TechRadar Verdict
Pros
- +
Speedy performance in most benchmarks
- +
Intel's given the firmware a damn good polish
Cons
- -
Write performance a little patchy
- -
Not clearly faster than other SandForce drives
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
The 120GB could be the SSD sweet-spot, but can Intel's SSD 520 Series 120GB drive hit that head-on?
Intel has done the obvious thing and stuck a SandForce controller in its desktop SSDs.
If the larger members of the new 520 Series, like the Intel SSD 520 240GB, are a little punitive on pricing, what about the Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB, could it offer the best compromise between price, performance and capacity?
One thing it certainly shares with the larger 520 Series solid state drive is Intel's SSD firmware development and validation regime.
It will take time for the true long-term performance of this latest Intel SSD family to shake out, but Intel has a well-earned reputation in this area.
The only slight snag is that smaller drives make for fewer memory chips and in turn fewer memory channels and a little less performance.
The optimal drive for performance in the range is the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB model. But that's a much more expensive drive.
Instead this 120GB drive must do battle with the likes of the Corsair Force GT 120GB and OCZ's Vertex 3 120GB.
I'm a smartwatch expert, and these are the 13 best Black Friday smartwatch deals I've seen so far this year (arranged by price)
The PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds are finally at a price I can fully recommend them at with this Black Friday PS5 deal
Google Meet's new update will finally help all of us look a little better on our morning video call
