Intel 80GB X25-M Dalton GA

We regarded rumours of Intel's new X25 series MLC SSDs with scepticism at first, but we soon received a hint that there was truth behind the rumours of superb performance - Intel designed its own memory controller. The rated read speed of 250MB/sec read puts most other SSDs, even RAM drives, to shame. It has a claimed 70MB/sec write speed, which is roughly the same as hard drives such as the 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F1. It has a pretty horrendous price tag, but the price per gigabyte is by no means the highest in the Labs test, and there's a 160GB model available too.

HD Tach 3 RW was up first, and to our amazement, the X25-M obtained the second-fastest read speed in the Labs test. Its write speed of 76.8MB/sec is higher than the claimed speed, and faster than any other flash drive, bar the Intel X25-E. What's very interesting, however, is the consistency of the graphs portrayed by HD Tach. Unlike many of the cheaper MLC flash drives, there was little or no fluctuation in read or write speed.

It also performed admirably in the multitasking test, scoring 1,137 points. Only the ACARD RAM drives and the X25-E were faster. The GIMP image editing test result was disappointing, though, with a rather average score of 1,390. The X25-E and X25-M were the only flash drives to load Crysis in less than 23 seconds, completing in just 21 seconds. If you're tired of waiting ages for games to load then the X25-M is for you. It was also very quick in the search test, taking just 12 seconds. Again, this is faster than all other flash drives except the X25-E. Despite the outrageous speed of the drive, the test system drew just 146W from the wall, the fourth-lowest power consumption figure in the Labs test.

Intel's new SSDs are nothing short of spectacular and the 80GB X25-M thoroughly deserves a Premium Grade Approved award. Although it's pricey, its high performance and reasonable capacity make it a very desirable upgrade for a high-end desktop PC.

Author: James Gorbold & Antony Leather

Intel 80GB X25-M