Storage-class memory just got big – 256Mbit big, at least

Re: You fixed the headline.

The 16-32 GB sizes of XPoint are a good start towards holding OS and applications in "memory". We've seen how users desired to fit those things on 128 GB SSDs, with most of the pressure relieved at the 256 GB, and obliterated by 512 GB. XPoint is well on its way to matching those capacities, unlike this SCM sitting around at the RAM capacities of 10 years ago.

If only the OS and a few applications can sit on a 32 GB XPoint drive, it shouldn't be any trouble to let the OS sit on it permanently and copy applications as needed from the SSD, since the XPoint endurance is supposedly unlimited and copying does not hurt the SSD's endurance, only writing.

As much as we want to see terabyte-on-a-postage-stamp Crossbar, XPoint will do.

Re: "the cost of hardening a server to keep RAM electrified"

That 'D' in ACID compliant for a start. Right now you can't flag a transaction as committed until the writes have hit the spinning rust or SSD, or at least until sufficient data has been written to a log somewhere to allow the data to be reconstructed in the event of a power failure. This makes that latency several orders of magnitude faster, which in turn reduces the duration of locks and the throughput boost that would provide.

I'm looking forward to it.

Re: Hybrid drive?

This thing has to get up from the 300nm playground and deliver real capacities soon because 16/32 GB Intel XPoint will be shipping soon enough.

Re: Does It Also Need DRAM-style Refreshing?

The Wikipedia article makes it plain it persists without power--no refreshing required.

Re: Small?

Because putting 32 of these onto a single production chip, when the samples are this size already, is far from impossible.

If we were talking 256 bits (like quantum machines), then you have a LONG way to go. But this is basically viable for practical use and OS development, with a box of them no bigger than a hard drive plugged into a dev hardware system.

Think console programmers, Linux, and the guys making Windows 11 (who had SSDs and things when they were making Vista / 7, and had portable Windows tablets back before the Windows XP For Tablets days - that's how long it takes to bring stuff like this to market).