UserBenchmark: Intel 520 Series vs PNY CS1311

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PNYSSD7CS1311-120-RB

BUY • $63

IntelSSDSC2CW120A3

BUY • $199

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 31,741 user samples

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12,393 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 91% 0GB free (System drive)
Worst Bench: 48% 32GB free (System drive)

Poor: 48% Great: 91%

SPEED RANK: 573^rd / 1072

19,348 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 88% 17GB free
Worst Bench: 57% 37GB free (System drive)

Poor: 57% Great: 88%

SPEED RANK: 594^th / 1072


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		75.1 %	+1%		74 %


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	442 MB/s	Faster read speed. +13%	392 MB/s
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	383 MB/s	Hugely faster write speed. +146%	156 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	27.8 MB/s		32.1 MB/s	Faster random read. +15%
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	75.2 MB/s		78.9 MB/s	+5%
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	321 MB/s	Much faster mixed IO speed. +54%	209 MB/s
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	34.1 MB/s		36.4 MB/s	Slightly faster random mixed IO. +7%
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	103 MB/s		133 MB/s	Faster sustained write speed. +29%


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	517 MB/s	Faster peak read speed. +16%	446 MB/s
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	471 MB/s	Hugely faster peak write speed. +163%	179 MB/s
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	33.9 MB/s		39.6 MB/s	Faster peak random read. +17%
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	110 MB/s		114 MB/s	+4%
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	378 MB/s	Much faster peak mixed IO speed. +69%	224 MB/s
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	42.2 MB/s		45.5 MB/s	Slightly faster peak random mixed IO. +8%
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	122 MB/s		168 MB/s	Much faster peak sustained write speed. +38%

Market Share

Based on 75,634,896 SSDs tested

See market share leaders


Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.01 %		0.02 %	Hugely higher market share. +100%
Value Value For Money	7.92 %	Hugely better value. +141%	3.29 %
User Rating UBM User Rating	52 %		53 %	+2%
Price Price (score)	$63	Much cheaper. +68%	$199


Age Newest	96 Months	Much more recent. +34%	146 Months
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	324 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue read. +36%	239 MB/s
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	373 MB/s	Hugely faster peak deep queue write. +121%	169 MB/s
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	1,159 Pts	Much stronger server IO. +46%	792 Pts
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	184 MB/s		191 MB/s	+4%
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	298 MB/s	Much faster deep queue read. +37%	217 MB/s
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	269 MB/s	Much faster deep queue write. +79%	150 MB/s
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	155 MB/s		164 MB/s	Slightly faster deep queue mixed IO. +6%


Capacity Capacity			120GB			120GB

The Intel 520 Series was Intel's first SSD to feature a Sandforce 2281 controller. This controller has powered countless SSDs over the last three years but is now dated and is known to be limited in the area of incompressible write speed. The 120GB Intel 520 scored peak and average sequential read/write speeds of 514/157 and 421/133. These read speeds are good but the peak write of 157 MB/s lags the group leaders average of 313 MB/s by nearly 100%. This relative inability to write lowers the 520's overall effective speed to 403 MB/s or 15% lower than the 459 MB/s achieved by the group leaders. At two years of age the Intel 520 can no longer compete with newer drives, there is far better value available amongst the group leaders. ^{[Feb '14 SSDrivePro]}

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Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) April 2024 SSD Rankings

Welcome to our 2.5" and M.2 SSD comparison. We calculate effective speed for both SATA and NVMe drives based on real world performance then adjust by current prices per GB to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top SSDs. ^[SSDrivePro]

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CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $273	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $134	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $186	Nvidia RTX 4070 $409	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $34	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $35	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16