silly question - is higher 3D layer count always better?

[10baggerclub]

Any reason to choose 32 layer 1st gen 3D NAND SSD over ones with 3 figure layers?
NAND manufacturer's main purpose of pursuing higher layer count is cost reduction (more capacity yield in same silicon area).
Is anything sacrificed with higher layer count??

 

[Vorwrath]

There isn't any simple trade-off really, it comes down to the specific design. For example if you compare the Micron 5200 Pro (64 layer) to the 5300 Pro (96 layer), stated endurance goes down. Whereas if you compare the Intel 660p (64 layer) to the 665p (96 layer), stated endurance goes up!

I tend to look at it (perhaps wrongly) a bit like going from a 7nm CPU process to a 5nm CPU process. You can certainly fit more transistors in the same area, but the final CPU isn't guaranteed to be better or guaranteed to be worse, it all depends on the design.

Since with more layers you're getting more capacity in the same area and for a similar price, even if you're in a situation where endurance would otherwise decrease, it's possible to design around that and increase over-provisioning to mitigate it.

 

[10baggerclub]

They no longer offer 5300 ECO line - I wonder how the static over-provisioning compare between equivalent 5200 PRO/ECO and 5300 PRO drives. I suspect 5300 PRO 7.68TB is actually equivalent to 5200 ECO 7.68 TB, for example.