Intel DC P3520 2TB Enterprise PCIe NVMe SSD Review

OLTP/Database

We precondition the drive for 16,000 seconds, or 4.44 hours, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state. We plot both IOPS and Latency. We plot IOPS (represented by blue scatter) in thousands and Latency (represented by orange scatter) in milliseconds. We observe steady-state is achieved at 8,000 seconds of preconditioning. Average steady-state workload performance at QD256 is approximately 41K IOPS. We observe a tight consistent pattern from the DC P3520 after reaching a steady-state.

An On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) / Database workload is a demanding 8K test with a 66/33 percent R/W distribution. OLPT is online processing of financial transactions such as credit cards and high-frequency trading in the financial sector. Database workloads are challenging for any storage solution.

Intel specs the 2TB DC P3520 at 45K for a 70/30 workload at QD128. We don't test at 70/30, but rather at 66/33 for our database mix. This is a harder mix for the DC P3520 to digest than a 70/30 mix because of the read-centric nature of the drive. With our database mix, we are getting 42K IOPS at QD32. Based on this result, we believe we would come in right at 45K with a 70/30 mix. Again, at QD1, the DC P3520 is outperforming all of the drives in our test pool including the DC P3700.

Conclusion (TL;DR): The DC P3520 continues to impress at QD1, where it matters most.