it 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:31.120 nope oh jeez there goes the alarm wait 00:05:25.840 --> 00:05:33.319 maybe there's no way no sadly Intel 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:37.720 thought of that and requires each stick of obtain pm to be paired with a stick 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:42.639 of RAM in order for the system to function at all and they have a 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:46.560 recommended ratio of 4 to1 optained to 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:49.039 RAM for Optimal Performance ours however 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:55.319 it's more like a 16 to1 ratio and the server came straight from Intel 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:58.400 so what do we do with the rest of it as 00:05:55.319 --> 00:06:01.280 it turns out many customers simply used 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:06.680 higher ratios but there are some other ways to take advantage of the persistent 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:09.800 part of our persistent memory app direct 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:12.479 mode and storage mode which Alex is 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:16.240 showing us now yes app direct mode exposes the optain directly to the 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:22.080 application which can use it like storage RAM or somewhere in between 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:26.319 unfortunately we aren't able to show this off because doing so would require 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:30.400 us to code our own program that explicitly takes advantage of it and 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:33.960 this is a task that almost no company's worth billions of dollars found to be 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:38.840 worthwhile so doing it for a YouTube video would have a dubious Roi to say 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:43.360 the least what we can show you is storage mode have you ever wondered what 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:49.039 would happen if you could plug your SSD into a high-speed memory slot well 00:06:46.400 --> 00:06:54.319 basically this storage mode presents the obtained tier operating system much like 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:58.919 an SSD just with super low latency compared to traditional Mand flash 00:06:56.759 --> 00:07:02.759 setting this bit up though was what caused this project to be stalled for 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:08.280 months because we just couldn't figure out how to do it not because Alex is 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:11.840 dumb or because I'm dumb but rather because the BIOS on this Intel 00:07:09.599 --> 00:07:15.199 motherboard is so poorly organized now okay okay sorry this is going to be a 00:07:13.520 --> 00:07:19.400 bit of a tangent but motherboard manufactures can you please figure your 00:07:17.599 --> 00:07:24.080 shiz out I mean we have this industrywide problem where every single 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:27.759 motherboard maker calls the exact same setting something ever so slightly 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:33.160 different and then puts it in a different place meaning even if you are 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.919 quite knowledgeable and not dumb and you know exactly what you're looking for 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:43.240 there's a solid chance you won't be able to find it we were easily able to figure 00:07:40.039 --> 00:07:46.000 out how to use app direct mode on Dell 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:50.680 super micro Lenovo and HP server boards since they had decent documentation but 00:07:48.039 --> 00:07:54.520 no not the Intel one we even called up Patrick from serve the home who 00:07:52.400 --> 00:07:59.199 literally wrote the guide on how to do this and he couldn't figure it out 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:03.280 either okay look at this Lis I'm going to go back to the main 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:11.360 menu we're looking for the memory controller spot where do you think that 00:08:07.960 --> 00:08:14.000 is well I would go to Advanced and then 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:18.560 I would probably go to memory configuration so this is why we needed 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:24.199 Emily to help us find it yes it is under PCI configuration um option ROM 00:08:21.840 --> 00:08:31.240 controller and that's where the memory controller is of course I can't believe 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:33.440 we didn't think of that Anyway by using 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:37.839 storage mode we're able to select how much of the optain we want to be 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:42.039 presented as an SSD and we can create volumes with it much like with a raid 00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:46.120 array with the maximum performance occurring when you interleave across 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:51.120 multiple optained dims that are operating on the same CPU which 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:56.959 essentially creates a raid zero array on opan now as you might have guessed this 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.079 does come with the risk of data loss so if you don't care as much about 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:04.440 performance you might want to mirror the data across both CPUs or I don't know 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:10.920 maybe just buy an SSD but all of that aside the coolest 00:09:08.079 --> 00:09:15.200 configuration is mixed mode this allows you to set a target for how much of your 00:09:13.040 --> 00:09:20.360 optain will be storage and how much will be RAM creating a Best of Both Worlds 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:26.000 situation where the BIOS handles all of the complex bits and you get both cheap 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:28.000 RAM and super low latency storage all 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:32.320 right what's your memory percentage goal what do you mean goal it's doesn't 00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:36.560 really do exact it just kind of gets close to the percentage that you want I 00:09:34.920 --> 00:09:41.279 think we all know the answer to that nice so we 00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:47.519 reboot need sorry seemed 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:48.680 mad okay all right no you don't seem mad 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:53.880 you seem rightfully like we need to discuss 00:09:51.600 --> 00:10:00.360 this come on come on create name space here we go there we go how about now 00:09:58.040 --> 00:10:05.040 there we go I love how surprised it is it's making a 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:08.560 YouTube thumbnail face speaking of which we're working on a really cool video now 00:10:06.760 --> 00:10:14.279 that YouTube has AB testing for thumbnails Maria is creating a like 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:18.600 cringe YouTuber face version of every thumbnail for a little bit and then just 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:22.480 like a nice relaxed one and then we're going to make a video about which ones 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:26.240 people actually prefer whatever they say they prefer it could change our 00:10:24.160 --> 00:10:30.920 thumbnail practices there we go all right okay what we're looking at right 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:37.360 now is our G Drive which is a conventional nbme SSD and our o Drive 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:42.880 which is our optain drive and this measure is seconds per transfer which is 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:45.440 essentially the latency of each operation on the drive now what we're 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:49.519 going to do is we're going to run Crystal disc mark on both of these 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:56.519 drives at the same time and 00:10:51.959 --> 00:11:04.120 theoretically yes yep the regular NVMe 00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:06.639 is way more which is bad o is opan opan 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:10.920 which makes sense because it barely even appears that's how low the latency of 00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:14.920 this is which doesn't matter for everything and in fact if we have a look 00:11:12.959 --> 00:11:20.760 at our Crystal dis Mark results it's not that fast in terms of 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:26.440 sequential transfer speeds it's just that it's really really responsive wow 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:33.000 we've done it we go okay we can actually see what the crap we're looking at now 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:36.000 here we go this is what we expect to see 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:40.240 all three tests are running right now 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:42.040 there we go yes and our SATA is much 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:45.639 higher in terms of latency not to mention that it can be very inconsistent 00:11:43.880 --> 00:11:52.360 see that initial Spike when we first hit it that's a yikes and while NVMe is a 00:11:48.880 --> 00:11:54.959 lot better it doesn't have that super 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:59.040 super flat line when all of them are running the same test that we see with 00:11:56.560 --> 00:12:04.440 optane where the latency is negligible which which can be a huge benefit for 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:08.000 certain applications and not terribly 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:11.200 important for others which is cool in 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.760 some cases really cool so then why does 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:19.199 optain no longer exist the answer is many many reasons 00:12:16.680 --> 00:12:25.240 the first and biggest problem is that optin arrived 2 years late it was 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:28.720 supposed to come with Skylake in 2017 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:29.959 with speeds that matched the ddr4 2666 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:36.079 that would be paired with those processors but obtaine didn't arrive 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:38.839 until Cascade Lake which used 2933 megat 00:12:36.079 --> 00:12:44.920 transfer per second dims that meant that by choosing optain you would be giving 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:47.760 up memory bandwidth to every application 00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:54.920 that doesn't need the extra capacity that is not ideal also in 2017 there was 00:12:52.240 --> 00:13:02.040 a global drram shortage as phones like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Google pixel and 00:12:57.839 --> 00:13:04.079 HTC1 M9 started using ddr4 while Samsung 00:13:02.040 --> 00:13:08.920 and Micron were struggling to ramp up production 16 gigs of RAM hit prices of 00:13:07.199 --> 00:13:14.199 over $200 that would have been a perfect 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:20.240 opportunity for an almost RAM product at a lower price except that by 2019 that 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:25.360 same 16 gigs of RAM was down to more like a hundo also remember how we 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:29.639 mentioned that each stick of obtained PM requires a stick of RAM to pair with it 00:13:27.560 --> 00:13:34.440 in order for it to work well yeah so companies that were looking 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:40.320 into optain they weren't just comparing the price of opan versus RAM they had to 00:13:36.880 --> 00:13:42.519 look at the cost of an optain module and 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:47.639 a stick of RAM compared to just getting two sticks of RAM that uh oh by the way 00:13:45.160 --> 00:13:53.199 are going to run faster Tom's Hardware has an article from 2019 about the 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:57.480 pricing quoting a single stick of this 00:13:53.199 --> 00:14:00.639 512 gig optain at a cool 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:04.399 $675 meaning that this server that we 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:07.800 casually lost when it was new had 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:11.360 $81,000 worth of optane in it that 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:15.240 sounds like a lot because it is but in 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:16.680 2019 a single stick of 128 gigs of ECC 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:21.959 memory was roughly $4500 meaning optain was only about 00:14:19.560 --> 00:14:26.839 onethird of the price so wait hold on a second that was in 2019 that still 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:32.240 sounds pretty good I mean the demo we just did looked pretty good optained for 00:14:29.199 --> 00:14:34.759 the win right well I do love your 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:39.880 optimism remember guys we spoiled the ending earlier and everyone dies but it 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:46.399 doesn't have to be a total loss there's maybe a valuable lesson here for the 00:14:41.880 --> 00:14:48.560 industry to maybe learn this time Intel 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:55.160 if you're listening and everyone you need to stop locking your products 00:14:51.920 --> 00:14:58.440 because I didn't buy enough of your 00:14:55.160 --> 00:15:00.680 products the Cascade Lake CPUs that did 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:06.199 eventually sh with obtaine had two variants a standard version and a large 00:15:03.880 --> 00:15:11.000 memory footprint version in the case of the Zeon plattinum 8260 that we've got 00:15:08.839 --> 00:15:16.360 in this server The Standard Version supported only 1 tab of RAM a number 00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:20.800 that's pretty easy to hit with regular old Dam meaning that if you wanted to 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:26.959 really take advantage of optane you needed the zeeon Platinum 8260 L well I 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:33.160 mean that's no problem right I mean how much more could it 00:15:30.560 --> 00:15:39.959 $3,400 oh yeah and since you're buying two of them it's an extra 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:43.399 $6800 before you buy a single flipping 00:15:39.959 --> 00:15:46.440 optane module can see why they used L as 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:48.120 the suffix for those adding insult to 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:53.720 injury you know what also happened between 2017 and 2019 while Intel was 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:59.600 struggling to get optane out of the door AMD launched epic Rome and then epic 00:15:56.560 --> 00:16:03.040 Milan featuring more cores more memory 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:05.279 channels support for four ttes of RAM 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:11.600 without a silly large memory footprint tax oh and by the way they were also 00:16:08.079 --> 00:16:14.199 cheaper this added up to not a whole lot 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:17.959 of people buying optane and Micron who owned the Fab where all the optane was 00:16:15.920 --> 00:16:23.839 being built finally said you know what enough is enough it was and still is a 00:16:20.920 --> 00:16:29.480 very cool technology but in 2021 Micron figured you know it be a lot cooler how 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:36.079 about not losing 400 million ion dollar a year so one year later Intel killed 00:16:33.079 --> 00:16:39.279 optain which um raises one interesting 00:16:36.079 --> 00:16:41.440 question why can you still buy it well 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:47.360 about that even though there hasn't been a Fab making the stuff for years now in 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:53.480 20122 Intel revealed that they still had over half a billion dollars of inventory 00:16:50.800 --> 00:16:58.120 left over and they haven't exactly been pushing it that hard I mean what is this 00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:01.880 pricing Intel do you want this on your books forever 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:08.280 there are some awesome closeout deals out there these 16 gig accelerators are 00:17:04.760 --> 00:17:10.400 amazing there are go-to drives for a DIY 00:17:08.280 --> 00:17:15.600 Network Appliance or a NZ because they're literally five bucks and opan 00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:20.120 features substantially more right endurance than nand which is great if 00:17:17.959 --> 00:17:24.919 you want to constantly retain and overwrite comprehensive system logs and 00:17:22.760 --> 00:17:29.880 this one on new egg is still among if not the best drive on the market even if 00:17:27.760 --> 00:17:34.320 it is starting to show its age in some ways for example it'll have outstanding 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:40.160 latency like we talked about before but it runs at a quarter the maximum speed 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:45.600 of a modern Gen 5 Drive which is a bit of a yikes so in 00:17:43.120 --> 00:17:50.600 conclusion Intel do you want this thing back we uh honestly really don't know 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:56.000 what to do with it but I do know how to segue to our sponsor delete me at LMG we 00:17:54.120 --> 00:17:59.280 generally believe that unless it gets you in trouble with the law what you do 00:17:57.720 --> 00:18:04.440 on the Internet is your your business and yours alone no judgment yes that 00:18:01.919 --> 00:18:08.360 means you too Ralph you're safe this time and delete me thinks the same so 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:12.520 that's why they make it their mission to keep your information from falling into 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:16.799 the wrong hands their software and expert squads scour the internet looking 00:18:14.840 --> 00:18:21.640 for your data and can sweep it away in a heartbeat your phone number popping up 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:23.880 in a cold caller list deleted your email 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:29.120 cced in a copypaste template telling you to click this link to lock your bank 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:31.679 account deleted delete me averages over 00:18:29.120 --> 00:18:35.240 2,000 data pieces gone for a customer in their first 2 years imagine doing all 00:18:33.919 --> 00:18:39.559 that manually yeah no thanks I I won't so 00:18:37.679 --> 00:18:44.840 head on over to the link below use code LT for 20% off a subscription and start 00:18:42.679 --> 00:18:47.840 locking your personal data down if you guys enjoyed this video maybe you 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:52.919 watched the old one where we originally unboxed this Beast it was a lot newer 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:55.919 and less dead then