Intel Optane DC P5800X 800GB — The Fastest SSD Ever Made (2026)

Name: Intel DC P5800X 800 GB
Brand: Intel
SKU: intel-dc-p5800x-800-gb
Rating: 4.5 (50 reviews)

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Raymond Chen

The Intel Optane DC P5800X 800GB doubles the capacity of the entry-level Optane flagship while retaining the same 7,400 MB/s symmetric throughput, sub-10-microsecond latency, and extraordinary 100 DWPD endurance rating.

Intel Optane DC P5800X 800GB — The Fastest SSD Ever Made

Controller & Memory

The 800 GB Intel Optane DC P5800X is the mid-capacity offering in the final and fastest Optane SSD family ever produced. Like the 400 GB model, it is built on Intel's second-generation 3D XPoint (Optane) persistent memory — a fundamentally non-NAND storage medium that supports in-place writes, bit-level addressing, and latency measured in single-digit microseconds. The drive pairs this media with a single-core 1.1 GHz ARM Cortex-R7 controller behind a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, delivering 7,400 MB/s sequential throughput in both directions, sustained indefinitely with no write cliff, no cache exhaustion, and no garbage-collection performance degradation. Random 4K performance is rated at up to 1.55 million read IOPS and 1.6 million write IOPS, with low-queue-depth random reads exceeding 450,000 IOPS at QD1 — roughly 25 times what the best NAND SSDs can achieve at the same queue depth.

The 800 GB capacity doubles the usable storage of the 400 GB model while maintaining the identical performance envelope. Endurance scales linearly to 100 DWPD — 80 TB of writes per day, or approximately 146,000 TBW over the 5-year warranty period. To put that figure in context: the highest-endurance consumer NAND SSD ever sold (a 2 TB Phison E16 TLC drive at 3,600 TBW) could be written to exhaustion 40 times over and still not match the P5800X 800 GB's rated endurance. The 800 GB capacity also makes the drive more practical for use cases that require both Optane-class performance and a meaningful working set size — database indices that exceed 400 GB, larger write-cache layers in front of all-flash arrays, and AI/ML data pipelines with larger hot-data footprints.

Physically, the P5800X 800 GB shares the same 2.5-inch U.2 (SFF-8639) 15 mm form factor as the 400 GB model, requiring a U.2-compatible motherboard backplane or a U.2-to-M.2/PCIe adapter for installation in systems without native U.2 ports. Power consumption ranges from 18–21 W under load, demanding active airflow in server or workstation chassis. Intel's discontinuation of Optane media production in 2022 means the P5800X family represents the end of the line for 3D XPoint technology; remaining inventory is managed by Solidigm (SK Hynix) and no successor products are planned. For the enterprise workloads that justify its cost — high-frequency trading, write-intensive database logging, latency-bound caching tiers — the P5800X 800 GB remains unmatched and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

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DC P5800X Performance & Benchmarks

The P5800X 800 GB delivers performance identical to the 400 GB model in every metric, with the capacity doubling providing a larger working set without any throughput penalty. Sequential reads and writes saturate the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface at 7,400 MB/s in both directions, sustained indefinitely — a full-drive 800 GB sequential write completes at 7,400 MB/s from start to finish with no speed transitions. Random 4K read at QD1 reaches 450,000–500,000 IOPS, and random 4K write at QD1 hits 350,000–400,000 IOPS, both figures representing performance that no NAND SSD of any generation or price can match. The low-queue-depth dominance stems from Optane's ~5–7 microsecond read latency, which is roughly 10–20x lower than the 50–80 microsecond latency of a fast NAND SSD and approaches the ~0.1 microsecond latency of DRAM.

Performance comparison

Intel DC P5800X 800 GB vs U.2 2.5" or E1.S peers

Switch between sequential throughput and random IOPS to see how this drive stacks up against other U.2 2.5" or E1.S SSDs in our database. The highlighted bar is the drive on this page — click any other bar to open that drive.

Intel DC P5800X 800 GB (this drive): 7,400 MB/s read, 7,400 MB/s write
Intel DC P5800X 400 GB: 7,400 MB/s read, 7,400 MB/s write
Intel DC P5800X 1.6 TB: 7,200 MB/s read, 6,200 MB/s write

In mixed-workload scenarios — the realistic pattern for databases, virtualisation hosts, and storage controllers — the P5800X excels because its performance does not degrade under simultaneous reads and writes. NAND SSDs suffer from read/write interference: an ongoing write operation can stall pending reads because the NAND die is busy programming. Optane's in-place write capability eliminates this interference, allowing reads and writes to proceed concurrently at near-full speed. StorageReview measured the 800 GB P5800X at over 2 million mixed random 4K IOPS (70/30 read/write), a figure that no NAND drive approaches even at peak single-workload performance. Thermally, the 800 GB model's higher NAND-equivalent package count slightly increases power draw at full load (21 W versus 18 W for the 400 GB), but the U.2 enclosure's thermal mass and the requirement for forced airflow keep the drive comfortably within its 0–85 °C operating range in any properly cooled server chassis.

Endurance, TBW & Warranty

Intel warrants the DC P5800X 800 GB for 5 years with an endurance rating of 100 drive writes per day (DWPD). This equates to 80 TB of sustained writes per day, or approximately 146,000 TBW over the full warranty period. For comparison, the most durable consumer NVMe SSD at 2 TB carries 3,600 TBW — the P5800X 800 GB can write that entire endurance budget roughly 40 times over. The endurance is a direct consequence of 3D XPoint's physics: the chalcogenide glass storage medium changes resistance state in response to applied current without the cumulative oxide-layer damage that NAND's Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling mechanism inflicts on floating-gate and charge-trap cells. Optane media endurance is measured in tens of millions of write cycles per cell versus NAND's thousands. Intel's enterprise warranty programme provides advance replacement and dedicated technical support channels; following the Solidigm transition, buyers should confirm current warranty service arrangements through their enterprise distribution channel.

Intel DC P5800X 800 GB Specifications

Category	Value
Capacity [?]	800 GB
Interface [?]	U.2 2.5" or E1.S
Controller [?]	Intel
Memory type [?]	Intel Optane 2nd Gen
DRAM [?]	No
Read speed (MB/s) [?]	7400
Write speed (MB/s) [?]	7400
Read IOPS [?]	1550000
Write IOPS [?]	1600000
Endurance (TBW) [?]	146000
MTBF (million hours) [?]	2
Warranty (years) [?]	5

Verdict: Is the DC P5800X Worth It in 2026?

The Intel Optane DC P5800X 800 GB is a product from a storage future that will not arrive. It is the fastest SSD ever manufactured, combining PCIe 4.0 interface bandwidth with Optane's unique low-latency, high-endurance, symmetric-performance characteristics, and it occupies a performance tier that no NAND-based product — consumer or enterprise, current or planned — can reach. At 800 GB, it provides enough capacity to serve as a practical working volume for latency-sensitive enterprise workloads rather than merely a caching or logging target, while retaining the full 100 DWPD endurance that makes write endurance a non-issue for any realistic deployment. The P5800X is also a dead-end product: with 3D XPoint production ended and no successor technology on any manufacturer's roadmap, it is the last of its kind. For the narrow set of workloads that need what only Optane can provide, the P5800X 800 GB is worth every dollar of its four-figure price. For everyone else, a high-end NAND NVMe SSD at one-tenth the cost per gigabyte is the rational choice.

+ Pros

Fastest SSD ever made — no NAND drive approaches it
7,400 MB/s symmetric sustained reads and writes
100 DWPD endurance — 146,000 TBW over 5 years
~5–7 μs latency vs. 50–80 μs for NAND
800 GB capacity suits larger working-set workloads
No performance degradation under mixed read/write loads

- Cons

Enterprise pricing — $2,000+ at launch
U.2 15 mm form factor requires compatible infrastructure
18–21 W power draw mandates active cooling
Optane discontinued — no future products or long-term supply
Enterprise-only warranty and support channels

4.5 / 5 · 50 votes

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Video Review

The Storage of the Gods: A Deep Dive Into the Intel Optane P5800X

Frequently Asked Questions

The 400 GB and 800 GB P5800X models share identical performance specifications — 7,400 MB/s symmetric read/write, 1.55M/1.6M IOPS random, ~5–7 μs latency — and differ only in capacity and endurance. The 800 GB model doubles the usable storage and scales endurance linearly from 73,000 TBW to 146,000 TBW (both at 100 DWPD). The 800 GB model draws slightly more power at full load (~21 W versus ~18 W) due to the additional Optane media packages. In practice, the 800 GB model is the more versatile choice for deployments where the working set exceeds 400 GB — larger database indices, more extensive write-cache layers, and AI/ML pipelines with larger hot-data footprints. The 400 GB model is sufficient for dedicated logging, ZFS SLOG, and smaller database volumes.

3D XPoint (pronounced 'cross-point') is a non-volatile memory technology co-developed by Intel and Micron that stores data by changing the electrical resistance of a chalcogenide glass material, rather than by trapping electrical charges as NAND does. The key performance advantages stem from three architectural differences. First, 3D XPoint is bit-addressable: individual bits can be read or written without involving an entire page or block, unlike NAND where reads and writes operate on 16 KB pages and erases operate on multi-megabyte blocks. Second, 3D XPoint supports in-place writes: data can be overwritten directly without first erasing the old data, eliminating the read-erase-modify-write cycle that makes NAND writes slow and causes write amplification. Third, the resistance-change mechanism operates roughly 1,000x faster than NAND's charge-tunnelling programming. The result is a storage medium with latency roughly 10–20x lower than NAND, symmetric read/write performance, and endurance measured in millions of cycles per cell rather than thousands.

Yes, with the appropriate hardware adapters. The P5800X uses a U.2 (SFF-8639) connector and requires one of the following: a motherboard with a native U.2 port (rare on consumer boards); a U.2-to-M.2 adapter cable that connects the drive to an M.2 slot (the drive draws power through the U.2 connector, so ensure the adapter supplies sufficient power); or a PCIe add-in card with a U.2 bay. The 15 mm z-height means the drive will not fit in laptop bays or most consumer desktop drive sleds. Active cooling is required: the 18–21 W power draw will cause thermal throttling in a fanless enclosure. For a desktop workstation, a U.2-to-PCIe adapter card in a well-ventilated case is the most practical installation. However, the performance benefits of Optane over a fast consumer NAND NVMe drive (Samsung 990 PRO, WD Black SN850X) are negligible for gaming, web browsing, and general productivity. The P5800X is only justifiable in a desktop for specialised workstation workloads: large-codebase compilation, local database development with heavy write loads, or high-endurance scratch-disk duties.

Intel wound down the Optane business in 2021–2022 as part of a strategic refocus under CEO Pat Gelsinger. The 3D XPoint production line at Micron's Lehi, Utah facility was the sole manufacturing source for Optane media, and it ceased production in 2022. The Optane SSD business was sold to SK Hynix, which formed Solidigm to manage remaining inventory, warranty support, and customer relationships. For P5800X owners, this means: warranty support continues through Solidigm's enterprise channels for the duration of the original 5-year warranty period; firmware updates are unlikely to be issued unless a critical vulnerability is discovered; and no replacement products will be manufactured once existing inventory is depleted. The P5800X is the last Optane SSD, and there are no announced plans from any manufacturer to develop a successor storage-class memory technology. Used-market P5800X drives are the only acquisition path for new buyers.

PCIe 5.0 NAND SSDs (such as those using the Phison E26 controller) deliver sequential throughput exceeding 12,000 MB/s — roughly 60% higher than the P5800X's 7,400 MB/s — but the comparison becomes lopsided in Optane's favour for everything else. Random 4K QD1 performance on a PCIe 5.0 NAND drive is approximately 18,000–25,000 read IOPS and 50,000–70,000 write IOPS, versus the P5800X's ~450,000 and ~350,000 respectively — a 20x read and 5x write advantage for Optane. Latency is ~50–80 μs for PCIe 5.0 NAND versus ~6 μs for the P5800X. Endurance on PCIe 5.0 NAND drives is typically 600–1,400 TBW versus 146,000 TBW for the 800 GB P5800X. The newer interface doubles peak sequential throughput, but the underlying NAND media latency and endurance characteristics are unchanged from PCIe 4.0 NAND. The P5800X remains the faster drive for any workload that is not purely sequential, and the more durable drive by two orders of magnitude.

The P5800X is arguably the ideal ZFS SLOG (Separate Intent Log) device and database volume. For ZFS SLOG, the Optane drive's ~6 μs write latency and 350,000+ random write IOPS at QD1 mean synchronous write operations — the performance bottleneck for NFS and iSCSI shares — complete at near-DRAM speed with persistence guarantees. The 100 DWPD endurance means the SLOG device will never wear out, even under continuous heavy synchronous write loads. For databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle), the P5800X excels as a write-ahead log (WAL) or transaction log volume, where small sequential writes interleaved with frequent fsync operations are the dominant pattern. The 800 GB capacity is sufficient for most database logging volumes, and the sustained symmetric performance means the log volume never becomes a bottleneck even as the database scales. For a modestly sized but latency-critical database, the entire database can fit on the P5800X, eliminating the storage bottleneck entirely.