Intel X25-E Extreme 32GB SSD tested: fastest ever

Intel’s SSDs have been cropping up in all manner of consumer hardware over the past few months, but now the company is raising the stakes with the X25-E Extreme.  32GB of premium SLC memory, it’ll cost you over $700 but, if The Tech Report’s review is anything to go by, it’s worth it.  They’re calling the X25-E Extreme “the fastest drive we’ve ever tested”.

Intended for enterprise applications, where the silent running, low power requirements and blistering speeds mark the X25-E Extreme a cut above the rest, the drive is at its best handling multiple random read/write requests.  In simulated webserver (i.e. read-only) testing the Intel X25-M managed to keep up, but in every other application the X25-E Extreme stormed ahead; even Samsung’s FlashSSD drive was left trailing in the dust.

Of course the Intel X25-E Extreme would be wasted in a home PC, but the longevity and performance make it ideal server fodder.  Beyond price, storage capacity is the only drawback; thankfully Intel have a 64B version pencilled in for 2009.