- Solidigm’s 122.88TB SSD is efficient, dense, and now on sale
- First review confirms strong performance in read-heavy enterprise storage use
- CSAL tech removes QLC flash drawbacks for practical, high-capacity deployment
Solidigm’s 122.88TB D5-P5336 enterprise SSD was announced in November 2024 and has just gone on sale, priced at $12,399, less than the $14,000 analysts were predicting.
Now the first full review of Solidigm’s 122.88TB beast has arrived, and according to Jon Coulter, Senior Hardware Editor at TweakTownthe best SSD more than lives up to the hype, not just in scale, but in performance, efficiency, and practical deployment.
As Coulter writes, “In enterprise scenarios where capacity is king, Solidigm’s D5-P5336 122.88TB SSD reigns supreme.”
Game-changing advantages
The drive, based on QLC NAND, is described as the most efficient high-capacity SSD currently in circulation. It offers unprecedented storage density, allowing data centers to store up to 4 petabytes per 1U server footprint. That matters more than ever in an era where AI model datasets are doubling every eight months.
TweakTown notes that Solidigm is at the forefront of QLC flash development and points out that many of the usual drawbacks of QLC, such as endurance and write performance, are addressed by both the sheer size of the drive and by Solidigm’s CSAL (caching SSD acceleration layer) technology.
Coulter explains, “As we see it, with CSAL augmentation, all drawbacks inherent to QLC arrays are completely erased and you are left with only game changing advantages. Amazing.”
The D5-P5336 reached 7,481MB/s in sequential reads and 947,000 IOPS in 4K random reads during testing, both exceeding manufacturer specifications. “Factory spec here is up to 900K IOPS at QD256. We are getting 947K IOPS at QD256 with our configuration,” Coulter reports.
In practice, this level of performance is intended for high-volume, read-heavy storage tiers, not fast-paced transactional systems. As Coulter points out, “workloads of this nature will rarely, if ever, be encountered in the role QLC SSDs play in the storage tier. Results here are to be taken with a grain of salt.”
Summing up, he concludes: “Because it delivers as advertised and then some, is readily available, supremely efficient, delivers plenty of performance for its intended roles, and is backed by a 134 PBW 5-year warranty. Solidigm’s 122.88TB D5-5336 SSD has earned a Must Have Editor’s Choice rating.”