System Requirements for an Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series Drive

Documentation

Product Information & Documentation

000025741

03/18/2022

The PCI Express* (PCIe*) Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series is based on the NVMe* standard with Intel® Optane™ technology. Successful use of the Intel Optane SSD 900P Series as a boot device requires NVMe* hardware, BIOS, and driver support.

Two hardware form factors available

 

Form Factor Image
Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series Add-in Card (AiC), Half Height, Half Length (HHHL)

The HHHL comes with the full height bracket installed and a Half Height bracket in the box.		 Add-in card
Note Two U.2, 2.5 inch retail box options are available depending on what cable your motherboard or system supports for NVMe* devices. See what’s in the box.
Form Factor and Accessories Image
Intel® Optane™ SSD 900P Series U.2 2.5 inch 15 mm height drive 2.5-inch 15 mm height drive

[Retail Box Option 1]

Includes U.2 (SFF-8639) to SFF-8643 Adapter cable

Note

Your motherboard must accept the SFF 8643 connector. Make sure the electrical connection on the motherboard, is PCIe, not SAS.

Or, use an SFF-8643 to M.2 adapter with a PCIe M.2 capable motherboard (shown on the right).
Adapter cableSFF-8643 to M.2 adapter

[Retail Box Option 2]

Includes U.2 (SFF-8639) to M.2 Adapter cable

 U.2 (SFF-8639) to M.2 Adapter cable

Basic requirements

To use as a bootable drive, you need:

  • PCIe NVMe storage capable hardware motherboard support. Consult your system or motherboard vendor for more information
    • Add-in Card (AiC) form factor: PCIe 3.0 x4 connector (best performance)
    • 2.5 inch form factor:
      • U.2 Cable for connection to the SSD
      • PCIe-capable SFF-8643 connector or a PCIe-capable M.2 connector
  • Airflow across the drive to provide cooling, such as a front fan and rear fan
  • System BIOS that supports UEFI 2.3.1 or later with NVMe support
  • GPT* drive format (See how to install OS to GPT)
  • Microsoft Windows 7* or Windows® 10 operating system (OS)
    Note Other OS supporting these requirements may function properly, but we have not validated them yet.
  • Intel® NVMe driver installed during OS installation – follow instructions in the Boot Installation Guide
    Note OS that contains a native NVMe* driver should also work, but the Intel NVMe driver is preferred for Windows.
    • If there is no native OS NVMe driver and the Intel NVMe driver is not available, the drive is not seen during installation

To use as a secondary data drive, you need:

  • PCIe NVMe storage capable hardware motherboard support. Consult your system/motherboard vendor for more information
    • Add-in Card Form Factor: PCIe 3.0 x4 connector (Best performance)
    • 2.5 inch Form Factor:
      • U.2 Cable for connection to the SSD
      • PCIe-capable SFF-8643 connector or a PCIe-capable M.2 connector
  • Airflow across the drive to provide cooling, such as a front fan and rear fan
  • System BIOS that supports UEFI 2.3.1 or later with NVMe support
  • Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows 10 OS
    Note Other OS supporting these requirements may function properly, but we have not validated them yet.
  • Intel® NVMe driver installed after OS installation
    Note OS that contains a native NVMe driver should also work, but the Intel NVMe driver is preferred for Windows.