The Intel SSD 540s (480GB) Review
by Billy Tallis on June 23, 2016 9:00 AM ESTAnandTech Storage Bench - Light
Our Light storage test has relatively more sequential accesses and lower queue depths than The Destroyer or the Heavy test, and it's by far the shortest test overall. It's based largely on applications that aren't highly dependent on storage performance, so this is a test more of application launch times and file load times. This test can be seen as the sum of all the little delays in daily usage, but with the idle times trimmed to 25ms it takes less than half an hour to run. Details of the Light test can be found here.
Both of the SM2256 drives were near the bottom of the ranking for average data rate on the Light test, and the Intel 540s doesn't improve any. The SP550 had previously performed relatively well for a TLC drive when full, but the latest Phison S10 TLC drives have mostly caught up.
The average service time of the Intel 540s is about the same as the SP550 and close to that of most Phison S10 TLC drives, but the Marvell-based TLC drives from SanDisk do significantly better.
The frequency of latency outliers for the Intel 540s is a little bit worse than the SP550, but all three Silicon Motion-based drives are at the bottom of the chart.
The power efficiency of the Intel 540s is quite good overall and well ahead of any other planar TLC drive.
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redzo - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
About the same price as a 850 EVO. The 540s is not worthy of your $$.Anato - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
Why this is 540, not 340 or even 140?BurntMyBacon - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Apparently, their 300 series has fallen off of their roadmap. Someone please link me to a roadmap that counters this statement.pwil - Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - link
Because 140 would have 1y warranty, and 340 - 3y warranty.nismotigerwvu - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
The idea of Intel, owner of the most advanced foundries on the planet, buying chips from the open market is oddly humorous to me. I understand why, and honestly it makes logical sense, but it's still an interesting quirk in an industry where quirkiness has mostly vanished.bloodinmyveins - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
Why is it so hard to dethrone Samsung 850 EVO and PRO? :(redzo - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
They've just designed a product and are 100% sure that they are going to sell it overpriced based on brand name only. It's business.Vlad_Da_Great - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
That was a bummer. I bought that with the notion that inside was Intel parts. I guess, they are trying to bang on their name now. 540s has been great so far, but I could have saved about $20 for the 120GB, I bought. AnandTech you are late!cm2187 - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
With Samsung about to introduce 4TB SSDs, a 1TB max size seems to be behind...Ej24 - Thursday, June 23, 2016 - link
Wow. Not only would I not purchase one of these, but I'm now convinced I need to buy several mx200's as it seems crucial isn't going to release another MLC drive. TLC simply doesn't impress me. The bx200 I put in my mother-in-law's pc was a disaster (granted its a worst case scenario). It's enough to demonstrate the shortcomings of tlc though. They're only able to make up for it with black magic and sophisticated controllers. No thank you.