Yup. Intel released a new SSD and you’ve really gotta hand it to their marketing department. They do a damn fine job making sure everyone and their moms know about it.
Just in case you haven’t, the new SSD in question is the Intel 520 Series. Why is it so popular? Well, when Intel first introduced the Intel 510 series SSD, it had a fast SandForce controller, it was reliable, and it had Intel’s name stamped all over it. If you were looking to build a blazing fast, extremely reliable rig, that was the SSD to get. Today, the Intel 510 Series SSD is still reliable, still has Intel’s name on it, but it isn’t that fast anymore – not with the likes of OCZ’s Vertex 3 or Patriot’s Wildfire hanging around.
So after one and a half years of collaboration between Intel and SandForce, we now have the Intel 520 Series SSD. On the performance side it features an updated SandForce SF-2281 controller, Intel’s top of the line 25nm Synchronous NAND MLC Flash Memory, sustained reads/writes up to 550MB/s / 520MB/s, and more while on the reliability side, we’re also seeing that industry leading 5 year warranty. Sounds sweet, but how does it do?
Well, based on the number of awards it’s received, pretty damn good with the only con for the most part being the price. Take a look at some of the reviews below!
Source: Tom’s Hardware, Anandtech, Hardware Secrets, LegitReviews, KitGuru, OverclockersClub, Hardware Canucks
