Caratec KBG40ZNS512G User Manual
White Paper
Delivering Improved Performance and Power Efficiency with
Next-Generation BG4 Series Client NVMe™ SSDs
Advanced BG4 Series SSD Capabilities in Comparison to the BG3 Series
Yasuyuki Nagahara, Grant Van Patten, Scott Harlin
Introduction
Toshiba Memory introduced its fourth generation of single package ball grid array (BGA) solid-state drives (SSDs), called the BG4 Series,
at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019. This new series of client NVMe™ SSDs utilize the company’s latest 96-layer BiCS FLASH™ 3D
technology and is designed to fuel the future of mobile computing and IoT devices. The BG4 Series delivers better performance and larger
maximum capacities than previous NVMe SSDs in this product category1, and represents one of the smallest removable drives currently
available. BG4 Series SSDs include flash memory and a new controller in one encompassing 16mm x 20mm package, enabling larger
amounts of flash memory to be added to smaller and thinner devices while extending battery life to improve the mobile experience.
Similar to previous generations, the BG4 Series leverages the Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature to maintain high-performance without the
use of integrated DRAM (Figure 1). The feature uses a portion of host memory to manage flash memory within an SSD, and delivers similar
performance as SSDs with DRAM when the feature is turned on. This cost-effective DRAM-less design has resulted in one of the world’s
thinnest SSDs that delivers a heightened mobile user experience at a fraction of the power requirement when compared to other NVMebased SSDs.
CPU
PCH
Traditional
With HMB
DRAM
command
data
PCIe
SSD
SSD Controller
SRAM
DRAM
NAND
LUT
Figure 1 depicts a traditional client SSD, as well as one with HMB included
CPU
PCH
SSD Controller
DRAM
command
data
HMB
PCIe
SSD
SRAM
NAND
LUT
When compared to its predecessor (the BG3 Series), the BG4 Series delivers significantly faster random read performance and twice the
capacity using less power. This technical brief presents improvements to the BG4 Series relating to performance and power efficiency when
compared to the BG3 Series.
© 2019 Toshiba Memory America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. toshiba.com/tma
1/9
White Paper
Product Overview
The BG Series, developed by Toshiba Memory, represents their first product with HMB capabilities, and delivers very fast SSD performance2
in support of this feature. The following is a short overview outlining the product capabilities for the BG3 Series and BG4 Series of client
NVMe SSDs:
BG3 Series
The BG3 Series was introduced to the industry in August 2017 as Toshiba Memory’s third generation
of single package BGA SSDs. The series is driven by 64-layer BiCS FLASH 3D technology developed
by Toshiba Memory and designed to be smaller, lighter, faster and more power-efficient than previous
generations, mostly to enable the evolution of mobile computing and IoT devices. The BG3 Series
features HMB within the NVMe revision 1.2.1 specification to deliver high-performance without using
integrated DRAM.
Available in 128GB3, 256GB and 512GB capacities, the BG3 Series supports PCI Express® (PCIe®)
Gen3 x2 lanes. All three capacity models are available in a surface-mount M.2 1620 single package
(16mm x 20mm) or a removable M.2 2230 module (22mm x 30mm) to enable mobile device design
flexibility. As real estate in mobile devices can be limited and challenging, the BG3 Series offers very
thin SSDs supporting 1.3mm profiles for 128GB and 256GB capacities, and 1.5mm profiles for 512GB
capacities.
Based on internal benchmark testing conducted by Toshiba Memory in a lab environment using the CrystalDiskMark4 tool (explained further
in Section 4, Test Criteria), the BG3 Series with 512GB capacities and two PCIe Gen3 lanes delivered:
• Sequential read performance up to 1,635 megabytes per second (MB/s)
• Sequential write performance up to 482 MB/s
• Random read performance up to 174,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS)
• Random write performance up to 31,000 IOPS
• Performance-power ratio up to 0.97mW divided by MB/s
BG4 Series
The BG4 Series is Toshiba Memory’s fourth generation of single package BGA SSDs and announced
to the industry in January 2019. BG4 utilizes 96-layer BiCS FLASH 3D technology and also leverages
the HMB feature, but within the NVMe Revision 1.3b specification. This product doubles the lane count
with support for PCIe Gen3 x4 lanes, and delivers more performance in the same power envelope when
compared to other products2.
Capacities supported within the BG4 Series include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1024GB (approximately
1TB), with each capacity model available in a BGA M.2 1620 surface-mount design or an M.2 2230
removable module. Similar to the BG3 Series, the BG4 Series represents one of the thinnest SSDs
available delivering 1.3mm profiles for models up to 512GB capacities, and 1.5mm profiles for 1024GB
capacities.
Based on internal benchmark testing conducted by Toshiba Memory in a lab environment using the CrystalDiskMark tool, the BG4 Series
with 1024GB capacities and four PCIe Gen3 lanes delivered:
White Paper | “Delivering Improved Performance and Power Efficiency With BG4 Series SSDs” | v1.0 | August 2019
© 2019 Toshiba Memory America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. toshiba.com/tma
2/9
• Sequential read performance up to 2,336 MB/s
• Sequential write performance up to 1,815 MB/s
• Random read performance up to 349,000 IOPS
• Random write performance up to 56,000 IOPS
• Performance-Power ratio up to 0.78mW divided by MB/s
In a quick side-by-side comparison, the BG4 Series provides significant benefits over the BG3 Series5:
Metric BG3 Series BG4 Series BG4 Advantage
PCIe Gen3 Lanes X2 X4 Double the lanes – less traffic congestion
Maximum Capacity 512GB 1024GB Twice the SSD density to store data
BiCS FLASH™ Support 64-layers 96-layers 33% improved NAND voltage change
512GB BGA Z-height 1.5mm 1.3mm Smaller form factor for mobile devices
Sequential Read up to 1,635 MB/s up to 2,336 MB/s ~43% faster
Sequential Write up to 482 MB/s up to 1,815 MB/s ~277% faster
Random Read up to 174,000 IOPS up to 349,000 IOPS ~100% faster
Random Write up to 31,000 IOPS up to 56,000 IOPS ~80% faster
Performance-Power Ratio up to 0.97mW/MB/s up to 0.78mW/MB/s ~20% decreased power use
White Paper
6
Description of Benchmarks
Benchmark tests were conducted by Toshiba Memory in a lab environment that compared storage performance and the power efficiency
between BG Series generations. For this requirement, the BG4 Series and BG3 Series were tested for comparison covering bandwidth
(sequential read and write performance), IOPS (random read and write performance), and power efficiency (via performance-power ratios).
The performance tests utilized the industry-standard CrystalDiskMark tool that is widely accepted and used to test the performance of solidstate storage by reading and writing through the file system. The power test was developed and implemented using an in-house developed
system and software.
Test Criteria
The performance results were based on the highest values in each series (BG3 and BG4), comparing the best performance of both drives.
To measure just the performance, and not power-efficiency, the hardware and software equipment used for the benchmark tests included
the following:
• Test P C : Intel® Core™ i7-7700 processor with dual CPUs, 3.60GHz frequency, four (4) processing cores, and
8GB of DRAM (4GB*2)
• Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 10 version 1803 (Build 17134.112)
• Target Use Case: General PC Usage
• Storage Devices: Toshiba Memory BG4 Series SSD with 1024GB capacity, PCIe Gen3 x4 lanes and
Toshiba Memory BG3 Series SSD with 512GB capacity, PCIe Gen3 x2 lanes
• Benchmark Software: CrystalDiskMark 6.0.0 (an open source benchmark tool commonly used to test the performance of
solid-state storage)
• Test Disclaimer: Test results will vary based on test software and hardware. Normal published results have typically used
benchmark software to isolate each performance metric. For the BG4 versus BG3 comparison, CrystalDiskMark 6.0.0 was used
to consistently simulate PC usage, delivering ease of repeatability by anyone testing these platforms.
White Paper | “Delivering Improved Performance and Power Efficiency With BG4 Series SSDs” | v1.0 | August 2019
© 2019 Toshiba Memory America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. toshiba.com/tma
3/9
Loading...