Intel's Sandforce-powered SSD shows why it's still in the
leader's circle
Intel are well known makers of
microprocessors which act as the brain behind a lot of today's computers. What
some don't realise is that they've also expanded their list of expertise to the
line of solid state drives (SSD). With the new Sandforce powered Intel 520 series
SSD, the processor giant pushes the envelope of speed and reliability further
than before.
Intel's Sandforce-powered SSD
Starting off with the physical aspects of
the 520-series SSD, what we first noticed is that it's slightly thinner than
the conventional 2.5-inch drives. Its thickness comes in at about 7.5mm, with
another 9.5mm variation-- both offering 120, 180 and 240GB of storage space
while the latter also offers a 480GB option. The difference here being that the
thinner drive can be used in Intel's own Ultrabooks, one of the first
commercially available drives to do so.
What makes the 520-series SSD special is
the SSD controller that is used in the drive. As a SSD is a drive devoid of any
mechanical parts, it is the controller's job to perform certain tasks such as
caching, encryption and wear leveling.
The SandForce controller is capable of
supporting 256bit encryption on the drive, leaving it secure even against the
most determined of hackers.
As we ran our tests for the 520-series SSD,
we're pleasantly surprised by the results that we have gotten. Sequential read
and write results popped up in the range of 530MB/S to 550MB/S, which we admit
is very impressive; however, with real life applications, data is not written
to drives sequentially.
SATA 3 6Gbps ports
Running real-life transfer tests, we
managed to squeeze 240MB/S to 250MB/S transfer rates out of the drive with both
drives connected to SATA 3 6Gbps ports. The only chink in the armor in terms of
performance is when copying data from sources that are connected to sources
other than SATA 3, which is limited by the bottleneck of these devices. What we
did realise is that the data that is copied is also cached by the SSD
controller, making copypasting the same file faster another time around.
Intel Solid
State Drive 520 Series
Price $ 548.2
Contact Intel Malaysia
Info www.intel.my
Specifications
Size: 7.5mm
Capacity: 60, 120, 180, 240, 480GB
Components: Intel 25nm NAND Flash Memory
Interface: SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s), SATA Rev 2.0 (3Gb/s)
Ratings
Performance
5 stars
Features 4 stars
Design 4 stars
Value 3 stars
