Memblaze PBlaze7 7940 30.72 TB

[GabrielLP14]

The Memblaze 7940 30.72 TB is among the most efficient Gen 5 enterprise SSDs we’ve tested, offering strong performance and low latencies. While it doesn’t lead in every benchmark, it’s still one of the fastest high-capacity TLC drives we've reviewed, delivering great real-world speed, solid efficiency, and strong value for enterprise use.

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[FreedomEclipse]

They call it the 'Memblaze' because the price tag would set the average wallet on fire.

 

[R-T-B]

They call it the 'Memblaze' because the price tag would set the average wallet on fire.

At a "price per GB" it's actually quite low. I would consider it had my storage choices not already been made.

At any rate, the PCB and component breakdown of this review was of particular excellence. Solid review.

 

[GabrielLP14]

At a "price per GB" it's actually quite low. I would consider it had my storage choices not already been made.

At any rate, the PCB and component breakdown of this review was of particular excellence. Solid review.

Thanks buddy

Yes its not a "cheap" SSD but for the enterprise/server world the actual cost for a TLC drive is not bad, considering the other TLC alternativies are more expensive.

 

[Chrispy_]

Throw a few of these into a TrueNAS server and you basically have on-prem production storage with all of the crucial features an SMB needs at 1/20th the cost of the HPE/Dell/NetApp solutions.

 

[EnviousFrog]

What U.2 adapter is used with the MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk Max Wifi? That motherboard does not support U.2 drives out of the box and the test setup page does not specify. The choice of adapter can affect the test results. Also, why did you choose a consumer motherboard to test enterprise hardware?

 

[R-T-B]

What U.2 adapter is used with the MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk Max Wifi? That motherboard does not support U.2 drives out of the box and the test setup page does not specify. The choice of adapter can affect the test results. Also, why did you choose a consumer motherboard to test enterprise hardware?

Probably because consumer hardware is what most of our userbase considering this would be running.

That said, agree, adapter details would be wonderful.

 

[GabrielLP14]

What U.2 adapter is used with the MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk Max Wifi? That motherboard does not support U.2 drives out of the box and the test setup page does not specify. The choice of adapter can affect the test results. Also, why did you choose a consumer motherboard to test enterprise hardware?

I wish i had enterprise grade hardware, the issue for me is availability, in Brazil there are no platforms like LGA-4677 available, and importing would be literally almost 3x the price.... so its not feasible for me atm although it would be perfect for me, maybe in the future
So i had to improvise using this one....
For the U.2 i'm using one Memblaze sent me and i also have one that Phison sent me over, both Gen5.

Probably because consumer hardware is what most of our userbase considering this would be running.

That said, agree, adapter details would be wonderful.

Its their own U.2 adaptor, idk exactly which model it is

 

[mechtech]

30720 GB (28611 GB usable) 7% over provisioning

~2TB lol ouch

~30TB/$3600 = ~$120/TB not too bad

 

[GabrielLP14]

30720 GB (28611 GB usable) 7% over provisioning

~2TB lol ouch

~30TB/$3600 = ~$120/TB not too bad

Yeah pretty much it hahaha

 

[EnviousFrog]

For the U.2 i'm using one Memblaze sent me and i also have one that Phison sent me over, both Gen5.


Its their own U.2 adaptor, idk exactly which model it is

Can you please ask Memblaze and Phison to clarify which U.2 adapter they sent you?

U.2 storage devices do go on sale at discounted prices when datacenters refresh their hardware.

 

[R-T-B]

For the U.2 i'm using one Memblaze sent me and i also have one that Phison sent me over, both Gen5.

Straight to a pci-e slot or a m.2 pci-e converter?

 

[Fluke]

I've been looking for ages for a 16TB SSD.

Kingston just dropped ze DC3000ME, which runs at PCiE Gen 5 speeds, instantly claiming 2nd place sporting 98€/TB.
The only more affordable choice right now is Western Digital SN655 @ 92€/TB.

You'd think 16TB SSDs are cheaper than 2TB models because you only need one controller, advances in layer stacking and sheer volume discount.
But no, the DC3000ME and SN655 are still a far cry from reasonable pricing. The best bang/buck is still stuck at 2TB with ~63€/TB (e.g. Kioxia Exceria or WD SN850X)

 

[GabrielLP14]

Straight to a pci-e slot or a m.2 pci-e converter?

Straight at the PCIe 5.0 x16 slot

Can you please ask Memblaze and Phison to clarify which U.2 adapter they sent you?

U.2 storage devices do go on sale at discounted prices when datacenters refresh their hardware.

I just asked, as soon as i get a reply i'll post let you know here

I've been looking for ages for a 16TB SSD.

Kingston just dropped ze DC3000ME, which runs at PCiE Gen 5 speeds, instantly claiming 2nd place sporting 98€/TB.
The only more affordable choice right now is Western Digital SN655 @ 92€/TB.

You'd think 16TB SSDs are cheaper than 2TB models because you only need one controller, advances in layer stacking and sheer volume discount.
But no, the DC3000ME and SN655 are still a far cry from reasonable pricing. The best bang/buck is still stuck at 2TB with ~63€/TB (e.g. Kioxia Exceria or WD SN850X)

Interesting, also that Kingston drive its the same design as this one here the Memblaze 7940, same controller and Flash

@EnviousFrog they specifically told me that that specific adaptor was designed and engineered in-house and are only used for R&D and testing, it's not for sale.

However there are great quality ones for sale, e.g. Serial Cable's PCIe Gen5 x4 to U.2 Vertical Adapter although they're excellent in quality, price is insanely High, over $715.

 

[KLMR]

Nice review,
to put some perspective, here a 1TB 990pro its 120€ and 4TB 990pro its about 300€ (all raw numbers) so a 30TB for that price, as other people stated, given the niche* market and the capacity density its not bad.

I see potential for load/unload simulations and for simulation optimizers where you want to save everything. The same it saves loading/unloading could potentially compensate the downtimes in the compute units and in the technician analysis.

 

[GabrielLP14]

Nice review,
to put some perspective, here a 1TB 990pro its 120€ and 4TB 990pro its about 300€ (all raw numbers) so a 30TB for that price, as other people stated, given the niche* market and the capacity density its not bad.

I see potential for load/unload simulations and for simulation optimizers where you want to save everything. The same it saves loading/unloading could potentially compensate the downtimes in the compute units and in the technician analysis.

Thanks, i'm glad you liked it

 

[Deesider]

It would be interesting to see how this drive (and other enterprise drive) fares on the comparative benchmark used for the consumer drives.

- At least it would give some indication as to whether there are any benefits for consumer workloads.

 

[Bwaze]

I've been looking for ages for a 16TB SSD.

Kingston just dropped ze DC3000ME, which runs at PCiE Gen 5 speeds, instantly claiming 2nd place sporting 98€/TB.
The only more affordable choice right now is Western Digital SN655 @ 92€/TB.

You'd think 16TB SSDs are cheaper than 2TB models because you only need one controller, advances in layer stacking and sheer volume discount.
But no, the DC3000ME and SN655 are still a far cry from reasonable pricing. The best bang/buck is still stuck at 2TB with ~63€/TB (e.g. Kioxia Exceria or WD SN850X)

This drive has been offered for 530 EUR several times in recent weeks, right now it:s 570 EUR (but from an Ebay store), so only about 70 EUR / TB!

Western Digital WD BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD 8TB, M.2 2280

But we're still far from all the new lower cost drives they were announced... Quite a lot of times in the last half a decade.

Remember, we're living in an unprecedented era where maximum capacity consumer drives haven't increased for 5 years - I couldn't imagine such a stagnation in the past.

But apparently it's our fault, because we weren't buying 8 TB drives when they were 1000 EUR, so naturally we don't offer enough profit, and industry moved to cater to server / cloud / LLM rather than consumer sector.

 

[Fluke]

Yeah, I've seen ze 8TB SN850X, but you still need two of them (plus two free M2 slots) to achieve 16TB.

 

[Bwaze]

We're further away from 16 TB consumer drives than we were in mid 2020 when Samsung launched 8 TB 870 QVO SATA drives.

All the announcements from previous years on how the next leap in fabrication will improve price per TB, maximum capacity etc. are now off, companies are focussing on enterprise and dismissing the consumer sector's diminishing revenue.

 

[GabrielLP14]

It would be interesting to see how this drive (and other enterprise drive) fares on the comparative benchmark used for the consumer drives.

- At least it would give some indication as to whether there are any benefits for consumer workloads.

i can run it but i dont have any spare 8TB consumer drive at the moments, both i have are mission critical in my NAS