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Falling SSD prices might give you a swift boot (up) sooner than you think
Solid state drives are the one piece of gear that can turn a dog computer into a cheetah, and it looks like you may not have to scrape much longer to get one. Floods in Thailand made prices for their spinning-plattered brethren climb, but many SSD models like those from Crucial, OCZ and Intel have fallen up to 65 percent in the last year. Lower NAND prices, along with cheaper and better controllers from Sandforce and Indilinx have no doubt contributed to the boon for performance-hungry consumers. All of that means that a 256 GB drive which cost $500+ in June 2011, now runs less than $200 -- and at $.82 / GB, it turns from a near-luxury good to at least a thinkable proposition for many.
Intel 313 SSDs bring improved caching to ultrabooks, desktops, life in general
Just like Intel's older 311 batch of small cache SSDs, the new 313 series is designed to sit alongside a traditional spinning HDD in order provide a tasty blend of speed and capacity. These newer drives are still SATA II, so there's no 6Gbps action here, but they use superior 25nm SLC flash, offer faster speeds for the same price (starting at $120 for 20GB) and are explicitly approved for use in the coming wave of Ultrabooks -- so don't be surprised if that's where you meet 'em next.
Intel SSD 520 review roundup: Intel reliability, SandForce speeds starting at $149
There's plenty of SSD options out there, but Intel's NAND drives are among the most well thought of, simply because they're so reliable. But, with the top speed of competing SSDs spiraling higher, Intel's rock-solid reputation may not be enough for some enthusiasts. Enter the SSD 520, with a performance SandForce SF-2281 controller and custom firmware (codenamed Cherryville) on board to ensure the 520 meets Chipzilla's demanding standards for stability. It's the result of a year and a half long collaboration between Intel and SandForce, and is available in both 7mm and 9.5mm thin form factors to fit any machine -- Ultrabook or otherwise. Aside from the SandForce chip, the 520 packs Intel's finest 25nm NAND Flash, a SATA 6GB/s connection and its 550MB/s reads and 520MB/s writes can be had for $149 in 60GB garb and prices escalate up to a grand for 480GB. Naturally, as this is Intel's effort to snatch back the performance market, a raft of reviews have been written about the SSD 520.So, how does the 520 stack up? Well, Intel's so confident in the 520 that it's backed the SSD with a five-year warranty. Though its performance doesn't drastically outpace its competition, Storage Review found the drive to be on par with the current speed king, OCZ's Vertex 3 in its benchmarks -- and also found performance and stability to be quite good in both enterprise use and in RAID arrays. Meanwhile, AnandTech found that the 520's peak random write speeds quite similar to its sequential reads during testing, which shows how well the optimized firmware works with the NAND. Hot Hardware thought the 520 to be comparable to other SandForce-equipped SSDs, but in terms of power consumption, Tom's Hardware found Intel's latest to be a power hog. Generally, all the reviewers were in agreement: the 520 is a speedy SSD, but you pay a hefty premium for Intel's reputation for churning out reliable drives. Only time will tell if the 520 can deliver the reliability we want, but there's plenty of performance info to be had in the reviews listed below.
Intel's 710 SSDs get announced, bit too rich for the Christmas list (video)
Owning a high-capacity SSD is a bit like having a butler -- it's a lovely option, but so damn expensive. Intel's announcing Lyndonville -- more modestly called the SSD 710, which replaces the less modestly named X25-E Extreme. The enterprise-level SSD's carrying 25-nanometer MLC flash memory and when tested, five of the drives were able to handle the same load as 90 x 15,000 RPM HDDs in Intel's data center. The drives will be available in the fall, and considering it's already September, we can only assume the company is waiting for a few more leaves to turn brown before going to OEMs. Volume pricing for units of 1,000 places the 100GB model at $649, 200GB at $1,289 and the 300GB at a tear-inducing $1,929. You can see Intel's Agustin Gonzalez talk up the 710 in the video after the break.
Intel's 710 'Lyndonville' and 720 'Ramsdale' SSDs see full spec leak well ahead of release
You may recall Intel's 710 "Lyndonville" and 720 "Ramsdale" enterprise SSDs outted by a leaked roadmap back in April, but details were as thin as high mountain air. Luckily, German site Computer Base has obtained what appears to be a full spec sheet for the aforementioned drives. Starting with the 710, this 25nm HET MLC -- a more durable variant of MLC -- device will come in 100GB, 200GB, and 300GB flavors, and it claims to have read and write speeds at up to 270 MB/s and 210 MB/s, respectively, along with a 3Gbps SATA connection. Things are a bit wild with the 720: not only does it have 34nm SLC chips making up the 200GB and 400GB versions, but it also boasts some truly insane read and write speeds of up to 2200 MB/s and 1800 MB/s, respectively. Yes, 2200 MB/s and 1800 MB/s, garnished by the fast 4K IOPs as well. We had our doubts initially, but looking at the previously stated 6Gbps PCIe interface and the much higher power draw, we think there's a good chance for this to come into reality. Well, only time will tell if these numbers will stick around for the Q3 launch this year -- not that our wallets will want to know, mind you. Hit the source link for the full lowdown. Update: As pointed out by our readers, it looks like the 720 will need more than 6Gbps at the PCIe bus to accommodate its maximum read and write speeds. At this point, we can only assume that there is indeed a typo somewhere -- either on the roadmap or on this table.
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD motherboard eyes-on
We're not normally all that stoked with motherboards, but Gigabyte's awkwardly named Z68XP-UD3-iSSD just about got our attention at Computex. The highlight here is the Intel 20GB SLC SSD latched onto the board's mSATA slot, which is right next to the LGA1155 CPU socket and the four DDR3 RAM slots (together supporting up to 32GB). Alas, Gigabyte says it won't be offering upgrade options for the SSD, though there are certainly alternatives out there in the wild if you dare to venture. But if none of this interests you, then there's always our multi-screen Angry Birds hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-125344%
Gigabyte bolts an SSD to a motherboard (so you don't have to)
Gigabyte has decided to simplify matters for those who want the power of an SSD in their desktop, but don't want to deal with the hassle of buying and connecting one. The company's new Z68XP-UD3-iSSD (catchy, no?) motherboard comes with a 20GB Intel SSD 311 mounted right on it. It's not clear if you can simply dump files on it like a normal drive -- what it can do, however, is use Intel's Smart Response tech to cache frequently accessed data, like your OS, to improve performance. Essentially, it turns any hard disk you connect to the system into a hybrid drive with a much larger reserve of flash storage, which should sound somewhat familiar. The board also features the ability to switch between discrete and built-in graphics thanks to Lucid Logix's Virtu. The rest of the features are pretty standard fare: USB 3.0, a pair of 16x PCI-E slots, and 6GB SATA connections. The latest Z68 board from Gigabyte will go on sale early in June and, while we don't have a price, we've done a little (PR) embedding of our own after the break.
Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them
Intel cares about you. It cares that your data is safe and secure in a sturdy storage silo of the solid state variety. In order to enlighten you on the dangers that old and dusty magnetic hard drives pose, it has kindly fashioned out a short film detailing graphically the fate of your 1s and 0s when they're kept on an HDD that suffers an unexpected impact. It's atmospheric, thrilling stuff, which we dare not spoil for you here. We'll just say it ends on a pretty hilarious note and point you to the video below.
Intel 310 mSATA SSD knows that size matters, fits 80GB into less space than a credit card
Watch out, Toshiba, your tiny SSD modules aren't the only game in town for ludicrously small flash storage anymore. Intel's just announced a new SSD 310 line that offers spectacularly minimal 51mm by 30mm by 5mm dimensions, while retaining X25-class performance (up to 200MBps read and 80MBps write speeds). To give you an idea of what those measurements mean, the industry-standard 2.5-inch form factor, an already diminutive footprint, is eight times larger than these newfangled storage chips. 40GB and 80GB variants of the SSD 310 are shipping out to OEMs already and Lenovo has confirmed it plans to roll these into its next refresh of the venerable ThinkPad laptop line. Prices are set at $99 and $179 (depending on size) when bought in batches of 1,000, though direct sales to end users are predictably off the table for now. Better start saving up for that next ultrathin laptop if you want one.
Intel finds SSD firmware bug, calls in the exterminators
Amid Intel's recent catalog of problems is a pretty significant firmware update for the X25-M SSDs, which went rogue and started bricking drives for the sheer bloody-minded enjoyment of it. After promptly pulling the software, the chip giant set straight to work -- or so we presume -- and has today finally managed to replicate the fatal circumstances that may lead to your SSD's untimely demise. That's not to say the problem's been fixed, and there's no word yet on when the cleaned up patch will be back out for consumption, but at least we're a step closer to realizing those TRIM-related speed boosts. So, are you growing tired of Intel's suicidal firmware updates, or should we consider these mere bumps on the road to superfast SSD awesomeness?
Intel issues X25-M G2 SSD firmware fix for BIOS password conundrum
Eagerly waiting to change that drive password within the system BIOS on your fancy new X25-M G2 solid state drive? Good news, storage junkies -- today you can. After Intel saw its next-gen SSD launch party hit a snag with an off-the-wall quirk that could cause data corruption for those who altered or disabled a drive password within the system BIOS, the company has finally come forward with a firmware update that solves the dilemma, along with world hunger, "the economy" and an undisclosed amount of other universal pains. Hit the read link for instructions on how to update your drive, but don't blame us if every precious memory you've ever collected goes down in flames during the process. Just kidding.[Via HotHardware]
BIOS password snag subdues Intel's 34nm X25-M G2 launch party
Man, Intel can't win for losin'. After it was forced to issue a firmware update to remedy an off-the-wall slowdown issue that affected a few of its original X25-M SSDs, the outfit is already having to push out a patch to solve a minor quirk with its newfangled 34nm X25-M G2 drives. According to Puget System's William George, his company -- along with NewEgg and a number of other respected vendors -- was forced to yank the new drive from its website shortly after it became available. Turns out, there is a defect in the initial shipment that could cause data corruption if "a password is set on the drive in the system BIOS, and then changed or disabled later." We're told that a firmware fix should be out within a fortnight, and while most companies are allowing folks to hold off and wait for factory-patched drives, those who don't foresee themselves placing such a password on their SSD can go ahead and enjoy the spoils of 34nm flash goodness while waiting for Intel's engineers to do their thang. Oh, and if you're thinking about buying in now, you should probably know that Intel has halted shipments until the fix is complete. Ready to deal with a shortage, are you?[Image courtesy of HotHardware, thanks Joseph]
Intel's 34nm X25-M runs like a thoroughbred SSD, costs less
It was only two days ago that they finally became official, but already we've got a couple of reviews springing up to tell us all about the second generation X25-M SSDs from Intel. PC Perspective kick things off with a full examination of the new drive, finding plenty of good (improved random reads and writes), some bad (minor fragmentation issues under extreme use scenarios) and pretty much no ugly. Not to be outdone, Anandtech have dissected the drive and compared its innards with the older generation hardware, while also running a few benchmarks for good measure. The conclusion in both camps is that while Intel has improved the hardware side of things, it is the drastically reduced price that makes the X25-M G2 the best choice in the consumer SSD space. Navigate past the break for a pricing chart, but remember that retail cost will be a bit steeper, should you be able to snag one in the wild. Read - HotHardware reviewRead - PC Perspective reviewRead - Anandtech preview
AnandTech explores the virtues and woes of today's SSD
If you're interested in SSD, chances are you've been paying attention to the allegations of performance degradation in Intel's X25-M drives. AnandTech dives into the issue (and many, many more topics) in 31 page exploration of the state of solid state. It's a spine-tingling read, in part explaining how write-speed degradation is largely thanks to partially used pages containing portions of deleted files. We all know deleted files typically aren't really gone until they're overwritten, a problem in SSDs because to clear a section of a page the entire page needs to be cleared. That entails moving anything you want to keep to the cache, wiping the whole page, then re-writing that good data from cache. The hope is that a new delete command dubbed TRIM (set to find support in Windows 7) will speed up writes by forcing the system to perform this work during deletes, but ahead of that the article still recommends Intel's drives; even at their worst they're still generally faster than the comparably priced competition when it comes to average use -- not to mention faster than your platters.
Intel responds to SSD performance allegations with a denial
Did you catch the news yesterday about those chronic performance problems that cropped up in a trio of Intel X25-M SSDs under review by PC Perspective? Intel apparently did, promptly responding and identifying what it believes to be the issue: the testers. The review alleged that the drives' write algorithms, intended to evenly spread wear and extend their lives, result in extreme fragmentation and major decreases in performance. Intel is saying it wasn't able to replicate the results, that "the synthetic workloads they use to stress the drive are not reflective of real world use," and that "the benchmarks they used to evaluate performance do not represent what a PC user experiences." The reviewers were largely just copying files around and installing/uninstalling applications, which sounds fairly realistic to us. We're thinking these two aren't going to agree to disagree on this one, and that there will be more updates to come.
Intel 80GB SSD price cut by one-third, still very expensive
Looks like Intel is giving some of its SSDs a more reasonable -- yet still very exorbitant -- price tag. The company has slashed the 2.5-inch 80GB X25-M from $595 in September to now $390. While a 34 percent cut is nothing to scoff at, that's still $90 more expensive than Western Digital's 2TB spinner, which offers 25 times the capacity. The company also recently discounted its 160GB variant 19 percent, from $945 to $765. No reason was given for the markdown, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the economy isn't looking too kindly on solid state's dollar-to-data ratio.
Intel's pre-production SSDs get pictured
We've been waiting so long for Intel to stop talking and start producing its own line of SSDs that it's actually kind of shocking to finally see some progress. Nevertheless, one Knut Grimsrud managed to spend some time with a pre-production unit and was noticeably satisfied with performance. 'Course, we all know the benefits of solid state discs by now -- we're ready to see those buggers snapped above available en masse. Any day now, Intel.[Via CNET]
