14 DAY TRIAL // Rumors regarding Intel’s plans to utilize SandForce SATA 6Gbps controllers for their high-performance solid state drives have turned out to be true, the chip maker’s 520 SSDs being the first drives to go this route.
Launched just earlier today, the 520 SSD series comprises so far five models with capacities ranging from 60GB to 480GB.
Despite their different capacities, all these drives are based on the same configuration that pairs SandForce’s SF-2281 SATA 6Gbps controller with 25nm MLC NAND manufactured by IMFT.
At first look, this configuration seems to be similar to that used by other SandForce drives, such as the OCZ Vertex 3 or the Kingston HyperX, but Intel says that for the 520 series SSDs the NAND memory used was binned to find the highest quality chips available (IMFT is a joint venture between Intel and Micron).
Furthermore, the PCB of the drives was redesigned and the SSDs also use a custom firmware, developed internally by the company.
The latter is said to bring added reliability to the 520 series SSD, which is definitely good news for those experiencing troubles with other solid state drives based on SandForce’s SF-2281 controllers.
Of course it is a bit early to tell if Intel’s promises are true. But AnandTech’s experiments seem to prove that the chip maker is actually right, since replacing a BSOD prone non-Intel SF-2281 SSD with the 520 “Cherryville” drive actually made these errors go away.
As far as performance is concerned, the 520 series drives don’t seem to differ all that much from the other SF-2281 SSDs on the market, as the maximum read and write sequential speeds are rated at 550MB/s and 520MB/s, respectively.
Intel’s 520-series SSDs are available for purchase as we speak. The improved reliability does however come at a cost, since prices start at $149 US (114 EUR) for the 60GB unit and go all the way up to $999 US (about 763 EUR) for the 480GB SSD.
