Intel X25-M Mainstream SATA SSD

Verdict: The SSD comes of age.

When Intel moves in, it's obvious that a technology's time in the sun has arrived. While Samsung and many other companies have been chiselling away at making the SSD a viable option, the arrival of Intel's X25-M strongly implies that solid-state drives are about to hit critical mass.

The first SSDs from Intel are the X25-M and X18-M models, which are 2.5in and 1.8in disks respectively. Initially, only 80GB units will be available, but 160GB versions, plus 32GB and 64GB Extreme X25-E versions, will be arriving before the end of 2008.

Despite having more than double the capacity of the majority of other 2.5in SSDs, the X25-M is fairly thin, thanks to its MLC technology. The main news is the disk's performance, however. Intel claims that it has sustained read rates of 250MB/sec and a more sedate 70MB/sec write speed. By contrast, the Samsung SATA SSD recorded a 174.1MB/sec sustained read and an 85.3MB/sec write speed.

Most of our initial tests with Simpli Software HDTach RW 3.0.1.0 matched Intel's claims. The X25-M racked up an average read speed of 225.7MB/sec, which is more than twice as fast as Western Digital's VelociRaptor hard disk, and approaches the maximum transfer speed of 300MB/sec of S-ATA II. The read performance was faster than Intel claimed it to be, averaging 80.1MB/sec. This is still slower than the VelociRaptor, however, which averages 97.8MB/sec when writing.

Turning to the real-world tests, the storming read performance translated into the quickest time we've seen for loading the Relic level of Crysis. At 28 seconds on average, the X25-M beat the VelociRaptor by more than six seconds, and Samsung's 32GB SSD by four seconds. The slower writing speed held it back in the Gimp test, however; while the score of 944 is faster than any other SSD we've tested, the VelociRaptor is faster still with a score of 979.

Conclusion

Intel's X25-M sets the benchmark for storage. With its stupendous read speeds, games and apps will load faster than before. It's rather pricy, as are all SSDs, so the 'M' for mainstream in the name is wishful thinking on Intel's part. However, 80GB is a useful amount of storage - sufficient for around ten games - and the load times are phenomenal. The SSD revolution has truly begun.