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Computex 2017: VROC Technology Passing 10 GB/sec with M2
One of the things at Computex that popped out a bit is the new Intel VROC technology (Virtual RAID On CPU) that can be used with certain X299 motherboards and Skylake processors.
While the idea is nice, the implementation, not so much.Basically what you are going to see are VROC add-in cards, these PCBs can house up-to eight M2 units and reach silly performance in RAID mode over a full X16 PCI-Express link.
To use the unit it defaults toward software RAID (which eats away CPU cycles) and we noticed roughly 20% CPU utilization on a 10-core part (so that is using two CPU cores 100%).
Now here where things go wrong and where you can see the Intel greed, hardware raid is on-board and is an option. You can unlock hardware RAID through a physical unlock key that you will need to plug into the (compatible) motherboard. You can purchase to keys, one will unlock RAID 0/1 for mirroring and striping. The RAID 0/1 solution will be expensive and starts at 150 USD. So you purchase the board, then the M2 units and then if you like to have the hardware RAID options (which is already on-board) need to purchase a key that unlocks this.
For RAID 5/10 you need to pay roughly 250 USD for the corresponding unlock key. We'll post more info later. Granted, you can hit ludicrous speeds with enough capacity for overflowing game libraries. There’s another catch, these will only with with Skylake-X processors, Kaby-lake –X does not support VROC.
Tagged as:
Computex 2017
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lantian
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Senior Member
Posts: 296
Joined: 2013-08-16
#5439275 Posted on: 06/05/2017 10:32 AM
I am betting in the chipset on the mobo.
I am betting in the chipset on the mobo.
CDJay
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Joined: 2009-08-22
Senior Member
Posts: 130
Joined: 2009-08-22
#5439278 Posted on: 06/05/2017 10:39 AM
No, it's on the CPU itself ( "Virtual RAID On CPU" ) which is why Kaby Lake-X doesn't support it on the same mobo.
I hadn't realised that the default unlocked RAID 0 was software based, that's interesting.
You won't necessarily need to buy one of these cards, some of the mobos have DIMM.2 slots next to the RAM slots which have direct CPU access for 2 M2 (Intel Only) SSDs.
So to get hardware accelerated RAID 0 you'd need 2x Intel 600p drives, and the unlock key. Not cheap, but not crazy expensive either. There aren't really enough native lanes, IMO, at this point. You'd want at least 52 lanes so you don't need to choose (example: SLI + Hyper M2 = compromised. GPU + Red Rocket X + Hyper M2 = compromised).
CDJay
No, it's on the CPU itself ( "Virtual RAID On CPU" ) which is why Kaby Lake-X doesn't support it on the same mobo.
I hadn't realised that the default unlocked RAID 0 was software based, that's interesting.
You won't necessarily need to buy one of these cards, some of the mobos have DIMM.2 slots next to the RAM slots which have direct CPU access for 2 M2 (Intel Only) SSDs.
So to get hardware accelerated RAID 0 you'd need 2x Intel 600p drives, and the unlock key. Not cheap, but not crazy expensive either. There aren't really enough native lanes, IMO, at this point. You'd want at least 52 lanes so you don't need to choose (example: SLI + Hyper M2 = compromised. GPU + Red Rocket X + Hyper M2 = compromised).
CDJay
ieskorp
Junior Member
Posts: 9
Joined: 2008-07-10
Junior Member
Posts: 9
Joined: 2008-07-10
#5439290 Posted on: 06/05/2017 11:40 AM
No, it's on the CPU itself ( "Virtual RAID On CPU" ) which is why Kaby Lake-X doesn't support it on the same mobo.
I hadn't realised that the default unlocked RAID 0 was software based, that's interesting.
You won't necessarily need to buy one of these cards, some of the mobos have DIMM.2 slots next to the RAM slots which have direct CPU access for 2 M2 (Intel Only) SSDs.
So to get hardware accelerated RAID 0 you'd need 2x Intel 600p drives, and the unlock key. Not cheap, but not crazy expensive either. There aren't really enough native lanes, IMO, at this point. You'd want at least 52 lanes so you don't need to choose (example: SLI + Hyper M2 = compromised. GPU + Red Rocket X + Hyper M2 = compromised).
CDJay
Looking forward to the x399 AMD thread ripper benchmarks. Plenty of lanes there on all Thread ripper cpu variants. Intel have dropped a clanger, only the 7900 ($999 ) and upwards will have 44 lanes. Competition is a wonderful thing.
No, it's on the CPU itself ( "Virtual RAID On CPU" ) which is why Kaby Lake-X doesn't support it on the same mobo.
I hadn't realised that the default unlocked RAID 0 was software based, that's interesting.
You won't necessarily need to buy one of these cards, some of the mobos have DIMM.2 slots next to the RAM slots which have direct CPU access for 2 M2 (Intel Only) SSDs.
So to get hardware accelerated RAID 0 you'd need 2x Intel 600p drives, and the unlock key. Not cheap, but not crazy expensive either. There aren't really enough native lanes, IMO, at this point. You'd want at least 52 lanes so you don't need to choose (example: SLI + Hyper M2 = compromised. GPU + Red Rocket X + Hyper M2 = compromised).
CDJay
Looking forward to the x399 AMD thread ripper benchmarks. Plenty of lanes there on all Thread ripper cpu variants. Intel have dropped a clanger, only the 7900 ($999 ) and upwards will have 44 lanes. Competition is a wonderful thing.
Zeka
Member
Posts: 68
Joined: 2016-09-27
Member
Posts: 68
Joined: 2016-09-27
#5439343 Posted on: 06/05/2017 02:09 PM
Another overly expensive technology from Intel that will be used in 0.001% of sold computers. I know there's never enough bandwidth and speed, but to me it looks like VERY expensive (compatible board, x cpu, m2 units and key) technology with serious drawbacks (cpu load).
Another overly expensive technology from Intel that will be used in 0.001% of sold computers. I know there's never enough bandwidth and speed, but to me it looks like VERY expensive (compatible board, x cpu, m2 units and key) technology with serious drawbacks (cpu load).
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I didn't completely get it - where is the RADI controller itself?
In CPU? Or somewhere on Motherboard?