Intel 520 Series 240 GB
8 expert reviews - 0 user reviews
Follow
0
0
Want it
0
Have it
0
Had it
0
We have collected 8 reviews of the Intel 520 Series 240 GB. Experts rate Intel 520 Series 240 GB 8.9/10. Reviewsor.com helps you find reviews, best prices, user reviews of the Intel 520 Series 240 GB and Intel SSD hard drives.
- Writh a review
- Say something
- Ask a question
- Get support
Intel 520 Series 240 GB Reviews
Intel 520 Series 240 GB Review
Just like SanDisk with the 240 GB Extreme SSD, with the 520 Series (codenamed 'Cherryville') Intel is claiming read speeds of 550 MB/s and write speeds of 520 MB/s. The 520 Series SSDs have a SandForce SF-2281 controller, which is known for compressing data on the fly, a process that considerably increases write speeds and overall lifespan. Intel is advertising random read speeds of 50,000 IOPS on 4 kb files. As for random write speeds, the company says a brand new 520 Series SSD will get 80,000 IOPS and after a certain amount of use will get 60,000 IOPS. Here's the thing: the SanDisk Extreme has the exact same controller and advertises the same read/write speeds, but the 520 Series is much more expensive. Why's that? Well, Cherryville appears to have three advantages: Intel is in partnership with SandForce, who is reportedly giving Intel an exclusive deal on its new firmware, which is said to give higher performance the memory is guaranteed for 5,000 P/E cycles, which means exceptional shelf life (in comparison, some of the daintier SSDs guarantee just 300 P/E cycles, and Samsung guarantees 1,000 cycles for the 840 Series and 3,000 for the 840 Pro... so 5,000 is a lot) the 520 Series comes with a five-year warranty!
Intel SSD 520 Series
When Intel released its 510 Series solid-state drive (SSD) a year ago, it used a controller not that the giant company had created itself but rather one from Marvell. Intel hasn't gone back to keeping it \"all in the family” with its newest SSD, the 520 Series, but it has chosen SandForce instead—and to good effect. Based on our review unit of the 240GB drive in the family (priced at $509 list), Intel is making a solid jump toward the top end of the performance storage market. It doesn't quite reach its lofty goal, but it offers every reason to believe future drives will. The 520 Series contains 256GB of Intel's 25nm synchronous NAND flash memory chips (16 chips of 16GB each, with the extra space devoted to wear leveling, garbage collection, and other reliability features). It is based on the popular SandForce SF-2281 controller, and supports the use of 6Gbps SATA III for transferring data. It's covered by a five-year warranty, roughly twice what you get with most drives, which gives you a good idea of the faith Intel places in it is own manufacturing.
Intel 520 Series 240GB Review
Solid State drives are becoming more and more popular as a way to increase system performance. Intel has traditionally had its hand in developing high performance solid state drives and now have another to add to the fray. Boot times and general product loading times can be substantially decreased with the addition of an SSD to a system. With the introduction of the 520 series drives, Intel has jumped onto the LSI Sandforce bandwagon and co-developed a drive equipped with the Sandforce 2281 NAND controller coupled with low cost 25nm NAND flash memory. The drive is built to deliver performance without breaking the bank. Reliability and performance are goals set for the this drive that has a MTBF of 1.2 million hours. AES 256-bit encryption, data compression, and end-to-end data protection also come with the addition of the Sandforce controller. The Intel 520 series comes in capacities from 60 to 480GB with pricing and specifications dependent on the density of the 25nm NAND flash used on each drive. Pricing starts at $149 for the 60GB version and a cool 1 grand, well $999, for the 480GB version. Let's take a look and see if Intel hit a home run with its partnership with LSI (Sandforce).
Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB review
Intel is looking to SandForce to provide it with a performance-class SSD in the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB.It changed tack about a year ago and started using third-party controller chips in its consumer class solid state drives (SSDs). From that moment on, it was almost inevitable that a SandForce-powered Intel drive would eventually appear. With the launch of the new Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB, and the other members of the 520 family, that day has finally come.Of course, SandForce SSD controllers aren't perfect. Thanks to the use of aggressive compression technology, impressive headline data transfer rates can sometimes translate into slightly pedestrian real-world performance. What's more, SandForce's second generation of controller chips suffered from a few stability glitches early on.Still, there's no doubting the popularity, success and strong, all round performance of SSDs based on the latest SandForce controller. Add in Intel's reputation for going the extra mile with SSD firmware quality control and validation and you have a very promising mix. The task for the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB is clear enough. Not only must it rise above the hordes of SandForce based drives, it must also take on the new pretender in the form of the OCZ Octane and its refreshed Indilinx controller. Game on.
Meet Intel's Cherryville: 520 Series 240GB SSD Review
There are few upgrades left for PCs that can offer tangible, substantial performance gains in daily usage tasks anymore. Assuming the desktop (or especially laptop) is relatively recent and has 4GB of system memory available, then there just aren't many options left to make these machines last longer. Processors have gained significantly in performance since 2005, but now unless your programs can make use of additional cores there really is not a whole lot of benefit to upgrading to a processor with extra cores. A new motherboard might offer additional features or functionality, but given it will use the same (or very similar) underlying chipset performance isn't going to change. More system memory is nice, but few programs will max out 4GB, and those users that are the exception to the rule will know it and likely have upgraded already. Graphics is a typical upgrade, but in general it won't boost application responsiveness and non-game performance. All that in a nutshell is why SSDs are continuing to be the hot "new" thing for computer upgrades; they have the ability to affect everything in some way, especially system responsiveness in everyday tasks. I say "new" because Intel began the entire SSD trend in 2008 with its X25-M solid-state drives, with the 80GB introduced at an eye-popping $595.
Intel SSD 520 Series Solid State Drive Review
Intel is launching a brand new line of solid state drives today, built around SandForce's popular SF-2200 family of storage processors. The new SSD 520 Series solid state drives, as they are known, will supplant the Marvell-based 510 series at the top of Intel's consumer-targeted SSD lineup and be offered in capacities ranging from 60GB to 480GB. Like other SandForce SF-2200-based drives, the new Intel SSD 520 series is outfitted with a SATA III interface with sequential reads and writes speeds in the 550MB/s to 520MB/s ranges, respectively. According to their specifications, 4K random reads peak at around 50K IOPS (QD32), with 4K random writes hovering around 80K IOPS for the 240GB model (lower capacity drives, offer somewhat lower performance). In terms of their specifications and features, the Intel SSD 520 series drives should look similar to other SandForce-based counterparts. Intel has, however, worked a bit magic with the SSD 520 Series' firmware to improve performance, reliability, and compatibility. To that end, the controller has also been paired to selectively-binned 25nm NAND flash memory which reportedly offers optimal performance and longevity as well. The Intel SSD 520 series drives sport the same 2.5” form factor that's common with other SATA solid state drives on the market.
Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB Review
SandForce was an unknown newcomer to the solid state drive business when they announced their first SF-1000 memory controller in 2009. Nevertheless many storage manufacturers recognized the chip's potential and moved quickly to adopt it, among them A-Data, Corsair, G.Skill, OCZ, Patriot, Super Talent, and the list went on. Therefore it came as little surprise their second generation controller became widely popular in no time. SandForce had built a reputation for itself and a faster controller was the central piece into building faster SSDs. The consumer-level controller known as the SF-2200 was released in early 2011 including SATA 6Gb/s support and boasting read and write speeds of over 500MB/s, a mind blowing figure when compared to its predecessor. The first product based on this controller was the popular OCZ Vertex 3 drive, but many others have followed, for better or for worse. It'd been rumored since last year that even Intel was joining the party, however as you may be aware the SF-2000 series SSDs suffered from a number of serious bugs (BSODs, random freezes, etc.) during the first 6 months of its release, we assume causing a delay in Intel's plans.
Intel SSD 520 240GB
Intel is one of the few companies that often leads the tech world in innovation and movement. This is especially true in in the microprocessor market, where the chipmaker has retained steady dominance ever since Conroe appeared on the market since 2006. While Intel may not always succeed in every single round (remember the Pentium 4?), the company often recovers quickly and regains its lead over the competitors. Big companies like Intel have both the resource and talent to keep their dominance. Intel's innovative nature led them to create the "tick-tock" plan for their CPU's. They probably also have a similar plan for their SSD as they did with the CPU in which they start with a new controller first (tick) then fine-tune it and pair it with a die shrink of NAND (tock) for additional performance and storage capacity. We have seen this with the X25-M, which introduced the Intel SSD controller and utilized 50nm MLC NAND. The following year, Intel released the the X25-M G2, which utilizes 34nm MLC NAND and brings the capacity up to 160GB. Unfortunately for Intel, the SSD is a relative new area of technology where innovation advances are happening at alarming pace.
Prices
| Retailer | Information | Prices | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Intel 520 Series SSDSC2CW240A310 2.5 inch 240GB SATA3 Solid State Drive (MLC) | $241.99 | See it |
 |
Intel 520 Series Solid-State Drive 240 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch - SSDSC2CW240A310 (Drive Only) | $244.99 | See it |
 |
Intel Cherryville 240GB SSD520 SATA 6GBps Form Factor 2.5 Inches MLC I | $255 | See it |
 |
Intel 520 Series 240GB 2.5 SATA III Solid State Drive - Reseller Box | $260 | See it |
 |
Intel 520 Series Solid-State Drive 240 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch - SSDSC2CW240A3K5 (Reseller Kit) | $268.16 | See it |
|
Intel 520 Series Solid-State Drive 240 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch - SSDSC2CW240A3K5 (Reseller Kit) | $269.99 | See it |
|
Intel Cherryville 240GB SSD520 SATA 6GBps Form Factor 2.5 Inches MLC I | $270 | See it |
 |
Intel® 520 Series 240GB SSD | $279.99 | See it |
 |
Solid-State Drive 520 Series - solid state drive - 240 GB - SATA-600 | $281.99 | See it |
 |
Solid-State Drive 520 Series - solid state drive - 240 GB - SATA-600 | $284.99 | See it |
 |
Intel 520 Series 240GB 2.5 SATA III Solid State Drive - Reseller Box | $293.99 | See it |
|
Intel SSDSC2CW240A3K5 520 Series 2.5 240GB SATA 3.0Gb/s MLC SSD (1 pack) | $299.15 | See it |
 |
INTEL SSDSC2CW240A3K5 240gb Sata-6gbps Ssd | $300 | See it |
|
Intel 520 Series 240GB 2.5 SATA III Solid State Drive - Brown Box | $300.11 | See it |
 |
Intel Corp. SSDSC2CW240A310 520 Series 240GB 2.5 in. OEM | $323.49 | See it |
|
Intel Corp. SSDSC2CW240A3K5 520 Series 240GB 2.5 in. Reseller | $344.84 | See it |
|
520 Series 240GB 2.5'''' OEM 520 Series 240GB 2.5'''' OEM | $393 | See it |
-
Intel 520 Series 240 GB : (8.9/10)
8 expert reviews
0 user reviews
