Intel has not been making SSDs for the mainstream market for as long as some others, but it has learned quickly, and as usual, quickly worked its way into a position of power.
If the previous drives weren’t good enough, Intel has greatly improved its drives’ read and write speeds on the 520 series and also increased the warranty from three years to five. Intel claims workloads as heavy as writing 20GB/day will not affect the drive, and stand by its new warranty (long gone are the days of 1-year warranties and nose-diving performance after the first 6 months).
Most of the speed boost comes not only from moving to 25nm memory, but also from moving to a Sandforce controller – more specifically, a SF-2281VB1, more commonly known as SF-2200. This controller is among the best in the world (and some would say it is the best), so you can be sure the Intel 520 series will remain a top contender throughout the year 2012.
