Today I'll be doing a quick unboxing of something that looks quite plain and
ordinary on the outside, but is actually
a pretty sweet product. So today we have
the Intel SSD 320. I have only one
capacity, although it does come in a variety of capacities including 40 gig,
80 gig, 120 gig, 160 gig, 300 gig, and
even 600 GB of total capacity. Now, the
SSD 320 is not meant to be a performance
king successor to the Intel 510 series
drive that was just released. No, rather this is meant to be a value segment
part. So unlike the 510 which does not use 25 nanometer flash for higher
densities, the SSD 320 does. Okay, so it
uses higher density flash. It doesn't use as advanced a controller as some of
the other drives on the market. So it doesn't do any uh data compression while
it's reading and writing for example which means that it does not offer the
same performance but it should offer outstanding reliability as we've come to
expect from Intel products of all sorts be it motherboards CPUs and now SSDs and
should offer a good price toerformance
ratio. Now, performance is a little bit better than Sanforce
uh than the older last generation Sanforce drives using the Sanforce 1200
controller, but it is not up to par with
something like a 510 or with a newer Sanforce 2281
controller SSD drive.
All right, so the first thing we find inside is an installation guide designed
for easy installation. They can be quickly incorporated into a computer.
Getting started, handling precautions and installation instructions.
Very nice. Ooh, speed demon sticker. And
shiny, too.
Yes, SSDs are fast. Even this a
mainstream SSD is really faking fast. It
uses a SATA 2 controller, which means that it doesn't have the benefit. Oh, it
doesn't include a 2 and 1 half to 3 and 1/2 in adapter. So you'll need to buy one if you're going to install it in a
desktop and you don't have a case that natively supports 2 and 12 in drives. So
while it is a mainstream drive, remember
it was only last gener the last generation of products where the Vertex
2 reigned supreme and this is faster than a Vert.ex 2. So we're only one
generation behind the high performance parts in terms of performance on this
mainstream part. So the drive looks pretty typical. This looks pretty much
Oh, this is kind of interesting actually. Check this out. So, compared
to the You know what? I actually have a 510 handy. I apologize for the uh state
of my workbench here right now. But there's my 510 with kind of a goldy
finish on it on my test bench. You see that? Okay. So, look at the 510. Now,
look at the 320. So, the 320 brings back
this little plastic piece here, which increases the compatibility of this
drive. So you can install it even in notebooks that require a slim 2 and 1/2
in profile just by taking out the four screws which are not marked with
warranty void if remove tabs. You just take those four out, take off this
plastic piece and put the four screws back in. And now all of a sudden you
have a slimmer profile drive. So this spacer here is so that it'll also
install easily in computers that do not require the slimmer drive. So on the
front you'll find information like the part number. Basically, think of this,
you guys, as an X25M Gen 2 refresh. So,
think of it as X25M Gen 3. It's still SATA 2. It's still a performance drive
by all means, but it is not necessarily
meant to be the performance crown holder. Okay, Intel's own products
actually eclipse it in terms of performance. Remember, the 510 series
not only features a more advanced controller, but also SATA 3 and 34nm
flash, which does not provide the same densities as 25 nmter, but in general
does perform better at this time. So, here we go. We've got our standard SATA
power interface, as well as our SATA 2 data interface. All the mounting holes
that we've come to expect are here with two on the side here, two on the side
here, and four on the bottom. Thank you for checking out my unboxing of the
Intel SSD 320 series drive. Don't forget
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