INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Ever since Solid State Drives (SSDs) were first introduced to the general public roughly 5 years ago they have been amongst my favorite hardware components and in a way monopolized my reviews up until a year ago. The reason behind that last part is that although up until a year ago there were large performance jumps with each new model released (making it more than worth testing to see the exact difference in speed with previous models) that no longer was the case and so inside 2012 the only thing that really changed was the price of such devices. Still many of you have asked several SSD reviews during the past 2 months and as always we obliged by starting to gather several samples from the leading manufacturers. This time over however in order to be more "time effective" we will not wait until we have 10-20 all together for a large comparison like the old days (more impressive but takes too much time to complete) and so on our test bench today lays the latest Intel 335 Series 240GB SATA III model.

 

   Intel pushes the boundaries of innovation so our work can make people's lives more exciting, fulfilling, and manageable. And our work never stops. We never stop looking for the next leap ahead—in technology, education, culture, manufacturing, and social responsibility. And we never stop striving to deliver solutions with greater benefits for everyone. It began with the Intel® microprocessor, the invention that sparked a revolution. Intel's history of developing groundbreaking technology continues today. We attract the most brilliant minds in science to push the boundaries of innovation and further our position as the world's leader in semiconductor technology. Our passion is to create technology that changes the world.

 

   Roughly 6 months ago Intel released their 330 series of SSDs based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller and 25nm Intel/Micron MLC NAND. However although even as we speak the 330 Series is still quite new and popular in the market the 335 Series released just a couple of months back is actually its successor featuring 20nm Intel/Micron MLC NAND and thus lower production cost in time. Of course that also means that there can't be any serious performance differences (if at all) between these two models (330/335) but it's never a bad thing to purchase a newer model at the same price as the older one since naturally the new model will also have better support from the manufacturer (firmware updates). Unfortunately since we've been away from SSD testing for quite a few months we haven't really gotten our hands on the 330 series but thanks to our previous comparison there are plenty of SSDs based on the SandForce SF-228x controller in our charts so let’s see just how good the latest 335 series 240GB SATA III SSD is compared to those.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intel uses pretty much the same retail box for all their products with the Intel logo and the model capacity/name at the front.

 

 

A large sticker over at the right side includes information such as the unit serial number, barcodes, date of manufacture, batch number and version member.

 

 

A product image and the contents of the bundle are listed at the rear.

 

 

The entire bundle is securely placed inside two pieces of cardboard.

 

 

The box contains the 2,5" 335 series 240GB SSD, 3.5" adapter bracket, mounting screws, SATA III cable, Molex to SATA III cable, installation manual, software CD and a case sticker.

 

 

 

THE 335 SERIES 240GB

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside the SSD Intel packs what i believe is the best 2.5" to 3.5" aluminum bracket in the market, always in terms of quality and size.

 

 

The 335 Series 240GB SSD is nothing exciting in terms of design since just like the 330 and the 510/520 we just see a small Intel logo at the top.

 

 

As it is standard with most SSDs out there a large sticker at the bottom of the drive has the drives installed firmware version, barcodes, serial number, country of manufacture, factory roll out date, capacity and several certification logos.

 

 

Unfortunately Intel has yet to resolve the corrosion like issue with the aluminum used with their SSDs. I am pointing this out however because time and again I’ve heard people say that they got a used Intel drive because the housing looked like this.

 

 

SATA III connectivity but no firmware update pins (not needed actually since you can perform firmware updates). 

 

 

Opening the drive revealed that this is actually the 2nd revision and not the original version launched 2 months ago.

 

 

There are a total of sixteen Intel/Micron 20nm NAND modules (eight on each side of the PCB) each 16GB in capacity.

 

 

We've seen the SandForce SF-2281 controller quite a few times in the past, what I’m really looking forward to is the SF-3xxx which should arrive in stores by the end of Q1 2013.

 

 

 

INTEL SOLID STATE DRIVE TOOLBOX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get the most out of the 335 series i strongly recommend grabbing the latest version of the Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox from their support page.

 

 

As you can see our drive came with firmware 335s and a 90% estimate life remaining which had me puzzled for a moment.

 

 

So the first thing to do was head over to the firmware update section to check, download and install the latest available version. After installing the 335t version the estimate life remaining bar went to 100% as it should.

 

 

From the Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox you can also use the System Tuner to tune various Windows Services and the Intel SSD Optimizer which basically optimizes the drives TRIM function and should be run at least once a week.

 

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   After roughly 5 years of testing sold state drives i have concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i have always used a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts.

 

   Many people made inquiries about the charts ever since the last comparison so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potentials buyer choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation with every update installed up to December 22nd 2012.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Whenever we get to test a product based around a specific hardware part which has been proven time and again in several similar products (like the SandForce SF-2281 controller) the end result is pretty much predetermined. That is even more certain when we are talking about a product manufactured by a company like Intel which is perhaps the top PC hardware manufacturer of all time (up until now anyways). True the SandForce SF-2281 controller has been around for over 2 years but its performance is still very good, it's quite reliable and right now it can be used to lower the cost of SSDs something which many people place above all else. Now we all have high hopes for the upcoming SandForce SF-30xx controllers but until they get released in Q1 2013 we can't know for certain how they will prove against the latest Samsung 840 Pro drives (should have some of those with us soon as well).

 

   Intel launched the 330 series with a very aggressive price policy so it makes sense that they did the exact same thing with the 335 series since currently the 240GB model retails for USD199.99 inside the USA (Newegg) and at 179.90Euros inside the EU (Caseking). Up until now Intel has yet to release neither a smaller nor a larger capacity model than the 240GB variant but we should see a few in the future (unless they decide to release a new model by then). Certainly as mentioned in the beginning and backed up by the results recorded in the charts the performance of the 335 is not superior (actually worse than quite a few) than what i recorded in 2011 with all the SandForce (SF-228x) and Samsung based SSDs but in the end you just can't beat its performance/price/capacity ratio and because of that it grabs our Golden Award with ease.

 

PROS

- Build Quality (Intel/Micron NAND)
- Performance
- Capacity (240GB)
- Bundle (3.5" bracket/SATA III Cable/Molex To SATA Power Connector)
- Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox
- Price (For Some) 

 

 

CONS

- SandForce SF-2281 Controller Is Getting Old