Intel SSD 520 Series Solid State Drive Review

Name: Intel SSD 520 Series
Brand: Intel

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, February 06, 2012, 09:00 AM EDT

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.

Tags: Intel, SSD, Storage, SATA, Enterprise, SandForce, LSI, 520 Series

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com