Today Marvell is asserting the primary NVMe SSD controllers to help PCIe 5.0, and a brand new branding technique for Marvell’s storage controllers. The new SSD controllers are the primary beneath the umbrella of Marvell’s Bravera model, which can even embody HDD controllers and different storage accelerator merchandise. The Bravera SC5 household of PCIe 5.Zero SSD controllers will encompass two controller fashions: the 8-channel MV-SS1331 and the 16-channel MV-SS1333.
| Marvell Bravera SC5 SSD Controllers | ||||||
| MV-SS1331 | MV-SS1333 | |||||
| Host Interface | PCIe 5.Zero x4 (dual-port x2+x2 succesful) | |||||
| NAND Interface | 8ch, 1600 MT/s | 16ch, 1600 MT/s | ||||
| DRAM | DDR4-3200, LPDDR4x-4266 with ECC | |||||
| Sequential Read | 14 GB/s | |||||
| Sequential Write | 9 GB/s | |||||
| Random Read | 2 M IOPS | |||||
| Random Write | 1 M IOPS | |||||
| Max Controller Power | 8.7 W | 9.Eight W | ||||
| Virtualization | 16 Physical Functions, 32 Virtual Functions | |||||
These new SSD controllers roughly double the efficiency accessible from PCIe 4.Zero SSDs, that means sequential learn throughput hits 14 GB/s and random learn efficiency of round 2M IOPS. To attain this stage of efficiency whereas staying inside the energy and thermal limits of widespread enterprise SSD kind components, Marvell has had to enhance energy effectivity by 40% over their earlier era SSD controllers. That goes past the development that may be gained merely from smaller fab course of nodes, so Marvell has needed to considerably alter the structure of their controllers. The Bravera SC5 controllers nonetheless embrace a mixture of Arm cores (Cortex-R8, Cortex-M7 and a Cortex-M3), however now contains way more fixed-function {hardware} to deal with the fundamental duties of the controller with excessive throughput and persistently low latency.
Such an architectural shift usually means sacrificing flexibility, however Marvell does not count on that to be an issue thanks largely to the Open Compute Project’s Cloud SSD specs. Those requirements transcend the NVMe spec and outline which elective options must be carried out, plus goal efficiency and energy ranges for various kind components. The Cloud SSD specs have been initially a collaboration between Microsoft and Facebook however have caught on within the broader market and even have the help of conventional enterprise server distributors like Dell and HP. This permits controller distributors like Marvell and SSD producers to extra narrowly focus their product growth efforts, and to focus on a wider vary of shoppers with a single {hardware} and firmware platform. In spite of the shift towards extra fastened {hardware} performance, the Bravera SC5 controllers nonetheless help a variety of options together with NVMe Zoned Namespaces (ZNS), Open Channel SSDs and Kioxia’s Software-Enabled Flash mannequin.
In addition to being the primary accessible PCIe 5.Zero SSD controllers, the Bravera SC5 household contains the primary 16-channel controller designed to suit on the EDSFF E1.S kind issue, utilizing a controller bundle measurement of 20×20 mm with peak controller energy of 9.Eight W. The new controllers are at present sampling to pick prospects, with the choice of utilizing Marvell’s firmware or creating customized firmware.
