This document analyzes storage solutions for a server configuration based on capacity, performance, price, and power requirements. It compares the performance and cost of HDDs, SSDs, PCIe SSDs, and DDR storage. The analysis shows that SATA SSDs have improved over the last 3 years and can now meet the performance needs of most common usage models at a lower cost and power than other options. PCIe SSDs remain beneficial only for workloads with very high write percentages. Overall, SATA SSDs provide the best balance of performance, price, and low power for most server storage needs.

1. Storage media solution
"including pricing as a factor"
Tony Roug
Rougs.com LLC
Storage Technology Consulting
August 15, 2013

2. Where does pricing fit?
• Storage decision are
driven by
– Capacity
– Performance
– Price
• In a world of many
technologies and usage
models
– what's a simple
visualization of the
above
– propose best price
tradeoff for single
server configs
Rougs.com LLC Copyright
HDDSSDPCIe SSDDDR
or or or
or
What's the low cost
for a Performance/Capacity
requirement
assumes a "commodity" model for storage hardware

3. Configuration
• Server configuration
– Basic SuperMicro 1U and 2U rack
23.5" server
– processor/board: Xeon E5 C600
Chipset – Single and Dual
– drive slots: 1U - 10, 2U –
24, assume possible for either 2.5
or 3.5 (i.e. HDDs.)
– PCIe slots: 1U – 2, 2U – 4, only
consider half height, half width
– DDR: up to 1TB per server
– All configurations forced to single
server
– Servers Direct Pricing
• SATA/SAS HDDs
– Seagate 15K/10K and 7.2K SATA
– Servers Direct pricing
– IOPS based on rotational speed
• SATA SSDs:
– SATA SSDs (Intel)
– Amazon and NewEgg pricing
– Spec sheet 4K random
performance
• PCIe SSD:
– Intel 910, Amazon Pricing
– No Fusion because no public price
or performance info
• DDR DRAM:
– Kinston
– Servers Direct Pricing
– Spec Sheet performance
• Notes/Assumptions
– IOPS Performance scales linearly as
drives are added
– No extra drives for reliability or
availability
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4. Base data for price calculation
Rougs.com LLC Copyright
July 16, 2013
July 8, 2010
In this case all data based on spec sheets and web pricing

5. Random 4K 90% Read, 10% Write
Workloads: TPC-E
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100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD X25M X25M DC X25E DDR
July 16, 2013July 8, 2010
PCIE SSD
Opportunity
PCIe opportunity in 2010 – reduced # drives and performance
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 512 2048 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR
TPC-E target for
DB size

6. Random 4K 70% Read, 30% Write
Workloads: TPC-C
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100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD X25M X25M DC X25E DDR
TPC-C target for
DB size
July 16, 2013July 8, 2010
PCIE SSD
Opportunity
PCIe card opportunity in 2010 – reduced # drives and performance
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR

7. Random 4K 100% Read
workloads: boot/VDI, digital content, Hadoop
Rougs.com LLC Copyright
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 512 2048 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD X25M X25M DC X25E DDR
July 16, 2013July 8, 2010
Typical 100%
read workload
No opportunity for PCIe SSDs in 2010 or today
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 512 2048 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR

8. Random 4K 100% Write
Workloads: FSI trading, DB Logging
Rougs.com LLC Copyright
July 16, 2013July 8, 2010
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 512 2048 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD X25M X25M DC X25E DDR
PCIE SSD
Opportunity
PCIe SSD filled opportunity hole in 2010, performance and reduced number of
drives
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR

9. Random 4K 60% Read, 40% Write
Workloads: CDN Web Caching
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100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 512 2048 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD X25M X25M DC X25E DDR
July 16, 2013July 8, 2010
Typical workload
area
Opportunity for CDN covered by SSDs in 2010
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 512 2048 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR

10. Choosing lowest power versus price
HDDSSDPCIe SSDDDR
or or or
What's the low power
for a Performance/Capacity
requirement

11. Random 4K 70% Read, 30% Write
Comparing selecting on price versus power
Power - July 16, 2013
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
PeakIOPS
Total App Gig Required
SATA HDD SAS HDD Intel 3500 Intel 3700 Intel 910 DDR
Power - July 16, 2013
When focused on just power, SSDs almost always beat HDDs and DDR

12. Summary
• For a simple study on spec price/performance
• Commercial SATA SSDs have significantly improved in
3 years
• Can cover most of the common usage cases
• For typical usage models, performance of SATA
SSD seems largely good enough
• For typical usage models, SATA SSD seem to be
the lowest power for almost all usage models