Intel’s first SATA 6Gbps SSDs coming in March

Still using 34nm NAND Flash memory

INTEL IS SET to upgrade its line of SSD drives come March the 1st and it’ll be Intel’s first entry into the SATA 6Gbps SSD market space. Although the new SSDs will be using Intel’s first SATA 6Gbps SSD controller, they won’t get new NAND Flash quite yet, as these consumer focused 510 series drives will continue using older 34nm NAND Flash.

According to leaked details on VR-Zone, the 510 series will at least initially be limited to a 120 and a 250GB version, although we’d expect Intel to launch additional sizes if there’s enough demand before the company moves to 2Xnm NAND Flash. Even though the 510 series uses older 34nm NAND Flash the performance is a huge step up over Intel’s current X25-M series of SSDs.

The reported performance figures are pretty impressive if not earth shattering with read speeds of up to 470MB/s and write speeds of up to 315MB/s. Not quite as good as competing solutions, although not far behind either and as we haven’t seen actual real world performance numbers, we’ll reserve judgment until the 510 series gets tested.

Price-wise the MSRP is about in line with Crucial’s C300 series of SSD’s, although the retail price of these drives are now much lower than the MSRP. The 120GB 510 series SSD will set you back $280 while the 250GB 510 series SSD is more than double that at $580. So in other words, don’t expect a bargain, but not a rip-off either.S|A

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