Intel Optane SSD DC P5800X 800GB SSD Review

A Closer Look

As with most enterprise-oriented devices, Intel’s Optane SSD DC P5800X comes in a simple clamshell pack with a label covering much of it.

Two security seals hold the clamshell together, but there is little else to see.

The Optane P5800X drive looks similar to previous models. Your typical 2.5” enterprise drive at 15mm thick with most of the top aluminum shell used as a heatsink. A blacked-out Optane logo sits along the top.

The main label sits on the bottom of the drive and has a LOT of information on it.

Like most NVMe based drives, the P5800X uses a standard SFF-8639 ‘U.2’ connector which carries a PCIe x4 connection.

On the opposite end of the drive, a small connector is hidden that we have no information for. It might be some sort of debug port and may or may not exist on retail channel drives.

Two screws hidden under the Optane label give us access to the internals. We see four flash memory chips on top with room for another three, plus two pads that look like they could be for DRAM modules. The memory chips and some power circuitry pass heat to the aluminum drive case via thermal pads.

We were unable to find any information about the memory modules used based on the part numbers printed on them.

Intel’s SLNBF controller can be found on the lower side of the PCB along with four more memory modules, 3 more blank pads, and two more DRAM pads. The lack of DRAM is not surprising in the least as Optane can write any bit directly without the need to erase or alter any other data. Finding provisions for four DRAM modules on the PCB is a surprise and makes us wonder what Intel could be cooking up.

Intel’s SLNBF controller is a new 8-channel controller that has the chops to fully saturate the PCIe 4.0 x4 bus. Previous generations used Intel’s SLL3D 7-channel controller.

Another chip sits near the main controller and connector that we suspect handles power delivery and related functions.