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Intel 510 SSD Review Out w/ benchmarks

E

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
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To those waiting for Intel's Next Gen SSD, Behold:

Intel SSD 510 Review (250GB)

Intel's success with the X25-M has been quite remarkable. Not only has the drive sold more than any other SSD on the market, it's had a solid track record for reliability and compatibility as well. It's with great anticipation that we've been waiting for Intel's next generation SSD - now it's here, the Intel SSD 510. Intel continues to build on their new naming scheme, the SSD 310 is their little mSATA SSD and now the SSD 510, a mainstream SSD leveraging a SATA 6Gb/s interface and 34nm NAND to yield speeds of up to 500MB/s sequential reads and 315MB/s writes for the 250GB capacity. Intel also offers a 120GB capacity that posts speeds of 450MB/s and 210MB/s.
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More Info is to be posted tonight, so get your credit cards ready.

For you kids with yer' lightningpeak bolt whatever, the Lacie Little Big Disk is reportedly offering you the above Intel SSDs Inside™.
 
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I'm a noob at SSDs (well Intel SSDs to be specific) so pardon my lack of knowledge. But how well does the Marvell controller compare to the SandForce/Micron controllers? Wouldn't there be a higher performance degradation over time with Intel vs say OWC or OCZ?

EDIT: I'm waiting for the new SandForce controllers to be placed in OWC's line of SSDs for the reasons Tyrion stated. OCZ's switch from 34nm to 25nm without informing their customers seemed pretty BS to me and I wonder why Intel is staying with the 34nm chips if they are the one's pushing to move towards 25nm chips :/
 
Hmm, weird that they use the Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 controller, instead of something in house.

They may save that for their 25nm NAND flash or something.
 
Pressure said:
Hmm, weird that they use the Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 controller, instead of something in house.

They may save that for their 25nm NAND flash or something.
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And in a similar vein: isn't this an older Marvell-controller? It's not the one used in the new Corsair P3 256, right?
 
KJmoon117 said:
I'm a noob at SSDs (well Intel SSDs to be specific) so pardon my lack of knowledge. But how well does the Marvell controller compare to the SandForce/Micron controllers? Wouldn't there be a higher performance degradation over time with Intel vs say OWC or OCZ?
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It seems to be a new version of the controller used in Crucial C300-series. It supports TRIM but its own GC collection and stuff aren't as good as in SF based drives from what I've heard.

EDIT: I'm waiting for the new SandForce controllers to be placed in OWC's line of SSDs for the reasons Tyrion stated. OCZ's switch from 34nm to 25nm without informing their customers seemed pretty BS to me and I wonder why Intel is staying with the 34nm chips if they are the one's pushing to move towards 25nm chips :/
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Pressure said:
They may save that for their 25nm NAND flash or something.
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Probably saving them for X-25M G3 lineup. Smaller NAND flash has its issues (shorter lifespan) though.

EDIT: It's the same controller as in Crucial C400-series.
 
It's about time! Although, I'm not too keen on being a storage early adopter. I suppose I can wait two more weeks until more benchmarks and reviews are out. Will probably buy the Intel even if it's a bit slower since they're perceived to be more reliable.
 
max pl said:
i want price and release date, neither of which is in that review.
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Many stores in my vicinity (Switzerland) already quote prices, and one store even supposedly has more than ten 250 GB drives in stock. Not sure I believe them, but hey. Prices are on par with other 256-offerings, e. g. 600-650 Swiss Francs (=450-550 Euros).
 
How much? $575?

*yawn*

Wake me when the 500GB version can be purchased without pawning my last remaining testicle. (My ex-wife has the other).
 
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max pl said:
i want price and release date, neither of which is in that review.
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They are already available and in stock here in Denmark.

Although the price is currently at $309 ($387 including 25% VAT) for the 120GB version and $636 ($795 including 25% VAT) for the 250GB version.
 
KBS756 said:
anyone know if these will be available on newegg ... and roughly when?
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I've read:

-They are currently shipping today and should be available tomorrow.
-They are only available to OEMs right now.
-They are shipping in non US markets (as mentioned above).

I take it all with a grain of salt, though we've been hearing "march 1st" for the longest, and intel did make an announcement today:


SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 28, 2011 – Intel Corporation announced today the next in a line of new solid-state drives (SSD), the Intel® Solid-State Drive 510 Series. The new Intel SSD 510 features fast SATA 6 Gigabits per second (Gbps) performance to take full advantage of Intel's transition to higher speed SATA bus interfaces on the recently introduced 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor-based platforms. Supporting data transfers of up to 500 megabytes per second (MB/s), the Intel SSD 510 doubles the sequential read speeds, and at up to 315MB/s more than triples the sequential write speeds of Intel's current 3Gbps SSDs, to transfer more data in less time. This makes it ideal for demanding gamers, media creators, performance-intensive workstation users and any technology enthusiast.


The Intel SSD 510 offers the fastest sequential read and write speeds of any consumer SATA SSD available today, providing industry leading performance that beats a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) by more than 50 percent.1 In addition to better overall system responsiveness when compared to a mechanical hard drive, SSDs have no moving parts so are more rugged, consume less power and run quieter and cooler than HDDs. SSDs reduce boot times, launch applications and files faster and recover from sleep mode quicker, resulting in noticeable improvement. Conventional HDDs are also unable to effectively take advantage of 6Gbps platform technology, since HDDs fail to maximize even the current 3Gbps SATA interface.


"The Intel SSD 510 Series helps round out our SSD product line and was specifically designed for applications that require high sequential media transfers," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for Intel's NAND Solutions Group. "Whether it's a gamer wanting impeccable visual performance and faster game loading, or a performance-intensive workstation user, the new 6Gbps SATA SSD from Intel is not only significantly faster than the top 10,000 RPM gaming HDD, it's also faster than two RAIDed gaming HDDs."2


"As a game developer the number one thing we try to optimize during development isn't our game's memory usage or frames per second, but our content creator's iteration time," said Dave Lang, CEO of Iron Galaxy, a Chicago-based game development studio. "By transitioning our team to Intel's 6Gbps SSDs, we've seen a dramatic 15 to 20 percent improvement in the time it takes one of our developers to make a change in the editor, then get to try it out in-game. Faster iterations mean more iterations, which means a better game for the consumer."


The Intel SSD 510 Series uses proven Intel 34-nanometer NAND flash memory to deliver best-in-class sequential performance of up to 500MB/s sequential read speeds and up to 315 MB/s writes for its high-capacity model. The product is available now and comes in a 250GB capacity priced at $584 and a 120GB at $284, for 1,000-unit quantities. Both products include a limited 3-year warranty. The 120GB version is an excellent choice for dual-drive desktops, a hybrid configuration gaining in popularity. In this type of set up, the operating system, favorite applications and games are accessed from the SSD for faster boot up and accelerated application performance, while the HDD is used to store data.


In addition to solid reliability, Intel SSD purchasers have the benefit of the Intel® SSD Toolbox with Intel SSD Optimizer, a free utility which provides Microsoft Windows* users with a powerful set of management, information and diagnostic tools to help maintain the health and out-of-box performance of the drive. To help ease the installation process, all Intel SSD users can download the free Intel® Data Migration Software to help clone the entire content of a previous storage drive (SSD or HDD) to any Intel SSD.



Intel SSDs can be purchased from a variety of resellers, retailers or Internet e-tailers such as Newegg.com or Amazon.com worldwide. More information on Intel SSDs can be found at www.intel.com/go/ssd or by accessing the multimedia press kit at www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/ssd. Follow Intel SSDs on Twitter: @intelssd, Facebook: Intel Solid State Drive (Official) or communities.intel.com.
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So are these 510s taking the place of the X25m g3's?

Or are these just a 34nm stopgap while they fix their 25nm issues and/or try and increase their speeds to stay competetive with OCZ/SF?

Any news on when we might see the x25m g3's?

I'm scared of taking the plunge on these 510s with the Marvell controller over an in-house Intel controller... especially for this $, but boy do I want a SSD, and soon. What to do, what to do.

As I'm new to SSD's and don't have one, how does Mac OS X handle SSDs over time, seeing as how Mac OS X doesn't have TRIM support? Is that a real issue?
 
Dubthedankest said:
So are these 510s taking the place of the X25m g3's?

Or are these just a 34nm stopgap while they fix their 25nm issues and/or try and increase their speeds to stay competetive with OCZ/SF?
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510-series is not a replacement of X-25M G3 series. I haven't heard any new about G3 for awhile but I heard they should be out within Q1 so looks like during March.

As I'm new to SSD's and don't have one, how does Mac OS X handle SSDs over time, seeing as how Mac OS X doesn't have TRIM support? Is that a real issue?
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Depends on the SSD. Newer SSDs have very good firmwares with GC so TRIM may not be necessary. E.g. the SSD in MBAs did not experience any degradation when MacWorld tested it. SandForce based drives are even better at this. I don't know how this new Intel performs so we will have to wait and see.

On the other hand, Lion supports TRIM.
 
Dubthedankest said:
As I'm new to SSD's and don't have one, how does Mac OS X handle SSDs over time, seeing as how Mac OS X doesn't have TRIM support? Is that a real issue?
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Even if you don't get TRIM support for a while, what is the alternative? Using a spinning platter disk? :eek: The SSD will still be light years better even if it has some degradation.
 
Forgive me n00b questions but how does the 510 compare w/ the standard 500GB SSD that Apple is offering w/ their 15" MBP setup upgrade? Is it 2x as fast or something significant to warrant it being half the size?

Do the two pretty much feel the same when compared to the 5400 or 7200 RPM hard drives?

Also, any idea if the new MBP's are SATA 2 or SATA 3?
 
kappaknight said:
Forgive me n00b questions but how does the 510 compare w/ the standard 500GB SSD that Apple is offering w/ their 15" MBP setup upgrade? Is it 2x as fast or something significant to warrant it being half the size?
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We don't know yet what SSDs Apple is using in the latest MBPs.

Do the two pretty much feel the same when compared to the 5400 or 7200 RPM hard drives?
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Depends what you do but in basic usage, most likely yes.

Also, any idea if the new MBP's are SATA 2 or SATA 3?
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At least the HD bay should be SATA 6Gb/s.
 
where exactly do these 510s go in intels g3 lineup?

are these enterprise, value, m-class?
 
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