Reviews - Intel 520 Series SSD (240GB)

[HEXUS]

Intel and SandForce - a match made in SSD heaven?

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[kingpotnoodle]

*If* I was going to but a Sandforce drive then this would be it... I still lean towards a Crucial m4 though... maybe, this is the first drive that's close to making me reconsider what I'd recommend to people, it's not a step up enough to change my 256GB m4 of course.

[zaph0d]

I'm still happier with my image based RAMdrive using ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver, on CrystalDiskMark it gets seq 5687r 7565w, 512k 5538r 7258w, 4k 759.9r 541.6w, 4k qd32 1696r 1048w.
I'd love to see the guys do a comparison of this against the ssd's for all the metrics. It beats ssd's on pure speed at all datapoints, in ATTO even the 0.5k is 91044w and 124324r.

[Hicks12]

Can you guys update the M4s to the current firmware? its a massive improvement and id would make it look better .

Must say that yeah it helps credibility but the problem is SandForce not the nand or anything, its the controller that causes all these problems. I cant see it being that stable... reliable as in it wont break yeah probably but i can still sense BSOD and other issues .

Also, price is terrible... why buy it when you can buy the corsair performance pro for £323 at scan, the 520 is currently £406! You get 16gb more space on the corsair drive AND its better all round (bar IOPs, i feel that metrix is valid for anything bar servers now adays) and proven marvel controller reliability.

hmm...

[Biscuit]

I see a lot of whinging about the reliability of sandforce based drives.

1. Should i be worried about my Force GT (bought around sept last year)?
2. Is there a decent place to read up on it that isn't just a load of douchebags banging on about their opinions?

[Terbinator]

I see a lot of whinging about the reliability of sandforce based drives.

1. Should i be worried about my Force GT (bought around sept last year)?
2. Is there a decent place to read up on it that isn't just a load of douchebags banging on about their opinions?

There was issues across all different drives when the SF-2281(?) controller launched but these seem to be ironed out now. The other issue is that you don't consistently get the 500MB/s read/write that is advertised due to nature of the controller.

Obviously when the two are mixed it is hard to put a positive spin on the SF based drives, IMO, especially when there is competition in the same price-brackets without as detrimental issues on the surface. As for your driver specifically I'd check to make sure that it has the latest recommended firmware and see if it has patched any glaring reliability holes.

OTOH: Its a Corsair drive so your in good hands should it go tits up. My personal advice would be to buy Crucial/Intel's own controller based drives for complete peace of mind if you're in the market for an SSD.

I know you didn't want an opinion so to speak - i hope mine isn't a douchey one.

[Biscuit]

There was issues across all different drives when the SF-2281(?) controller launched but these seem to be ironed out now. The other issue is that you don't consistently get the 500MB/s read/write that is advertised due to nature of the controller.

Obviously when the two are mixed it is hard to put a positive spin on the SF based drives, IMO, especially when there is competition in the same price-brackets without as detrimental issues on the surface. As for your driver specifically I'd check to make sure that it has the latest recommended firmware and see if it has patched any glaring reliability holes.

OTOH: Its a Corsair drive so your in good hands should it go tits up. My personal advice would be to buy Crucial/Intel's own controller based drives for complete peace of mind if you're in the market for an SSD.

I know you didn't want an opinion so to speak - i hope mine isn't a douchey one.

Haha no of course not, much appreciated Terb cheers. Im more referring to places like HDUK where if the deal is anything other than a crucial or intel drive there is just pages of people claiming the drive will explode.
I did check the firmware page the other day and i think i do have an update to do but it will wipe the drive so i need to make a backup image that i can transfer back on.

I picked up an Indilix based OCZ drive the other day for my Ion machine, if it goes tits up then Novatech is just round the corner and they are pretty sound in-store.

[Clydonian]

whats the recommendation, a single 240 or 2x120 in raid, my next build is going to have SSD as the primary and an HDD for storage with an additional HDD for back up, I was aiming for the corsair force GT but now I am having my doubts...

[chrisjs]

What type of RAID? A single 240GB drive will give slower performance vs 2x120GB in R0 which will give you much faster performance but double the potential failure rate. If failure rate is a big issue go for a R1 setup, improved reads and data security, but you'll need 2x240s to get 240GB space though...
Don't be too worried about just getting the Corsair GT, it's a good brand - should be fine. Planning on getting a 120GB one one myself.

[draken]

Would love to get this, but price premium is excessive hoping price will come down on this.
I have one of the Orginal Intell X-25M G1 never had any issue with it vs my OCZ vertex.

[Spartan18]

Guys,

In your opinion how does the 520 compare against OCZ's new vertex 4? I'm trying to decide between the two of them for running my OS on the new PC I intend to build....I've no previous experience with ssd's so your advice would be appreciated.