The Intel SSD 540s (480GB) Review
by Billy Tallis on June 23, 2016 9:00 AM ESTAnandTech Storage Bench - Heavy
Our Heavy storage benchmark is proportionally more write-heavy than The Destroyer, but much shorter overall. The total writes in the Heavy test aren't enough to fill the drive, so performance never drops down to steady state. This test is far more representative of a power user's day to day usage, and is heavily influenced by the drive's peak performance. The Heavy workload test details can be found here.
On the Heavy test, the Intel 540s achieves an average data rate that is once again between the two SM2256 drives, but this is also par for Phison TLC drives.
The average service time of the Intel 540s is actually slightly better than the SP550 and significantly better than the BX200, but still poor compared to the best planar TLC drives.
The frequency of high-latency outliers for the 540s is half that of the BX200, but still clearly worse than the other TLC drives and more than an order of magnitude higher than the MLC drives.
The Intel 540s managed to improve on power efficiency compared to either SM2256 drive, putting it around the middle of the rankings.
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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.