Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory When Used in Memory Mode NOT Persistent

This article was published on March 30, 2019 by Jim Handy, Objective Analysis.

Intel’s Optane: Two Confusing Modes. Part 2) Memory Mode

This post is the second part of a four part series in The SSD Guy blog to help explain Intel’s two recently-announced modes of accessing its Optane DIMM, formally known as the Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory.

Memory Mode
The most difficult thing to understand about the Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory when used in Memory Mode is that it is not persistent. Go back and read that again, because it didn’t make any sense the first time you read it. It didn’t make any sense the second time either, did it?

Don’t worry. This is not really important. The difficulty stems from Intel’s marketing decision to call Optane DIMMs by the name Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory. Had they simply called them Optane DIMMs like everyone expected them to then there would have been far less confusion. That sentence above would have instead said that Optane DIMMs are not persistent when used in Memory Mode.