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I am trying to find performance data about the official SSDs offered by HP for their servers. I can hardly find any specifications on the HP website or somewhere else on the Web.

The device I am interested in would be: HP 100GB 6G SATA Mainstream Endurance LFF 3.5-in SC Enterprise Mainstream 3yr Wty Solid State Drive (691852-B21) or the 2.5" equivalent (691862-B21).

HP Product Website

I would like to know how the read and write speeds are to see how it would compare to a diy-server using Samsung Evo 840 SSDs.

Thanks for any hints or real-life data.


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What specific model of HP server do you plan to use? –  ewwhite Jul 9 at 8:37

3 Answers 3

up vote 5 down vote accepted

The answer here depends on the specific model of server being used. I was holding off until the OP could describe the actual server being used, as the SSD options vary.

Read through the descriptions of HP's SSD portfolio for detailed information on the different classes of drive.

For instance, with a G6 or G7 ProLiant, all SSD performance will be controller-limited. SATA SSDs will downshift to 3Gbps speeds, and the controller will max out at ~20,000 IOPS. However, many third-party SAS SSDs will be incompatible, with the exception of the HP SAS SSDs. The HP Enterprise SAS SSDs are OEM by Sandisk/Pliant, and aren't terribly good performers. They have deep I/O queues and require a certain I/O profile to really perform well. They have great endurance, though.

With a Gen8 ProLiant, third party SSDs (like the Samsung) are not an option. They will at best, trigger a POST alert (Error 1709), or at worst, won't be recognized or cause temperature sensor issues. The non-enterprise SSD offerings by HP are either Intel, Samsung or STEC (MachIOPS) OEM. The Enterprise are Sandisk. All have HP firmware and are authenticated for use with Gen8 systems.

The specific drive you're curious about (691862-B21) is an Intel or Samsung drive. It's a read-optimized disk that's good for caching duties, but a low-performing write SSD. I've had clients return these as they were disappointed at the performance profile and that their array of spinning disks was more capable from a throughput perspective.

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Please also see: Third-party SSD solutions in ProLiant Gen8 servers

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I found the technical specs on insight for the HP drives:

Specfications -> Performance ->

4KB Random Read         63000 IOPS
4KB Random Write        19200 IOPS
Drive Transfer Rate     600 MBps (external)
Internal Data Rate      480 MBps (read) / 185 MBps (write)

I then looked up the Samsung Evo 840 specs, this case taken from [ebuyer], this case a 120GB drive2:

Sequential Read: Max.       540 MB/s
Sequential Write: Max.      410 MB/s
4KB Random Read (QD1): Max. 10,000 IOPS
4KB Random Write(QD1): Max. 33,000 IOPS
4KB Random Read(QD32): Max. 94,000 IOPS
4KB Random Write(QD32): Max.35,000 IOPS

Hope it helps you make a decision, we are currently investigating this but it is months away :( As far as deciding the best for the hardware, I can't comment. I just couldn't fit this all into a comment so put it in an answer for you instead. I normally find these decisions are ultimately driven by cost.

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Thank you very much! –  Aaron Jul 9 at 9:18

The HP Solid State Drives (SSD) Quickspecs document likely has all the details you need.

Besides raw speed and IOPS a large part in price difference between what HP calls Value Endurance, Mainstream Endurance and Enterprise Performance is how often the complete disk can be overwritten, because flash supports only a limited number of write cycles.

I assume that the consumer rated (the Samsung suggested use is laptops and PC's) EVO 840 drive at best approaches a similar number of writes as a HP Value Endurance SSD, but don't expect any warranty after using it in a server.

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Thank you very much! –  Aaron Jul 9 at 9:19

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