Intel today released the SSD 520 series, an update to the popular Intel 510 performance series of SSDs. The Intel 520 will have a 2.5” form factor, the same as that of standard laptop hard drives, meaning you can easily replace an existing HD with the new Intel 520. At launch the 520 will be available with the following capacity choices and associated pricing:
- 60GB – $149
- 120GB – $229
- 180GB – $369
- 240GB – $509
- 480GB – $999
The Intel 520 will of course offer SATA III compatibility and provide up to 6GB/s connection speeds, it can also interface via SATA II for older laptops and achieve 3GB/s throughput. The 520 uses Intel’s 25 nanometer (nm) NAND flash memory and a SandForce Flash Storage Processor with Intel tweaked firmware that Intel claims will set new industry performance benchmarks. Here’s what Intel is claiming in regards to read/write speeds on the 520, performance varies by capacity:
| 60GB | 120GB | 180GB | 240GB | 480GB | |
| Sustained Sequential Writes Max (SATA III) | 475 MB/s | 500 MB/s | 520 MB/s | 520 MB/s | 520 MB/s |
| Random 4KB Reads Max | 15,000 IOPS | 25,000 IOPS | 50,000 IOPS | 50,000 IOPS | 50,000 IOPS |
| Random 4KB Writes Max | 23,000 IOPS | 40,000 IOPS | 60,000 IOPS | 60,000 IOPS | 42,000 IOPS |
| Write Performance | 80,000 IOPS | 80,000 IOPS | 80,000 IOPS | 80,000 IOPS | 50,000 IOPS |
The max clearance height of the Intel 520 will also vary by capacity, the 480GB capacity will need 9.5mm of clearance while the smaller drives will all come in under the 7mm clearance. Intel is quoting the same failure rate of 1.2 million hours Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) across the sizes.
In addition to performance and reliability, Intel is also touting the security feature advantages of the 520. The 520 comes pre-configured with AES 256-bit encryption capabilities.
If you’re into empirical data and want to see all the details of how the Intel 520 performs, head on over to StorageReview.com to read a full performance break down on the Intel 520. Storage Review found the Intel 520 to be head over heels better in performance relative to the Intel 320 SSD being replaced. Both the compressible (data such as text) and incompressible (data such as images and video) 4K random read speeds of the Intel SSD 520 were more than double that of the Intel 320 and even to slightly ahead of other high end SSDs such as the OCZ Vertex 3.
In addition to raw benchmarks, Storage Review has a Dell XPS 17 Intel 520 upgrade review article that covers how to install the Intel 520 SSD in the extra drive bay the XPS 17 contains. We recently reviewed the Dell XPS 17 with an Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia 550M graphics card and found that by putting an Intel 520 inside the overall performance jumped around 70%
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