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In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), the demand for high-performance PC computing solutions has never been greater. AI applications — ranging from machine learning models to real-time data processing — require robust hardware to deliver optimal performance. One key component that can significantly enhance the performance of AI PCs is the PCIe® Gen5 SSD. Whether tackling massive datasets, loading AI models or pushing the boundaries of next-gen gaming, the Micron 4600 NVMe™ SSD delivers the PCIe Gen5 speed and energy efficiency required for applications today and into the future.
Revolutionizing storage with PCIe Gen5
The Micron 4600 SSD is not just an upgrade — it’s a leap forward. This PCIe Gen5 client SSD provides speeds of up to 14.5 GB/s of sequential reads and up to 12.0 GB/s of sequential writes, nearing PCIe Gen5 bandwidth saturation. These results represent a notable performance increase over PCIe Gen4 SSDs, with double the sequential read speeds.
Although not all applications today use full bandwidth speeds, every PC application can benefit from improved energy efficiency. The Micron 4600 is designed to provide over 107% better energy efficiency than the previous PCIe Gen4 SSD.1
With near PCIe Gen5 saturation-level speed, the Micron 4600 SSD makes it possible to deploy powerful AI language models locally. It has the performance to load a large language model (LLM) from SSD to memory in under one second.
In addition to speed, multitasking and system responsiveness are important for PC users. The Micron 4600 offers approximately 38% better PCMark® 10 scores than previous PCIe Gen4 SSDs,2 surpassing PCIe Gen5 competitors by 11%.3 This improved user experience is beneficial for gamers loading extensive graphic sets, data scientists processing machine learning models or business professionals managing multiple tasks.
As these processing demands grow and more tasks are handled locally, the need for faster, larger and more secure storage increases. The Micron 4600 SSD offers up to 4TB of ultrafast storage, perfect for demanding applications and massive datasets.
With these AI models running locally, security is more critical than ever — both user data and AI model protection are key. The Micron 4600 enhances this protection with advanced features like Secure Protocol Data Model (SPDM) that help ensure data authentication, integrity and protection. SPDM, running on the Micron 4600, helps verify system components, reducing the risks of tampering or unauthorized access.
Empowering the AI PC revolution
AI innovations emerging everywhere are already reshaping local computing experiences. In the PC world, I believe enhanced storage performance will be a key driver for three major advancements: multimodal applications, model rotation and real-time generative gaming.
Let’s discuss multimodal AI applications — those that use multiple sources of data or modalities, such as text, images, videos and audio. From AI-powered text-to-audio tools that compose music to advanced image generation with DALL-E and Stable Diffusion, AI is redefining creativity and personalization through all these multimodal applications.
But today, not all these AI applications are optimized for storage. Applications like Ollama or Pytorch-based software still have significantly higher model load times, which often results because the models execute the read operations with low queue depth. However, some applications like llama.cpp are well optimized for storage, enabling multithreaded operations at higher queue depths to increase parallelism. This significantly improves the load times and allows faster response times. The Micron 4600 can load Llama 2 with 13 billion parameters in under a second, offering 62% faster load times than PCIe Gen4 SSDs.2,4
These open-source models are continuously being refined and optimized by tens of thousands of developers worldwide, achieving remarkable improvements in both capability and efficiency constantly and pushing the boundaries of performance. But these questions arise: Is PC hardware ready? Is PC storage ready?
Typically, when switching between applications that rely on AI models (10GB or larger), PC memory alone isn’t sufficient to cache everything. In these situations, model rotation becomes critical to the overall user experience — where every application runs a finely tuned, domain-specific AI model, delivering the most precise and relevant results. The Micron 4600 enables this seamless high-speed processing and allow professionals to iterate and innovate faster. For more information, see my previous blog about optimizing storage with host assists for the AI PC of the future.
The Micron 4600 is not only for professionals but also for gamers. It delivers an impressive random read-and-write performance up to 2.1 million input/output operations per second (IOPS), unlocking limitless possibilities for AI-powered gaming. What maximizes the performance even further is DirectStorage support, which allows direct communication with the GPU while bypassing the CPU and enhances game load times and responsiveness (as supported by Microsoft DirectStorage, NVIDIA® Magnum IO GPUDirect® Storage [GDS] and others).5
Our PCIe Gen4 3500 SSD pioneered DirectStorage support, which was initially supported by two games — Forspoken™ and Diablo IV™. But today, with optimized storage drivers, over 30 titles, including games like FC™24 and Avatar™, use this technology for accelerated gaming. Micron 3500 set the stage, but the Micron 4600 takes it further, redefining next-gen gaming performance.
Soon, real-time generative games will be further driven by AI and run locally, enabling users to enter a world where the game evolves dynamically as they play. These intensive workloads and low response time requirements need future-proof SSDs like the Micron 4600.
Looking ahead: A future-proof SSD for the next era of computing
PC and AI applications are advancing rapidly, pushing the limits of performance and efficiency. Fast, intelligent storage is the key to unlocking their full potential as workloads become more demanding — from real-time AI processing to immersive gaming experiences. While the industry continues to evolve, the Micron 4600 is already precision-engineered for today and the future, delivering the speed, efficiency and reliability needed for next-generation computing.
The new Micron 4600 SSD is now available for sampling globally.
Additional resources:
Micron 4600 press release
Micron 4600 PCIe Gen5 Client SSD webpage
Micron 4600 Client SSD product brief
Gen5 SSD infographic
1 Based on data sheet comparison in performance for the PCIe Gen4 Micron 3500 SSD vs. the Micron 4600 SSD.
2 Benchmark testing conducted in Micron labs for the Gen4 Micron 3500 SSD vs. the Micron 4600 SSD.
3 Benchmark testing conducted in Micron labs for the 4600 SSD vs. Gen5 competitors.
4 As tested in Micron labs using Llama 2 with 13 billion parameters,10.4GB file size and 6-bit quantization vs. the PCIe Gen4 Micron 3500 SSD.
5 Load PC Games Faster: How to Use DirectStorage in Windows 11 | PCMag
