14 DAY TRIAL // Eurocom has always been known for its high performance desktop replacement laptops and mobile workstations, so it comes as no surprise that the company has announced that its systems can now be configured with Intel's high-performance 520-series SSDs.
The 520-series of solid state drives was designed by Intel to cater to the needs of high-end users and enthusiasts alike. It can achieve a maximum sequential read speed of 550MB/s, while sequential write speed is rated at 520MB/s.
In addition, 4K random write performance has been measured to reach 80,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second) and 4K random read is rated at about 50,000 IOPS.
The SSDs connect to the system via a SATA 6Gbps interface and would ideally be paired with Eurocom's Sandy Bridge-powered notebooks, as these pack native 6Gbps support.
This includes both the 15.6-inch Racer and the 17.3-inch Neptune, but also the recently released Panther 4.0 workstation based on Intel’s enthusiast-oriented Sandy Bridge-E CPUs.
Up to four Intel 520 series drives can be installed in the latter system and Eurocom even offers its clients the option of configuring these drives as part of a RAID array.
Furthermore, customers can choose to pair Intel’s solid state drives with other SSDs, hard drives, as well as with hybrid storage solutions.
So far, Eurocom hasn’t mentioned how much the upgrade to a 520-series SSD will end up costing, but in the retail channel prices go from $149 US (114 EUR) for the 60GB all the way up to $999 US (about 763 EUR) for the 480GB SSD.
The 520-series SSDs were launched by Intel at the start of February and are the company’s first solid state drives to use controllers built by SandForce. The SSDs are also known under the code name of Cherryville.