Intel 40 GB X25V Value SATA II Solid State Drive Retail Package SSDSA2MP040G2R5
February 15, 2010- Random 4 KB reads up to 25 K IOPS, random 4 KB writes up to 2.5 K IOPS
- Sustained Read/Write: 170/35 MB/s
- Power: 150mW active, 75mW idle
- 1.2 million hour MTBF
- Read Latency: 65 microseconds, write Latency: 110 microseconds
Product Description
Intel X25-V SATA Solid State Drive (SSD) delivers capacity and optimized performance for cost sensitive and rugged platforms in the industry standard 2.5-Inch form factor. By combining Intel’s leading 34nm NAND flash memory technology with our innovative high performance controller, Intel delivers its SSD for native SATA hard disk drive drop-in replacement with enhanced performance, reliability, ruggedness and power savings….
This model:
- Read: Up to 170MB/sec
- Write: Up to 35MB/sec
The 80 GB X25-M G2
- Read: Up to 250MB/sec
- Write: Up to 70MB/sec
Write speed isn’t considered a strong point for the X25-M and this model has half its write speed. Personally, I’d invest in a faster SSD. The capacity vs. speed vs. price ratio of this product doesn’t seem like it’s a great value.
Rating: 3 / 5
I cannot believe I waited this long, considering how long drives have been available for ~$150. Upon receiving this drive, I installed it in a ~5 year old sluggish machine running XP. Installed Windows 7 in about 15 minutes. Previously this computer choked running Vista and 7. The old 120gb 5400rpm hd just couldnt handle it. It ran Windows 7 about as fast as my Macbook Pro runs Mac OS.
The real reason I bought this drive is to install it in a Macbook Pro to replace the 250gb HD. This is a work machine that doesnt need much space so 40gb is fine, even with 4.5GB dedicated to virtual Windows XP. It used to be 15gb but there are lots of things you can trim out (page file, restore points) and really shrink XP down.
But on to the performance review. Opening any app, including VMware which is rather large, is instant. The virtual machine is up and running a second after clicking the app. You can start any app and it is open instantly.
I’d recommend getting the Intel over the Kingston, even though the Kingston is a rebadged Intel drive. Intel has been supplying firmware updates and has excellent support. Kingston doesnt plan on offering firmware updates. This is important as the Intel supports trim, and the Kingston doesnt but could with a simple firmware.
Rating: 5 / 5
I got 3 of these and stripped them using the RAID on the motherboard (ICH9R). I see a rock solid 600 MB/sec read and ~110 MB/sec writes. Intel is very conservative with their rating of these drives. They say up to 175 MB/sec per drive, but I see a rock solid 200 MB/sec per drive. I don’t know of any other non SSD drives that will give you that kind of performance for the price (and that is for sequential reads). For non-sequential reads, the drives are about 100 times faster than my 15K SAS drives. 7,200 RPM drives do about 100 IOPS a second. These drives do about 20,000 IOPS a sec. Spinning platters will soon be a thing of the past (unless you need tons of storage).
The only limitation of this drive is it is just 40 GB. That might not be enough for some people. If so, go with the X25M. However, stripping 2 of these together is cheaper and faster than using one 80 GB X25M so do that if you can!
Rating: 5 / 5
Great silent disk. Very fast. Windows 7 loads from it in about, 10 seconds? Space is not that big a concern – I got Win7 down to ~12GB. There are more advantages; no need to defragment, small so it could be installed in a laptop, and the price is right. Recommend!
Rating: 5 / 5
I just installed this as my OS (Windows 7 64-bit) drive today and am definitely happy with it. HD tune read results averaged at 195.9 MB/s, yea fast. The SSD tools offered by intel are superior to their competitors and so is the firmware update process (basically burn a cd-r, boot it, and hit Y). So, I would definitely pick this up over the others, you won’t regret it.
Rating: 5 / 5