Inside The Box, Test Setup, And Benchmarks
We got our hands on a retail drive, complete with Intel's desktop installation kit. Because this is a 7 mm-tall SSD, the company includes a black plastic spacer to hit a 9.5 mm Z-height. You also get an obligatory sticker, a 3.5" adapter sled, a power adapter, and a black SATA cable. Sifting around the pile a little more, you'll also notice a 3" optical disc with instructions, a quick-start guide, and random mounting hardware.
The boxed drive includes a five-year warranty. OEM models often sell for less, but pay close attention to the guarantee coverage. Everything we found on Newegg includes five years of protection, but it's not unheard of for OEM offerings to pare back on warranty.
Test Hardware | |
---|---|
Processor | Intel Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 3.1 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled |
Motherboard | Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 |
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1866 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V |
System Drive | Kingston HyperX 3K 240 GB, Firmware 5.02 |
Drive(s) Under Test | Intel SSD 530 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: DC12 |
Comparison Drives | Intel SSD 520 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 400i |
Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA, Firmware: LLKi | |
SanDisk A110 256 GB M.2 PCIe x2, Firmware: A200100 | |
Silicon Motion SM226EN 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M0709A | |
Crucial M500 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 | |
Crucial M500 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 | |
Crucial M500 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 | |
Crucial M500 960 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 | |
Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q | |
Samsung 840 EVO 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q | |
Samsung 840 EVO 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q | |
Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q | |
SanDisk Ultra Plus 64 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: X211200 | |
SanDisk Ultra Plus 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200 | |
SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200 | |
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q | |
Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q | |
SanDisk Extreme II 120 GB, Firmware: R1311 | |
SanDisk Extreme II 240 GB, Firmware: R1311 | |
SanDisk Extreme II 480 GB, Firmware: R1311 | |
Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: B660 | |
Intel SSD 525 30 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi | |
Intel SSD 525 60 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi | |
Intel SSD 525 120 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi | |
Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi | |
Intel SSD 525 240 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi | |
Intel SSD 335 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 335s | |
Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: PWG2 | |
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.25 | |
OCZ Vector 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0 | |
Samsung 830 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO3B1Q | |
Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 000F | |
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 1.02 | |
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M206 | |
Graphics | MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1 GB |
Power Supply | Seasonic X-650, 650 W 80 PLUS Gold |
Chassis | Lian Li Pitstop |
RAID | LSI 9266-8i PCIe x8, FastPath and CacheCade AFK |
System Software and Drivers | |
OperatingSystem | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate |
DirectX | DirectX 11 |
Drivers | Graphics: Nvidia 314.07RST: 10.6.1002IMEI: 7.1.21.1124Generic AHCI: MSAHCI.SYS |
Benchmarks | |
---|---|
Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0 | Trace-Based |
Iometer 1.1.0 | # Workers = 1, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential, 8 GB LBA Precondition, Exponential QD Scaling |
PCMark 7 | Secondary Storage Suite |
PCM Vantage | Storage Suite |