Kingston DC3000ME 7.68TB Datacenter SSD Review - A Worthy Contender

TweakTown Rating: 93%

Our Verdict

Kingston's DC3000ME Gen5 Datacenter SSD is a capable and worthy option for your enterprise storage needs.

Pros

• Availability
• Write performance
• Consistency

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

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Introduction and Drive Details

Kingston, the world's largest fabless memory company, is tossing its hat into the PCIe Gen5 enterprise storage space with the launch of its DC3000ME Series. This move by Kingston is certainly a welcome one as it offers immediate availability for enterprises that have a hard time or long waits sourcing equivalent SSDs from leading storage manufacturers, such as Samsung, Solidigm, or Micron.

Kingston describes its newest as follows: Kingston's DC3000ME U.2 data center SSD features a high-speed PCIe 5.0 NVMe interface and utilizes 3D eTLC NAND, making it well suited for a wide range of server applications such as AI, HPC, OLTP, databases, cloud infrastructure, and edge computing. The DC3000ME includes onboard power loss protection to safeguard data in the event of sudden power loss and AES 256-bit encryption for ultimate data security. DC3000ME utilizes the latest high-speed PCIe 5.0 interface and is backward-compatible with PCIe 4.0 servers and backplanes.

Like all of Kingston's datacenter SSDs, DC3000ME is designed to deliver I/O consistency and low latency as the key design criteria that system integrators, hyperscale data centers, and cloud service providers can depend on. The DC3000ME is offered in 3.84TB, 7.68TB, and 15.36TB capacities and is backed by Kingston's legendary technical support and a 5-year limited warranty.

This SSD stands out as one of the most readily available of its kind in current circulation, so let's get into the review and find out exactly what the DC3000ME 7.68TB enterprise SSD can do for you by the numbers.

Specs/Comparison Products

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Kingston DC3000ME 7.68TB PCIe Gen5 x4 U.2 SSD

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Kingston's DC3000ME Series is available at capacity points ranging from 3.84TB to 15.36TB in the 15mm 2.5-inch U.2 form factor. The drive we have in hand is 7.68TB - Marvell Bravera SC5 16-channel controlled and arrayed with 232-Layer Micron B58R eTLC flash. These SSDs are compatible with major operating systems such as RHEL, SLES, CentOS, Ubuntu, Windows Server, and VMware ESXi.

Test System Specs & Enterprise Testing Methodology

Enterprise SSD Test System

Prior to the AI revolution, datacenter SSDs' normal operating range would typically never exceed QD32. With AI data pipeline storage being directed by GPU, high queue depth performance has become paramount. Queue depths in the thousands are now commonplace, which is why we've changed our test platform, methodology, and operating system. Our charted upper queue depth range has been revised from QD256 to QD4096 for random data and up to QD1024 for sequential testing.

Testing Methodology

TweakTown strictly adheres to industry-accepted Enterprise Solid State Storage testing procedures. Each test we perform repeats the same sequence of the following steps:

1. Secure Erase SSD
2. Write the entire capacity of SSD 2x (2 loops) with 128KB sequential write data, seamlessly transition to the next step (sequential testing skips step 3)
3. Precondition SSD by filling the drive twice with 4K or 8K random writes
4. Run test-specific workload with a 30-second ramp up for 5 minutes at each measured Queue Depth, and record average result

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Benchmarks - Sequential

128K Sequential Write/Read

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We precondition the drive using 100 percent sequential 128K writes at QD256 using 1-thread for 2-drive fills, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state and to verify steady-state is in effect as we seamlessly transition into testing at queue depth. A steady-state is achieved after 1-drive fill. Average steady-state 128K sequential write performance at QD256 is approximately 10,500 MB/s.

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Kingston specs its DC3000ME 7.68TB SSD as capable of delivering up to 10,000 MB/s 128K sequential write throughput. We are getting up to 10,600 MB/s, so the factory spec seems to be on the conservative side. The drive shares a common hardware configuration with the FlumeIO 5900 and the Memblaze P7946, both of which perform almost identically with our test subject here.

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Here, the drive is factory spec'd for up to 14,000 MB/s 128K sequential read throughput. We are hitting up to 14,175 MB/s, so the factory spec is spot on. The performance curve here is excellent; our DC3000ME test subject delivers more than we've encountered before at QD2-4. Impressive. Additionally, we will note that here, we prefer its performance curve to that of the FlumeIO 5900 and the Memblaze P7946.

Benchmarks - Random

4K Random Write/Read

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We precondition the drive using 100 percent random 4K writes at QD256 for 2-drive fills, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state and to verify steady-state is in effect as we seamlessly transition into testing at queue depth. A steady-state is achieved after 1-drive fill. Average steady-state 4K random write performance at QD256 is approximately 510K IOPS. The pattern observed here is exactly what we love to see. Its tight and consistent pattern attests to its high QOS design. Impressive.

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Our 7.68TB contender is rated at up to 500K for 4K random write IOPS. We are getting up to 528K, so again, this is excellent. As the chart demonstrates, our test subject delivers incredibly well for a 1-DWPD SSD. In fact, on the top end, it's the best we've encountered to date for a 1-DWPD SSD. Impressive.

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Factory spec here is up to 2,800K IOPS at QD512. We are getting 2,742K IOPS at QD512 with our configuration. This is identical to that of the FlumeIO 5900 7.68TB, as is its entire performance curve.

4K 7030

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Here, our 7.68TB contender is yet again delivering an identical performance curve to that of the FlumeIO 5900. At higher queue depths, our test subject goes from just average to exceptional. In fact, among the best we've recorded for a 1-DWPD SSD.

4K 5050

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Exactly what we witnessed at 4K 7030, its performance curve is virtually identical to that of the FlumeIO 5900. At higher queue depths, our test subject goes from just average to exceptional. Again, this is among the best we've recorded for a 1-DWPD SSD.

8K Random Write/Read

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We precondition the drive using 100 percent random 8K writes at QD256 for 2-drive fills, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state and to verify steady-state is in effect as we seamlessly transition into testing at queue depth. A steady-state is achieved after 1-drive fill. Average steady-state 8K random write performance at QD256 is approximately 280K IOPS. The pattern observed here again is exactly what we love to see. Its tight and consistent pattern attests to its high QOS design. Impressive.

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We expect 8K random to track pretty much the same as 4K random here, just at a lower IOPS rate because it's moving twice the amount of data. Here, we find our test subject separating itself from the FlumeIO 5900 by delivering the most we've ever seen from a 1-DWPD SSD. Impressive.

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Our test subject delivers a stunning performance curve here. Overall, it's easily among the top three we've ever recorded for 8K random read. Outstanding.

8K 7030

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8K 7030 is representative of a common database workload. On the low end, our test subject delivers average at best. However, at queue depths of 128 or more, it's cranking out more performance than any 1-DWPD SSD appearing on our chart.

8K 5050

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Everything just stated about its performance curve at 8K 7030 applies here as well.

Final Thoughts

Kingston's DC3000ME is an excellent performer overall. The drive is on par with or slightly better than other SSDs sporting this common hardware configuration. The drive delivers much of what we are looking for, especially regarding programming prowess. In fact, at 8K, our new contender delivers the most we've encountered at queue depths of 128 or more.

As we see it, more than anything else, the appeal of Kingston's DC3000ME's high availability will be a godsend for many small to medium enterprises currently encountering long waits and short supplies from the major suppliers primarily servicing the largest enterprises. And on top of that, Kingston's DC3000ME SSDs are competent for virtually any application.

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It's highly available, exceptionally consistent, delivers plenty of performance, and is backed by five years of Kingston support, and as such, has earned one of our highest awards.