Intel soups up PCs with SSDs

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 09 September 2008 09:59

Business IT - Technology

Intel has released a pair of SATA solid-state drives (SSDs) for personal computers, claiming nine times the performance of conventional hard drives.

The two models are the X18-M and the X25-M, which are respectively packaged in the 1.8in and 2.5in form factors. 80G versions are available immediately, and will start shipping in computers (such as the HP EliteBook 6930p) in a few weeks.

Samples of the 160G versions will be available during the fourth quarter.

Key specifications of Intel's 80G SSDs include peak read speeds of 250MBps, peak write speeds of 70MBps, and 85 microsecond latency. This compares with  average latency measured in milliseconds and sustained transfer speeds of around 100MBps for conventional drives.

However, Intel claims laboratory testing shows "the Intel X18-M and X25M increase storage system performance nine times over traditional hard disk drive performance."

But that performance comes at a price. Intel's 80M SSDs cost $US595 in quantities of up to 1000. Hard drives of similar capacity and form factors typically retail between $US100 and $US150.

"Validated by our rigorous testing and OEM customer feedback, we believe that we have developed an SSD that delivers on the promises of SSD computing," said Randy Wilhelm, Intel vice president and general manager of Intel's NAND products group.

And there are high-performance enterprise class SSDs on the horizon - see page two.