Granted, you do need a compatible motherboard, but NVMe SSDs are as far as I am concerned incredibly intersting if you want enthusiast grade SSD performance. Up-to this moment a little bit pricy.
Intel is trying to change that as they will release a ‘budget’ version of the new 600p series NVMe protocol based M2 SSDs. The 600p series will be fitted with 3D NAND Tri-Level Cell (TLC) flash storage and will be offered on the 80mm single-sided M.2 form factor that connects to an NVMe compatible / PCIe 3.0 (x4) slot. Intel will release capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB.
Much like price per GB the sequential read/write and random read/write speeds vary between all models, with sequential reads ranging from 770MB/s to 1,800MB/s, and sequential writes spanning 450MB/s to 560MB/s. The random reads are between 35,000 IOPS and 155,000 IOPS, and the random writes are between 91,000 IOPS and 128,000 IOPS.
“Designed for a range of devices from desktops to laptops, the Intel SSD 600p Series will effortlessly manage demanding consumer client applications and easily handle intense multi-tasking,” the company said on Thursday. “The SSD 600p Series will take PCs to a new level of responsiveness with fast application launches and file loading.”
| Capacity | Sequential read (MB/s) |
Sequential write (MB/s) |
Random read (IOPS) |
Random write (IOPS) |
MSRP |
| 128 GB | 770 | 450 | 35K | 91K | $69.00 |
| 256GB | 1570 | 540 | 71K | 112K | $104.00 |
| 512GB | 1775 | 560 | 128.5K | 128K | $189.00 |
| 1024GB | 1800 | 560 | 155K | 128K | $359.00 |
The new 600p Series have a typical power consumption of 100 milliwatts while active, 40 milliwatts when idle, and 5 milliwatts during sleep. Other highlights outlined by Intel include AES 256-bit self-encryption, a five-year warranty. The costs per gigabyte varies for volume size, but 53 cents for the 128GB drive to just 35 cents for the 1TB model, these drives are among the most competitively-priced NVMe SSDs thus far.
