Final Thoughts

The last great SSD that we tested carrying 100% Intel tech was the SSD 310 Serial. This bulldoze was later replaced by the non besides exciting SSD 320 Series, which was still express to the SATA 3Gb/due south interface.

The SSD 510 Serial came virtually final year using a Marvell controller, making it the first Intel SSD able to apply the SATA 6Gb/s interface. Nevertheless with the infrequent Crucial m4 on the picture (using the same Marvell chip), nosotros didn't intendance much for the SSD 510 Series. Today'due south pricing puts the 128GB m4 at simply $177, which works out to be $1.38 per gigabyte. On the other paw, the Intel equivalent costs $280 making it much more costly at $2.33 per gigabyte, and for all that extra money you won't receive any actress performance.

Our dislike for the Intel SSD 510 Series stemmed from the fact it's not just grossly more expensive than the Crucial m4, but too competing SandForce SF-2281 drives. The OCZ Vertex iii 120GB for example currently costs $190 or roughly $1.58 per gigabyte.

So why are the Intel SSD drives so much more than expensive? It boils down to reliability and Intel has a near impeccable record in that regard every bit their drives get through a vigorous validation and testing process. Although on occasion Intel has encounter a few small issues such as the 8MB Power Bug which plagued the SSD 320 Serial, they take always swiftly squashed such bugs.

Of course, in that location's a tangible reward to having such an in-depth testing procedure -- peculiarly if you value your data -- but as development costs increment, information technology becomes a pricing issue since manufacturers already have small-scale margins on consumer SSDs. Equally a effect consumers looking to buy an Intel brand SSD are faced with quite a hefty toll premium. In the example of the SSD 510 Series users were paying roughly 70% more per gigabyte and in our stance that'south simply too much.

The SSD 520 Serial on the other hand doesn't appear to exist quite as bad. There'south still a premium involved but i that is much easier to swallow. At $230 the Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB is around xx% more than expensive than the OCZ Vertex 3 120GB. All the same nosotros feel if the drives prove to be more reliable many users will hands justify the boosted cost. Intel certainly seems to have been able to squeeze the most functioning out of the SandForce SF-2281 controller as we consistently saw strong performance in all tests.

For those seeking the best balance between price and operation we still believe the Crucial m4 serial is the way to go. However, if it is maximum operation y'all seek and so the SF-2281 based SSDs are difficult to become past and the new Intel SSD 520 Series has to accept the best support of any SandForce drive out at that place.

Pros: Excellent functioning. The speed of SandForce's latest controller with the backing of Intel'southward testing and firmware validation.

Cons: A tad more than expensive than other like drives. SSDs in general are still express in storage capacity given the premium y'all pay per gigabyte.