Intel 760P SSD 512GB
NVMe performance for mainstream money
LIVING ON the bleeding edge of performance is undoubtedly a blast. But what, in reality, do most of us really want? Good performance, solid reliability, and no obvious holes in the feature set. That’s what. Handily, that’s exactly what Intel’s latest SSD offers. In theory, at least.
As a PCI Express drive in the M.2 form factor, with NVMe control protocol support, it checks all the boxes we like to see from a contemporary SSD. It’s also competitively priced for a drive with such a complete feature set. Thus, the Intel 760P SSD represents one of a new generation of what you might call mainstream NVMe drives. It’s taken a little while for NVMe to attain that mainstream status, admittedly, but drives such as the 760P, Intel’s best value NVMe offering yet, confirm that it’s finally happened.
Enabling it all is Intel’s latest 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory and a new Silicon Motion controller chipset. Like the 600P before it, the 760P has a customized version of Silicon Motion’s firmware. But this time Intel has used Silicon Motion’s latest hardware in the SM2262 controller, albeit the mid-range flavor of Silicon Motion’s latest NVMe controller family.
As for that flash memory, it’s actually the same stuff you’ll also find in Intel’s 545 SATA drives. That the 760P totally blows the 545 away for claimed performance tells you all you need to know about the limitations of the SATA interface and, in turn, the antediluvian AHCI control protocol associated with it. PCI Express and NVMe really are a killer combo.
At launch, Intel is offering the 760P in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB flavors. In other words, there’s a drive to suit most storage needs and budgets. In terms of comparative performance across the range, the 128GB model is conspicuous for offering significantly lower drive performance. But as tested here in 512GB format, you’re looking at something approaching the 760P’s optimal configuration for performance.
For the record, Intel claims 3230MB/s for sequential read performance, and 1625MB/s for sequential writes; 4K random reads, meanwhile, are rated at 340,000 IOPS, and writes at 275,000 IOPS. In other words, this is a quick drive. But it’s not trying to be the very quickest. However, the 760P is also not a budget NVMe drive. There are a few even cheaper NVMe options that achieve their aggressive pricing by virtue of cornercutting, such as dropping the PCIe lane count down from four to two, or ditching the DRAM cache memory. But not here. Like we said, this is a full feature drive. But is it actually any good?
In terms of peak performance, we’ve seen quicker. It’s no slouch, with reads of around 3GB/s and writes of 1.6GB/s. But by way of example, Samsung’s awesome 960 Pro cranks out 3.4GB/s reads. Similarly, if it’s random access performance you crave, the 760P doesn’t get anywhere near Intel’s own 900P. Of course, the 900P is a far more expensive drive, and leverages Intel’s exotic 3D XPoint technology. It’s not terribly comparable.
More relevant, you could argue, is the comparison with the likes of Samsung’s 960 Evo, a more affordable alternative to the 960 Pro, and one which also uses 3D TLC NAND memory. Our review sample for the 960 Evo was the 250GB model, and thus not a direct competitor for this 512GB 760P model, but the overall picture is of a pair of well matched drives.
It’s also worth noting that the 760P has Samsung’s previous flagship, the 950 Pro, well beaten. Factor it all in and you have a drive that very much delivers on its remit. Aggressively priced and well specified, the 760P is all about delivering bang for your buck. There are clearly faster drives, but they are also unambiguously more expensive. As a real-world buy, the 760P looks awfully tough to beat.
Intel 760P SSD 512GB
SPEEDY GONZALES Excellent feature set; great all-around PCIe-powered performance.
DROOPY DOG Not the fastest NVMe drive on the market; SATA drives still give more storage for less cash.
$199, www.intel.com