Still hunting for the tiny 118GB Optane drive
In the grand narrative of silicon and storage, some technologies are written in stone, while others are discarded. Intel’s decision to pull the plug on Optane in July 2022—writing off over half a billion dollars in inventory—was a seismic event that signaled the end of an era for a once-promising storage solution.
Yet, four years later, a peculiar piece of hardware has stubbornly survived the digital graveyard. The Intel P1600X, an 118GB M.2 drive originally designed to boot data center servers, continues to appear in home lab communities and enthusiast build threads.
On paper, the persistence of the P1600X seems utterly absurd. It exists in a space where it makes no sense: it operates on PCIe 3.0 lanes, is smaller than most contemporary SSDs, and would be quickly outpaced by current NVMe drives when measured by sequential transfer speeds.
So, why are home lab builders still chasing this niche piece of gear? The answer lies not in mainstream performance benchmarks, but in specialization. The desire for the P1600X has nothing to do with brute-force speed; it’s about unlocking specialized functionality.
For those delving into complex, segmented storage environments, this specialized drive offers a unique capability. It bypasses the constraints of general-purpose storage, allowing users to experiment with specific hardware configurations and advanced storage methodologies.
Whether the P1600X belongs in your personal setup depends entirely on what you are trying to achieve. It serves as a fascinating reminder that in the world of technology, the most interesting advancements are often found in the specialized corners, rather than the mainstream spotlight.
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