WEBVTT

00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:06.160
when it launched in 2017 optane memory

00:00:03.760 --> 00:00:11.920
this little module here was positioned as enabling SSD-like performance on a

00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:16.160
hard drive but only for a boot drive a significant

00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:21.439
limitation because the supported motherboards were so new that it was

00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:28.160
likely they'd already be running an SSD for their os anyway so the technology

00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:30.960
worked well but the value proposition

00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:35.680
for enthusiasts like me in particular was a little tough to find which is why

00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:40.960
when Intel reached out about doing a sponsored video on optane we said

00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:47.039
sorry we're legitimately hashtag out of ideas unless you guys could add support

00:00:44.559 --> 00:00:50.800
for accelerating like a secondary game drive or something well funny story they

00:00:49.760 --> 00:00:59.160
did it so we made a lightning fast 12 terabyte

00:00:54.559 --> 00:00:59.160
steam drive on the cheap

00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:11.280
all right so for the uninitiated 3d crosspoint is a non-volatile memory

00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:15.119
technology jointly developed by Intel and micron what makes it different from

00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.759
the nand flash that you'd find in a typical SSD is its much higher endurance

00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:25.920
that is how many times you can write to it and it's much lower latency with a

00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:33.840
price that's comfortably in between RAM and nand flash so the idea here is that

00:01:29.759 --> 00:01:35.439
even though our 32 Gigabyte module is

00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:40.479
only point two percent

00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:43.600
of the capacity of our 12 terabyte drive

00:01:40.479 --> 00:01:46.960
here its read speeds and in particular

00:01:43.600 --> 00:01:50.240
its access latency should give even a

00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:52.720
really large storage drive like this SSD

00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:58.960
like performance because the files that need to get accessed all the time aren't

00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:01.119
actually that big so as a baseline then

00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:07.040
we're gonna start by testing game loading times off of two standalone

00:02:03.600 --> 00:02:09.840
drives a hard drive and a high capacity

00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.840
SSD

00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:15.760
in this corner we've got seagate's

00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:21.599
barracuda pro 12 terabyte hard drive boasting a sustained

00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:29.760
transfer rate of 250 megabytes per second and a humongous 256 megabyte cash

00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:34.560
man that's like the same amount of RAM as my first pc

00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:40.160
and in the opposite corner we've got the 3.84

00:02:36.239 --> 00:02:42.160
terabyte pm863assd

00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:48.080
coming straight out of samsung with vnandflash up to 520 megabytes per

00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:54.720
second sequential reads and four gigabytes of cash it doesn't have the

00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:58.959
best dollar per gig ratio but this is a

00:02:54.720 --> 00:03:00.640
battle of the heavyweights

00:02:58.959 --> 00:03:06.400
yeah yeah okay sorry i'll stop this shtick now

00:03:04.480 --> 00:03:12.080
before starting our tests we picked a handful of games that would be

00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:14.800
impractical to store on a dedicated SSD

00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:20.400
unless you're a mega baller gta 5 fallout 4 witcher 3 and deus ex they all

00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:25.280
take up a ton of space then we maxed out the in-game graphics settings and loaded

00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:29.360
a pre-leveled save game with a few dozen mods loaded into skyrim to simulate a

00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:34.159
more realistic scenario for anyone who's still playing skyrim we used assassin's

00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:38.640
creed origins discovery mode load times and the first level of the campaign in

00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:43.440
for honor each set was run three times with reboots in between we also did

00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:49.599
three back-to-back sets with the hard drive without rebooting to see what

00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:52.000
effect its huge cash would have

00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:54.799
so we didn't see anything unexpected overall

00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:01.519
but what was cool was that the large cash built right into this drive does seem to

00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:06.400
have an effect on its loading times in some of the titles as long as the system

00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:11.599
doesn't get rebooted in between this could be a really good sign for our

00:04:08.959 --> 00:04:17.919
opt-in accelerated drive because unlike a cache built into the drive the data

00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:21.280
stays on it in between boots

00:04:17.919 --> 00:04:24.000
and with the exception of witcher 3 and

00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:29.919
for honor the load times of our combined solution tanked below that of a bare

00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:34.960
hard drive but there's nothing unexpected here like accelerating a boot

00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:40.720
drive it's the nature of the caching beast that before it's had a chance to

00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:43.759
analyze the data it'll perform the same

00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:47.960
or maybe even worse so

00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:51.680
let's give this a reboot and do it again

00:04:47.960 --> 00:04:55.199
interesting so as it turns out it only

00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:58.800
took a second run for our hard drive

00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:02.240
optane combo to drop its loading times

00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:06.160
in every title except for witcher 3 to

00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:08.960
the same or faster levels than a regular

00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:14.720
SSD so we are actually going to have to reboot one more time and see if this

00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:19.199
continues during our third run the already impressive results

00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:25.120
stayed about the same with assassin's creed dropping below SSD level load

00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:27.759
times and then even gta 5 showing a

00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:33.120
slight improvement so this is really cool we can see a couple

00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:38.560
of things at play here so first of all the cache is working

00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:41.440
second it does work across reboots and

00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:45.840
third there is a big advantage to running it like this over even just

00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:51.680
having a bigger dram cache on your hard drive because it's so big it can hold

00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:55.680
enough data to cache multiple modern titles so even if you're not the

00:05:53.919 --> 00:05:59.919
kind of person who just plays the same couple of games over and over you can

00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:04.560
still benefit from it but will every gamer benefit

00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:09.039
so we did a few more runs with reboots in between in order to find out and we

00:06:06.960 --> 00:06:14.639
found some interesting things here some games continue to improve and actually

00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:19.840
widen their gap from a dedicated SSD while some games don't scale at all so

00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:25.919
how about the value proposition then well while your typical SATA SSD from a

00:06:22.880 --> 00:06:28.160
reputable brand comes in at about 300

00:06:25.919 --> 00:06:33.199
per terabyte a combination of a seagate hard drive and an optane module comes

00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:39.600
down to as low as 38 dollars per terabyte for legit SSD grade performance

00:06:37.280 --> 00:06:44.800
at least in all of the tests that we ran this is somewhat offset by the fact that

00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:48.080
accelerating a second drive requires an

00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:50.800
8th gen Intel core processor and 300

00:06:48.080 --> 00:06:55.280
series chipset as opposed to 7th gen and 200 series for primary drive

00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:00.240
acceleration but it is something for anyone who is running that platform to

00:06:57.919 --> 00:07:05.120
keep in mind so thanks Intel for allowing data drive caching now i can go

00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:09.360
back to the satisfying sound of hard drive clickety clicks without giving up

00:07:06.880 --> 00:07:13.599
speed this is something that i have been asking for since optane launched i even

00:07:12.080 --> 00:07:18.560
asked about it when i attended the pre-launch briefing because it makes so

00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:23.039
much more sense for enthusiasts because for your os you can buy a full-blown SSD

00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:27.280
or if you're that hardcore and obtain 900p and run the whole thing in octane

00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:31.520
rather than using caching but it's just not cost effective for a game drive

00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:36.960
where you can easily have multiple terabytes of files that you only access

00:07:33.919 --> 00:07:38.240
once in a while or in some cases never

00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:44.800
humble bundle sorry excuse me it's also worth noting that aside from

00:07:42.080 --> 00:07:49.840
games file search times improved though with that said i'm not sure if i would

00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:53.520
get one of our writers to use my photo library as a test case for this next

00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:57.919
time around so thanks for watching guys if you disliked this video you know what to do

00:07:56.400 --> 00:08:03.199
but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in

00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.319
the video description also down there is our merch store which has cool shirts

00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:10.879
like this one i'm not sure if this one will still be there it's limited edition but um

00:08:09.599 --> 00:08:15.280
also linked in the video description is our community forum which you should totally join