Intel will launch the third generation SSD family next year. Intel X25-M G3 has already been covered in reports here at NordicHardware and even though the launch is still long into the future prototypes and belonging benchmarks have appeared on a Chinese auction site.
The auction not only shows a picture of the drive but also benchmarks donw with the synthetic benchmark HD Tach. According to these benchmarks 160GB Intel X25-M G3 will offer read speeds of 218 MB/s and write speeds of 164.7 MB/s, which doesn’t quite live up to the leaked specifications for Intel’s third generations SSDs.
| Intel X25-M G2 (34nm) | Intel X25-M G3 (25nm) | |
| Code name | Postville | Postville Refresh |
| Storage capacity | 80/160GB | 80/160/300/600GB |
| NAND | IMFT 34nm MLC | IMFT 25nm MLC |
| Sequential performance Read/Wrote | Up to 250/100 MB/s | Up to 250/170 MB/s |
| Random 4KB performance Read/Write | Up to 35K/8.6K IOPS | Up to 50K/40K IOPS |
| Max power consumption Active/Idle | 3.0/0.06W | 6.0/0.075W |
| Total 4KB writes (Lifespan) | 7.5TB – 15TB | 30TB – 60TB |
| Power Safe Write Cache | Nej | Ja |
| Formfactors | 1.8″ & 2.5″ | 1.8″ & 2.5″ (1,8″ up to 300GB) |
| Security | ATA Password | ATA Password + AES-128 |
| Source: Anandtech |
According to our sources Intel X25-M G3 was postponed to February 2011, which now looks to have been moved further down the line. The reason is the performance, Intel is working on optimizing its software since it is not happy with the numbers it reaches today. This is why we should not read too much into this.
The hardware is still ready though, where both controller and the new 25nm memory circuits are being made in good volumes, which also strengthens our belief that these are really from Intel’s G3 generation, but still just prototypes – hinted by the label – and it is not a good measuring point for future G3 units.
It is very much possible that Intel will revise the leaked specifications we published above, all depending on how well it manages to optimize performance with its new drives.
Source: Expreview
