DEAD: Intel SER 330 - 240GB drive - $136.99 + SH (starts $4.24) - B&H Photo

[CapricornOne]

I contacted customer service regarding my order. Although they informed me that the 7-10 days shipping estimate may vary the price $136.99 plus $4.24 shipping still stands and I will not be charged further. He advised I check back later in the week for a concrete delivery date.

Hope this helps anyone else that ordered.

 

[DeadFred]

Nice!

 

[neocpp]

I instantly regret not getting in on this, even though I am averaging 1.5 ssds per machine... hope everyone that ordered gets one!

 

[CapricornOne]

hope everyone that ordered gets one!

You and me both!

 

[gevorg]

Saw this deal on Fatwallet yesterday, but WTF is the "SER"?

 

[CapricornOne]

Saw this deal on Fatwallet yesterday, but WTF is the "SER"?

Series apparently. The listing seems rushed but seems like those who ordered at that price will have it honoured.

 

[Lifted]

Amazing deal. Wish I had seen this.

I picked up a 64GB Crucial at B&H for my fathers laptop earlier this year for $100 or so. This is just ridiculous for a 240GB Intel.

B&H is as reputable as they come. They also, somehow, have everything in stock in their store, in the middle of Manhattan, at the same prices as they have online. Their warehouse is in the basement. I have no idea how deep their basement goes, but it must be a freaking amazing site. When you're up on the 2nd floor and ask for a product, it comes shooting up a conveyor belt, product in a little basket, from the sublevels somewhere in less than a minute - directly to the area and counter of the person who punched it into the computer. It's worth checking out this store just to see these conveyors running along the ceilings and floors, taking peoples products all over the store in seconds.

 

[Craig234]

My understanding is that Intel is the gold standard for SSD. The question people typically ask when purchasing other brand is how do they compare to Intel.

FYI, I've never seen an Intel one at anywhere near this price.

Thanks, I could and would have got one, but unfortunately didn't get confirmation of how good it was in time. Funny, I'd thought I was told Samsung 830 was the best.

 

[Denithor]

Thanks, I could and would have got one, but unfortunately didn't get confirmation of how good it was in time. Funny, I'd thought I was told Samsung 830 was the best.

These 330 series drives from Intel are their "bargain basement" models. SF-2281 controller and Intel's slightly lower-binned 25nm synchronous MLC chips. Note that Intel is the only company using the SF-2281 controller that doesn't suffer from the infamous BSOD problems - they developed their own custom firmware and eliminated the problem.

Only downside to these drives is the 3 year warranty, versus the 5 year on their 520 and 320 series drives.

 

[TekDemon]

Yeah I was looking at the 120gb for almost the same price not too long ago. Very good deal here. Is anyone familiar with this retailer?

It's a big photo store run by Hasidic Jews in NYC so they're closed on Saturdays and they close really early on Fridays. They do still sell greymarket stuff IIRC, but otherwise are about as legitimate as a NYC photo shop will get.

Man, does anybody else remember those super shady brooklyn photo and computer shops?

 

[Craig234]

These 330 series drives from Intel are their "bargain basement" models. SF-2281 controller and Intel's slightly lower-binned 25nm synchronous MLC chips. Note that Intel is the only company using the SF-2281 controller that doesn't suffer from the infamous BSOD problems - they developed their own custom firmware and eliminated the problem.

Only downside to these drives is the 3 year warranty, versus the 5 year on their 520 and 320 series drives.

That's good info, but to be clear, all these Intel drives are better than Samsung 830?

 

[cytoSiN]

That's good info, but to be clear, all these Intel drives are better than Samsung 830?

In my opinion and experience (50+ builds using various SSDs), anything with a SF controller is inferior to the 830. Intelligent folks will differ on that point though. This is a good drive (as noted above Intel messed around with the firmware to create a very solid drive), but I would go with the 830 before this one in my own builds.

 

[Basilisk]

... but otherwise are about as legitimate as a NYC photo shop will get

Yes, but I think your description de-emphasizes their quality: I've bought from them and will do so in the future... with NO trepidation whatsoever. They've always seemed honest and open, with an excellent breadth of quality photo equipment. I would not characterize any of the other NYC [area] heavily-advertised photographic stores with such unqualified praise.

 

[philipma1957]

It's a big photo store run by Hasidic Jews in NYC so they're closed on Saturdays and they close really early on Fridays. They do still sell greymarket stuff IIRC, but otherwise are about as legitimate as a NYC photo shop will get.

Man, does anybody else remember those super shady brooklyn photo and computer shops?

While they may have gray market gear all the gear they sold me was not gray market.

Of any NYC local store they are the second best. JR music world is a bit better. I do remember the shady stores and I would only buy from bhphoto.com and jr.com.

Yes, but I think your description de-emphasizes their quality: I've bought from them and will do so in the future... with NO trepidation whatsoever. They've always seemed honest and open, with an excellent breadth of quality photo equipment. I would not characterize any of the other NYC [area] heavily-advertised photographic stores with such unqualified praise.

I know quite a bit about them.

They are good to their customers and are the best of the NYC photo stores.

I would rate jr.com ahead of them buy jr.com sells more types of gear. Both stores are perfect in the sales made to me.

more then 10k in purchase over 35 years of purchases.

 

[lothar]

In my opinion and experience (50+ builds using various SSDs), anything with a SF controller is inferior to the 830. Intelligent folks will differ on that point though. This is a good drive (as noted above Intel messed around with the firmware to create a very solid drive), but I would go with the 830 before this one in my own builds.

This.

 

[cn8399]

Anyone locate SER 330 240GB drive on Intel website?

 

[cytoSiN]

Anyone locate SER 330 240GB drive on Intel website?

It's not out yet, which is probably why B&H has it listed as backordered, and also probably why they had the cheap pre-order price. But it's coming soon. It's also included in Intel's 330 Series product brief.

 

[DeadFred]

Right now I have a 160GB Intel 320 Series SATA 3 in my main rig. I had in mind putting this 330 SER into my wife's laptop when I ordered it.

Storage capacity aside, would the SATA 6 330 be a better performer for my gaming rig, or should I just keep the 320 where it is? The 320 is less than a year old, btw.

 

[cytoSiN]

Right now I have a 160GB Intel 320 Series SATA 3 in my main rig. I had in mind putting this 330 SER into my wife's laptop when I ordered it.

Storage capacity aside, would the SATA 6 330 be a better performer for my gaming rig, or should I just keep the 320 where it is? The 320 is less than a year old, btw.

I'm using 2x320s in my main rig, one for OS and one for Steam. If that 320 is an OS drive I would leave it where it is, especially if you've had no issues with it. You won't notice any performance boosts by going to a 330, and you may have other issues that you're not encountering with the 330. Not worth an OS reinstall imo, even though win7 installs in like 12 minutes. If the 320 isn't an OS drive in your machine, I'd consider switching the 330 into your machine and using the 320, which has an Intel controller as opposed to the SF controller in the 330, as the OS drive in your wife's laptop. You probably won't have issues either way, but that's my $0.02.

 

[philipma1957]

It's not out yet, which is probably why B&H has it listed as backordered, and also probably why they had the cheap pre-order price. But it's coming soon. It's also included in Intel's 330 Series product brief.

yes and they did this with the 512gb samsung 830 ssds around dec 2011. I got one for under 700.

692 to be exact

 

[DeadFred]

I'm using 2x320s in my main rig, one for OS and one for Steam. If that 320 is an OS drive I would leave it where it is, especially if you've had no issues with it. You won't notice any performance boosts by going to a 330, and you may have other issues that you're not encountering with the 330. Not worth an OS reinstall imo, even though win7 installs in like 12 minutes. If the 320 isn't an OS drive in your machine, I'd consider switching the 330 into your machine and using the 320, which has an Intel controller as opposed to the SF controller in the 330, as the OS drive in your wife's laptop. You probably won't have issues either way, but that's my $0.02.

The 320 is the OS drive in my main rig and I was mainly curious about how much of a performance difference there would be between a sata 3 and sata 6 SSD. I think Ill take your advice and leave the 320 where it is since Ive had no issues it and the thing is pretty darn quick. Also I wasnt really looking forward to reinstalling 2 OS's since the other SSD will be the OS drive in the wife's laptop. Right now it has a standard 5400 rpm HD, so I expect a tremendous upgrade in performance with a new SSD. Thanks for your input. :thumbsup:

 

[child of wonder]

I ordered 5 of them in hopes of replacing the 8x500GB drives I have in my ZFS server. Even with these being "bargain" SSDs my VMs running on them will be considerably faster which will allow me to run even more of them.

Now I just need some 10Gb to take full advantage of them.

 

[jhansman]

Well, the product listing now does not even show a price, nor can it be added to your cart. BTW, the Samsung 830 256GB drive is only $190 on that site, and in stock. That's a good $50 under what I can find it for almost anywhere else. Just ordered the Sammy.

 

[cytoSiN]

Well, the product listing now does not even show a price, nor can it be added to your cart. BTW, the Samsung 830 256GB drive is only $190 on that site, and in stock. That's a good $50 under what I can find it for almost anywhere else. Just ordered the Sammy.

Yeah this deal has been dead for a few days. The 830 is a great deal at that price, but I expect it to keep falling as Black Friday approaches and manufacturers get closer to next generation drives and sizes.

 

[kdubbs]

Sad news, just got the email confirming that the posting was in error, and our orders have been cancelled. Seems they jumped the gun on posting the new Intel drives to the website and can't get them shipped soon enough to honor the orders. Oh well, back to scouring the forums for hot deals on Plextors and Sammys.