Intel Intros 510 Series SSDs, Cranked to SATA 6

We're not quite at the third generation of Intel SSDs yet, but there's been a considerable performance upgrade in the latest offering from the chipmaker in the new 510 series that offers SATA 6.0 Gbps performance.

Supporting data transfers of up to 500 megabytes per second (MB/s), the Intel SSD 510 doubles the sequential read speeds, and at up to 315MB/s more than triples the sequential write speeds of Intel's current 3Gbps SSDs.

"The Intel SSD 510 Series helps round out our SSD product line and was specifically designed for applications that require high sequential media transfers," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for Intel's NAND Solutions Group. "Whether it's a gamer wanting impeccable visual performance and faster game loading, or a performance-intensive workstation user, the new 6 Gbps SATA SSD from Intel is not only significantly faster than the top 10,000 RPM gaming HDD, it's also faster than two RAIDed gaming HDDs."

Rather than moving to the 25nm NAND technology that's slated for the upcoming G3 Intel SSDs, the 510 Series uses proven the current 34nm NAND flash memory. The product is available now and comes in a 250GB capacity priced at $584 and a 120GB at $284, for 1,000-unit quantities.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • philologos
    You forgot to mention that Intel went with a Marvell controller for these SSDs.
    Reply
  • caeden
    well, sure it is faster than a 10K drive, but is it faster than the 72000 drive you announced today? lol
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    User comments I read in gamer and pc enthusiast forums indicate quite a bit of disappoinment in 510 performance and price. Individuals expected more from Intel.
    Reply
  • noblerabbit
    greg, re-install Win7, and make sure to use the newest Intel SSD toolbox, it made my Gen2 80GB feel new again. There is a new tune option as well, in the new version SSD toolbox. the 1st gen Toolbox too, seemed to degrade my drive over time.
    Reply
  • I think the author was tired when he wrote this, he said, "Cranked to SATA 6" in the title, and, "that offers SATA 6.0 Gbps performance." in the story. This confused me as leaving out the Gbps in the title made me think they were already discussing SATA 6.0 instead of 3.0 which we are currently going to. Adding in the .0 in the story confused me because you dont say 6.0 Gbps, you just say 6 Gbps. It again made me think he was talking about a technology name instead of the throughput.
    Reply
  • stingstang
    @caeden: You're right! They're probably just sweeping that monster under the rug. Although, since it spins that quickly, that rug would catch fire before long.
    Reply
  • rhino13
    Hmmm... and by SATA 6 you mean the SATA 3 standard then huh?
    Reply
  • wraith29a
    For me, this looks like a rushed product. Either Intel has problems with the 25 nm technology, or the new Intel controller has some performance issues. Or both.
    Reply
  • wraith29a
    For me, this looks like a rushed product. Either Intel has problems with the 25 nm technology, or the new Intel controller has some performance issues. Or both.
    Reply
  • nikorr
    about time
    Reply