Intel 510 250GB SSD worth using?

[Meghan54]

I've got a brand new Intel 510 250GB SSD sitting here in front of me, unopened.

Is it worth even opening given the new Intel SSD's ocming out, or is it worth using as a main OS hd right now?

Or, if it's not worth opening and using, what to replace it with....something from Newegg, naturally, and prefer not Sandforce based, either.

 

[Ben90]

Just throw it away.

 

[stargazr]

I wouldn't take a chance man...........

 

[Burner27]

I think you should trade it to me for my 2 x 128GB Crucial C300 SSDs. At least then you RAID them or put them in two separate systems....

 

[MobiusPizza]

Forget catching up with tech, you can never catch up with it.
510 is good enough for general use.
Also, Cheerybille is only a process shrink of 510. Performance-wise I bet wouldn't have much difference. In fact, endurance goes down due to 25nm NAND.

However, financially, it may make economic sense if you want to sell it before price drop when new product arrives.

 

[Meghan54]

Forget catching up with tech, you can never catch up with it.
510 is good enough for general use.
Also, Cheerybille is only a process shrink of 510. Performance-wise I bet wouldn't have much difference. In fact, endurance goes down due to 25nm NAND.

However, financially, it may make economic sense if you want to sell it before price drop when new product arrives.

I just got the drive yesterday from Newegg, so I can return it for credit on a 710 or refund....only opened the unsealed box to look at it.

Only asked because the 710 release news broke after I'd ordered the 510 and it'd already shipped. Just was wondering if returning it and buying the new generation was worth the effort.

 

[Ancalagon44]

When is the 710 getting released?

EDIT: I will say that, unless the price is massively lower per GB, I'd probably stick with the 510.

Reason being, performance is not likely to be 100% better. It will be better, yes, and even noticeably better, however, the question is whether it would be better enough to offset the issues that new SSD drives often have.

Intel had to recall some SSDs a while back. I think they also had to fix other bugs via an urgent bios update. SandForce controller drivers, such as recent Corsairs, are affected by a BSOD bug that has been reduced but not fixed entirely. This new drive could have any number of issues, and you may be bearing the brunt of them as an early adopter. Granted, chances are very low. Intel always does their homework and testing, and its pretty likely that this drive wont have any issues. But I know if it was me, if I went for a new drive for a marginal performance gain and it was buggy as hell, I'd be pretty upset.

unless of course it was 512GB for the price of a 510 250GB. then I'd suck it up and wait for a new firmware.

EDIT number 2: I dont think the 710 replaces the 510 anyway, its a new enterprise drive. I'm not sure you would see much benefit. Wait for benchmarks and reviews.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Well the 710 series is for enterprise use. You probably meant the Cherryville one which is slated for Q4.

If that's the case personally I won't wait. As all I can see is process shrink. Interface stays at 6Gb/s. Performance improvement if any will be solely due to controller updates and is likely to be small. Prices may be cheaper but I doubt it will be the case at launch.

For example, Curcial m4 was more expensive at launch than street price Crucial C300, with the only difference being 34nm to 25nm shrink, which in theory should bring significant cost savings. The lack of cost saving at launch is the new and shiny effect.

 

[Burner27]

Well the 710 series is for enterprise use. You probably meant the Cherryville one which is slated for Q4.

If that's the case personally I won't wait. As all I can see is process shrink. Interface stays at 6Gb/s. Performance improvement if any will be solely due to controller updates and is likely to be small. Prices may be cheaper but I doubt it will be the case at launch.

For example, Curcial m4 was more expensive at launch than street price Crucial C300, with the only difference being 34nm to 25nm shrink, which in theory should bring significant cost savings. The lack of cost saving at launch is the new and shiny effect.

The M4 does have higher sequential read/write speeds compared to the C300 and that's how they're trying to lure people to buy it. But as we all know you really don't buy an SSD to move large files around all day. You buy it for the random 4k reads/writes which the C300 beats the M4.

 

[Meghan54]

Well, this is currently what I'm using as a system:

2500k @ 4.5GHz (watercooled w/Thermochill 120.3 and TFC 240 rads, HK 3.0 cpu block, dual DDC2 pumps w/XSPC top, 5 Scythe S-Flex 120mm fans)
Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H motherboard
16GB Corsair Vengeance (4x4GB) low voltage (1.35V)
1TB WD Black w/an Intel 40GB SSD using the Intel Rapid Storage thing/tech (did make a bit of a difference!)
MSI 6970 Lightening video card


My gaming consists almost exclusively RTS-type games (Civ V, Starcraft II, etc.)....don't play FPS's/twitch games at all.

Otherwise, outside of the "normal" web browsing/email crap, I do some video transcoding and 3D modeling (AutoCad mostly).

Them's my usage patterns.....so is that Intel 510 250GB SSD a proper choice vs. something like the Crucial C300 or something else? Like I said, I'm really trying to stick with Intel because, deluded I may be, I think from reading the Intel SSD's seem to have fewer problems, etc.

 

[Burner27]

The Intel 510 is based on the same controller as the C300 and M4 (Marvell). The C300 has had much more time to mature hence the reason why it still does well as compared to these newer drives. The other difference is what I stated above. The M4/Intel 510 has a lower 4k random read/write rate as compared to the C300. I think the M4/Intel 510 gets around 50-60MB/s while the C300 is between 80-90MB/s. This is where drives shine.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4202/the-intel-ssd-510-review/4

 

[imaheadcase]

Use the 510. You won't notice a difference in a SSD drive 6 months from now or one today.

The only thing sbout SSD you need to care about are space/features now.

 

[Meghan54]

Use the 510. You won't notice a difference in a SSD drive 6 months from now or one today.

The only thing sbout SSD you need to care about are space/features now.

That's about where I am right now. About the only thing I'm considering as an alternative is exchanging it for a Crucial C300 of equal size....and the size of the SSD is a very impt. facor as I'm ghosting about 198GB from my main OS drive over to the SSD, so the 250/6 GB size is abut perfect.