The Intel SSD 760p 512GB Review: Mainstream NVMe Done Right
by Billy Tallis on January 23, 2018 11:30 AM ESTAnandTech Storage Bench - The Destroyer
The Destroyer is an extremely long test replicating the access patterns of very IO-intensive desktop usage. A detailed breakdown can be found in this article. Like real-world usage, the drives do get the occasional break that allows for some background garbage collection and flushing caches, but those idle times are limited to 25ms so that it doesn't take all week to run the test. These AnandTech Storage Bench (ATSB) tests do not involve running the actual applications that generated the workloads, so the scores are relatively insensitive to changes in CPU performance and RAM from our new testbed, but the jump to a newer version of Windows and the newer storage drivers can have an impact.
We quantify performance on this test by reporting the drive's average data throughput, the average latency of the I/O operations, and the total energy used by the drive over the course of the test.
The Intel SSD 760p falls on the good side of a big gap in average data rate scores on The Destroyer. Scoring far below the 760p are SATA drives and most earlier entry-level NVMe SSDs. The 760p is a bit slower than some of the drives using planar MLC NAND or 3D TLC NAND, but it is clear that the 760p is capable of handling The Destroyer better than any previous SSD in its price range.
The average and 99th percentile latency scores don't provide the clear separation that the average data rate shows, so the Intel 760p simply looks a bit below average for a NVMe SSD. Given the relative pricing and the poor performance of the Intel 600p, that's a good result for the 760p.
Breaking down the average latency by reads and writes, the Intel SSD 760p ranks about the same either way. It is roughly on par with the slower (read: not Samsung) MLC NVMe SSDs.
The 99th percentile read latency of the Intel SSD 760p on The Destroyer is rather poor, and the 99th percentile write latency isn't great either. The 760p doesn't seem to have serious problems with garbage collection pauses, but The Destroyer definitely does stress the 760p.
The energy consumption of the Intel SSD 760p during The Destroyer is almost as low as Samsung's best NVMe SSDs, but nowhere near the SATA-like efficiency of the Toshiba XG5. Overall, the 760p is much more efficient than Intel's previous NVMe SSDs, but there's still room for improvement.
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rrinker - Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - link
It's not just the speed, it's the handling. A better analogy might be one of the supercars that can hit 300mph.See, in my 25mph residential neighborhood, I often have people running up behind me wanting to go 40 or more. Then I take a turn without touching the brakes, and suddenly they disappear from my mirror. But then my 1993 pickup truck can do the same, so I guess I don't need my BMW after all.
Only - one of those old hard drives I still have in a drawer from 1993 just won't keep up with even the worst SSD I could buy.
Pastuch - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
The difference between a PC and a BMW is one of them will help you keep your virginity and the other will help you lose it. If the PC is a status symbol to you then I'd suggest you skip your next upgrade and buy yourself a new wardrobe. A 1080 Ti does not equal a hotter girlfriend.megapleb - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
That's certainly the result i expect, but in a review, it feels like something that should be shown repeatedly. Without those results, I think the benchmarks can mislead people into poor buying decisions.Makaveli - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
The Intel 750 still looks like the better drive to me just higher power usage.The $482 price from newegg is also outdated.
I can pick up a brand new 750 drive in Canada for $218 CAD which is $175 USD which is cheaper than the $199 price you have listed for the 760p.
The choice is obvious.
Billy Tallis - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
I try to only make buying recommendations that our readers could actually follow through on. There is not much stock of new Intel 750s left, and even less that could be had for the kind of prices you're quoting. I wouldn't trust anyone selling a "new" 750 for $175 unless it was clearly a liquidation sale from a retailer that was going bankrupt.Makaveli - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
This "anyone" isn't some hipster selling a used drive on eBay. Its a major retail chain in Canada think like micro center in the US. And you are right they are clearing stock for the newer stuff to come in and certainly not going bankrupt they have 35 store locations.Alistair - Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - link
Still his point stands that you are referring to a clearance price. Might only be for a week.Makaveli - Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - link
The price has actually been like that for well over a month.I'm picking up the 1.2TB drive today for $488!
Magichands8 - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
M.2? But, why? And what's with the ridiculously high price/GB? It's 2018 and still for years and years nothing has changed in this industry. And we enter yet another year when SSD manufacturers have given me every reason to spend my money elsewhere.tylerdd - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Why isnt the intel 900p on any of the charts? It is the current storage king and its not on the charts as a comparison?