Details on Intel's Third-Gen SSD 25nm Refresh

By Marcus Yam
published

Intel to battle the SandForce.

Intel SSDs, while very consistent in delivering good performance, is no longer the leader of the pack. Coming soon, however, will be the 25nm versions that'll be a significant upgrade from the current 34nm SSDs.

The 25nm versions are called the Postville Refresh, indicating that it's an upgrade from the current Postville generation. If the performance specifications published by AnandTech ring true, however, then the third-generation drives will definitely outpace the current G2s by a noticeable margin.

Check out AnandTech for the full deal.

Marcus Yam
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.
38 Comments Comment from the forums
  • KingArcher
    Why does Intel have poor write performance compared to other manufacturers?
    Reply
  • gmarsack
    I like seeing the 300/600GB capacities up there... wonder how much something like that would cost - the gross national product of a small country perhaps? Cool to see this tech advance though. :)
    Reply
  • komag
    still no SATA 3 speed?
    Reply
  • KingArcher
    gmarsackI like seeing the 300/600GB capacities up there... wonder how much something like that would cost - the gross national product of a small country perhaps? Cool to see this tech advance though.
    A hand and a leg for 160/300 GB. Probably a kidney as well for the 600GB ;)
    Reply
  • sstym
    It looks like Intel's next gen controller is barely level with the current SandForce and Marvell offerings.
    SandForce advertised for their next gen controller and the specs are way more impressive (I know, wait until actual benchmarking is done).

    What it could mean, though, is lower priced SSD's, which is what WE NEED.
    Last year, SSD prices hovered around $3 to $4 per GB. Today it's more like $2 per GB (for SandForce and Marvell anyway).

    When the prices hit $1 per GB, count me in.
    Reply
  • burnley14
    Slower than expected. Bummer.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    Its good to see that the lifespan has been improved.Intel needs to lower prices to get it right with this one.
    Reply
  • invlem
    KingArcherWhy does Intel have poor write performance compared to other manufacturers?
    Very rarely do you write a lot of data sequentially on an OS drive, outside of installing new programs or copying big files. For daily operations random read/write is what you want.

    This is why Intel drives, even with their lesser write performance still beat most of the other drives out there. The intel offering is known for its amasing random read/write performance.

    Of course SandForce has changed the game with their chip, I suppose only benchmarks will tell which is the better option for this generation of drives.
    Reply
  • Kahless01
    would be nice to see the 80 and 160's get pushed down to lower price points and the 300/600 take their places but that will never happen. we can all still hope for 1$/1GB tho. ill keep my 80gb g2 drive for awhile longer.
    Reply
  • thillntn
    still going to have to wait on these...too expensive in this economy.
    Reply