Intel SSD 520 Series Solid State Drive Review

CrystalDiskMark is a synthetic benchmark that tests both sequential and random small and mid-sized file transfers. It provides a quick look at best and worst case scenarios with regard to SSD performance, best case being larger sequential transfers and worse case being small, random transfers.

CrystalDiskMark Benchmarks Synthetic File Transfer Tests

The Intel SSD 520 series drive performed much like the similarly SandForce-based Corsair and OCZ drives in the CrystalDiskMark benchmaks. One interesting note is that running a pair of drives in RAID 0 actually hurt 4K transfers at the lower queue depth. With the QD cranked up to 32, however, RAID 0 was significantly faster than a single drive.