Intel 520 series 240GB SSD quick test.

stulid · 23 Jun 2012 at 23:21

Today I will be doing a quick unboxing and comparison test of this high end SSD vs my older Corsair ForceGT 120GB SSD

Product homepage - http://ark.intel.com/products/66250/Intel-SSD-520-Series-(240GB-2_5in-SATA-6Gbs-25nm-MLC)

OCUK product page - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-024-IN&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=1427

Tech specs:

Outer packaging:

Contents within:

The SSD:

Test system:

i5 3570K
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 4GB (2X2Gb)
Coolermaster Silent Gold 800w
Akasa SATAIII cabling throughout

ATTO Disk Benchmark:

AS SSD Benchmark:

Crystal Diskmark:

Conclusion:

Fast, 5 year warranty, nuff said.

andy_mk3 · 23 Jun 2012 at 23:30

Nicer little test, and very much to the point

robgmun · 24 Jun 2012 at 01:29

not worth the money then...

Surveyor · 24 Jun 2012 at 01:41

Even with the 5 year warranty I'd stick with the Samsung 830 256GB for near enough half the price.

titaniumx3 · 25 Jun 2012 at 21:14

Strange, your 4K writes in AS-SSD are almost twice as fast as mine. Everything else is pretty much the same though. Is your OS installed to this drive or is attached as a secondary drive? Has the drive been written to at all?

stulid · 25 Jun 2012 at 22:50

titaniumx3 said:
Strange, your 4K writes in AS-SSD are almost twice as fast as mine. Everything else is pretty much the same though. Is your OS installed to this drive or is attached as a secondary drive? Has the drive been written to at all?

The OS is on it, its certainly been used but never filled up over the past couple of weeks.

titaniumx3 · 26 Jun 2012 at 13:16

I've checked a couple of online reviews of the Intel 520 240gb and they all seem to match my results when it comes to 4K random writes (zero queue depth), topping out at between 70 to 80 MB/s (I got around 78 after a fresh install of windows).

My only guess is that you are using newer drivers or the Z77 chipset offers better performance in 4K writes. I'm using Z68 here, with the latest intel storage drivers from their website.

DennisMenace · 26 Jun 2012 at 18:43

Looks like you've been short-changed by Intel!
My 120gb 520 came with everything shown, PLUS another baggie of smaller screws (for attaching the SSD to the bracket). I'd demand a Full Refund.***

I also found that the supplied SATA cable was borked, probably from being folded so tightly. ATTO writes were <300mbps until I replaced the cable (reads were unaffected ??).

*** I'm in the process of getting a Full Refund from Intel (due to the AES-256 encryption issue). That, and the regular F4/9F BSODs I've had. Otherwise it's been a superb drive overall, and judging from the handful of issues (compared to drives sold) I'd say it's a solid drive, shame it's incompatible with my system (Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H). Without the Sandforce issues, I think I'd probably stick with it and make do without AES-256.

However, once bitten, twice shy, so no more Sandforce for me.

But with my refund, I'll probably get a 256gb Samsung 830 (double the capacity, and a tenner left over).

Only a 3-year warranty, but who knows where SSDs will be in 3 years??

PS Nice review stulid, second only to your epic TIM comparison.

The Asgard · 26 Jun 2012 at 18:47

Nice review but there is no reason to buy this over the Sansung 830 256GB. I have both and there is zero difference in use and the Samsung is half the price.

stulid · 26 Jun 2012 at 19:05

The Asgard said:
Nice review but there is no reason to buy this over the Sansung 830 256GB. I have both and there is zero difference in use and the Samsung is half the price.

Its only money

I've tried a few SSD's now (C300, ForceGT, Plextor M2S which my brother now has) this Intel is a good'un.

The Asgard · 26 Jun 2012 at 19:34

stulid said:
Its only money

Some people don't have the luxury with money so just wanted to be honest.

Nice drive but not worth the money.

BluSky · 26 Jun 2012 at 19:45

Nice results, I wouldnt spend the extra money over my ssd 830 though

titaniumx3 · 26 Jun 2012 at 20:42

DennisMenace said:
I also found that the supplied SATA cable was borked, probably from being folded so tightly. ATTO writes were <300mbps until I replaced the cable (reads were unaffected ??).

Wow, didn't realise the cable could cause such problems. I'm using the SATA3 cable supplied with my motherboard, as it looked a little more 'expensive' than the cable supplied by Intel, but now I'm wondering if a different cable would make a difference.

What make of cable did you replace it with?

Surveyor · 26 Jun 2012 at 20:45

titaniumx3 said:
Wow, didn't realise the cable could cause such problems. I'm using the SATA3 cable supplied with my motherboard, as it looked a little more 'expensive' than the cable supplied by Intel, but now I'm wondering if a different cable would make a difference.

The SATA data cable is unlikely to make any difference unless you're using a damaged or defective one.

The cables supplied with your motherboard are fine for the job.

DennisMenace · 27 Jun 2012 at 07:54

titaniumx3 said:
What make of cable did you replace it with?

Surveyor said:
The cables supplied with your motherboard are fine for the job.

This.

The flat tightly-folded cable that came with the SSD was heavily kinked, which I assume caused it to seriously degrade the write speed. It took 200+GB of writes (ATTO, AS-SSD and CrystalDiskMark benches) to determine this - it was the last thing I suspected, as it was brand new.

The round SATA 3 cable from the mobo box felt much better quality and came loosely coiled, but I'm sure any decent quality un-kinked cable would work.