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Intel SSD 520 Series (240GB) - Take a Trip Down Cherryville

By Kenny Yeo - 16 Apr 2012

The Intel SSD 520 Series

The Intel SSD 520 Series (240GB)

Unlike the previous SSD 510 series which came in just two capacities - 120GB and 250GB - Intel is offering new SSD 520 series in more capacities to cater to different users with different needs and budget - 60GB, 120GB, 180GB, 240GB and 480GB.

The drive we have with us for review is the the 240GB version - perfect for our comparison testing. This should also prove the most popular model seeing that it offers the best blend of performance, price and usability for the enthusiasts.

The drive comes in the familiar form of a 7mm height chassis but with a 2.5mm removable plastic adapter that’ll let you fit in 9.5mm drive bays (the standard for 2.5-inch bays). This gives it the flexibility to be installed in Ultrabooks, mainstream notebooks and desktops. Note, however, that Intel doesn’t provide shorter screws should you choose to remove the plastic adapter.

That aside, Intel does give you a bracket for installing the drive in a 3.5-inch drive bay and also provided both data and power SATA cables, which is pretty standard fare.

The drive comes with a standard array of accessories including a bracket for installing the drive into 3.5-inch drive bays, SATA data and power cables.

Peeling off the cover reveals the innards of the drive.

The SandForce SF-2281 controller is the same used by other drive makers, but Intel has a special firmware that promises enhanced reliability and performance.

Thanks to Intel's joint venture with Micron Technology, Intel gets the best pick of chips made by IMFT. These are 25nm NAND chips and there's 16 of them, eight on each side of the PCB.

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8.0
  • Performance 8.5
  • Features 7
  • Value 8
The Good
Class-leading performance
Much improved over Intel SSD 510 series
Special firmware exclusive to Intel
The Bad
Slightly pricey
Below average IOPS performance on Iometer
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