Specifications

80
JUL 2011 maximumpc.com
MAXIMUMPC
Intel 320 Series 300GB SSD
One of the best 3Gb/s SATA drives we’ve tested
IN LAST MONTH’S ROUNDUP of solid-state
drives, Intel’s entrant bore Marvell’s 9174
6Gb/s SATA controller, rather than an Intel
one. While the Intel 510 SSD performed re-
spectably among its 6Gb/s SATA peers, it’s
not the top-to-bottom Intel drive fans have
been waiting for. That drive is finally here,
and despite the Intel 320 Series nomencla-
ture, this is the third generation in Intel’s
X25-M series of mainstream solid-state
drives. But is a drive with a 3Gb/s SATA
controller really going to cut it in 2011?
Intel’s previous consumer solid-state
drives were known for three things:
rock-solid reliability, fast random-
access and sequential read speeds,
and relatively slow sequential write
speeds—often less than half the speed
of the competition. With the 320 Series,
Intel keeps the first two and eliminates
the third; the 320 Series SSD’s sequen-
tial write speeds are, finally, competitive
with other 3Gb/s SATA drives.
The 320 Series is Intel’s first with
25nm-process NAND flash memory—In-
tel’s own, of course. The drive also adds
AES encryption. What it doesn’t add is a
new controller. That’s right; the only dif-
ference between the controllers of the 320
Series and X25-M G2 is the firmware.
The 300GB version of the 320 drive gave
sequential read speeds of 272MB/s and
sequential write speeds of 221MB/s, as
tested in CrystalDiskMark. The previous-
generation X25-M G2 posted a similar
read speed but only a 103.6MB/s sequen-
tial write speed. The X25-M G2 posted
significantly higher random-write speeds
than the 320, both in single-threaded and
32-queue-depth tests. And, of course,
OCZ’s Vertex 3, even in 3Gb/s SATA mode,
far outperformed the 320 Series SSD—and
all others—in 4KB random writes.
The Intel 320 Series SSD holds its
own with top-tier 3Gb/s SATA drives like
those powered by the SandForce SF-1200
controller—or Samsung’s 470 Series,
for that matter—with sequential read
and write performance near the 3Gb/s
SATA bandwidth limit. Intel is aiming
the 320 Series drives at the 3Gb/s SATA
install base, which it calculates at over a
billion computers. For the 6Gb/s crowd,
Intel offers the previously reviewed Intel
510, based on the Marvell controller.
We’re happy to see Intel finally offering a
third-gen mainstream drive, especially
with decent capacities—up to 600GB. The
300GB version we reviewed goes for $540,
significantly cheaper than the $600 Intel
asks for its 250GB 510 drive.
If you have native 6Gb/s
SATA and have to have the
fastest drive you can get, the
Intel 320 Series isn’t for you.
You’re better off with the OCZ
Vertex 3 or another SF-2281-
powered drive. But for the many,
many people still rocking 3Gb/s SATA,
the Intel 320 series offers performance
near the top of that particular heap, plus
Intel’s vaunted reliability, at a very attrac-
tive price point.
–NATHAN EDWARDS
Intel 320 Series 300GB SSD
360 Competitive read/write
performance; good pricing;
robust.
180 Limited by 3Gb/s SATA; late to
the game; random-write IOPS lag behind
leaders.
$540, www.intel.com
The Intel 320 is more than just a
spiritual successor to the X25-M
series—it shares the same chassis
and processor.
in the lab
9
VERDICT
BENCHMARKS
Best scores bolded. Our current test bed is a 3.1GHz Core i3-2100 processor on an Asus P8 P67 Pro (B3 chipset) running Windows 7
Professional 64-bit. All tests used onboard 6Gb/s SATA ports with latest Intel drivers, except 3Gb/s SATA tests, which used onboard
3Gb/s Intel SATA ports.
Intel 320 Series
SSD (3Gb/s SATA)
Intel X25-M G2
(3Gb/s SATA)
Intel 510
(6Gb/s SATA)
OCZ Vertex 3
(6Gb/s SATA)
CAPACITY
300GB 160GB 250GB 240GB
CONTROLLER
Intel Intel Marvell 9174 SF-2200
CRYSTALDISKMARK
Sustained Read (MB/s)
272.9 264.2 480.1
485.5
Sustained Write (MB/s)
221.1 103.6
328.9
289.8
AS SSD
Seq. Read (MB/s)
263.9 253 483.6
506.2
Seq. Write (MB/s)
186.8 80.25
308.03
280.19
4KB Read (IOPS)
4,901
16,089
4,674 5,539
4KB Write (IOPS)
8,343 8,482 9,923
14,263
Read Access (ms)
0.073
0.062
0.207 0.157
Write Access (ms)
0.11 0.118
0.095
0.222
IOMETER
4KB Random Write,
32QD (IOPS)
16,595 28,888 12,123
85,144
M ax Access Time (ms)
68 273 318
61
PREMIERE PRO ENCODE/
WRITE (SEC)
437 484 424
422
PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD
37,720 33,635 39,053
59,978