Intel 311 Series 20 GB

Intel SSD 311 Series

When it comes to buying internal storage, the traditional modus operandi is to maximize capacity and price. But for its new SSD 311 ($110 street) Intel is suggesting that owners of motherboards utilizing its new Z68 Express chipset install this small (20GB) drive specifically to enable the chipset's Smart Response Technology (SRT) feature to allow data caching and thus significant speed boosts when used in conjunction with a larger-capacity hard drive. We'll echo Intel's recommendation here, and heartily endorse the SSD 311 Series for that purpose - because it's not well suited to doing much of anything else. After all, a drive loaded with so little NAND flash memory is not right for housing the applications or large numbers of files that are the norm on computers today. And because the memory in question is 34nm single-level cell (SLC) NAND, which is more expensive than the multi-level cell (MLC) NAND usually used in SSDs, but better poised to last longer and perform better, the drive is also not a spectacular value for traditional storage purposes.