Intel ships super-svelte SSD

Intel is now shipping a cut-down version of its X25-M SSD for less than $150, days after OCZ announced its sub-$100 Onyx SSD.

The X25-V, presaged in November last year has just 40GB of multi-level cell capacity, half the entry-level X25-M's 80GB. It's a boot drive SSD with the performance skewed enormously to reading rather than writing.

The sustained write bandwidth is up to a poor 35MB/sec while sustained reads can relatively tear along at up to 170MB/sec.

The random 4KB figures are even more extreme; up to 25,000 read IOPS but only up to a niggardly 2,500 write IOPS.

The Onyx figures are less skewed to reading: read speed being up to 125MB/sec with writes at up to 70MB/sec. If all you want is a boot and app load drives then the Intel one performs better.

In comparison the 80GB X25-M will do sustained reading at up to 250MB/sec and writes at up to 70MB/sec.

The X25-V is built on Intel/Micron's 34nm process, has support for the Windows 7 TRIM functionality and comes in the standard 2.5-inch form factor. It has a 1.2 million hours mean time before failure rating.

It can be bought for $130 on Newegg, or around £79 in the UK. That's more expensive than the 32GB Onyx. It's also more expensive on a per-GB basis than the 80GB X25-M, available for $225 on Newegg, meaning $2.81/GB versus the X25-V's $3.25/GB.

The X25-V's capacity and performance have both been cut compared to the X25-M, but its relative price is higher. ®