SUMMARY
NVMe drives have never been more affordable. The Intel 600p represents a fantastic value, offering PCIe M.2 drives at the lowest prices on the market.
85
Overall
Score
BUILD QUALITY80
PERFORMANCE80
VALUE95
WHERE TO BUY
Intel 600p M.2 SSD 128GBFrom $64.99
Intel 600p M.2 SSD 256GBFrom $84.99
Intel 600p M.2 SSD 512GBFrom $155.99
Recently Intel launched it’s 600p line of M.2 SSD’s. The series looks to offer NVMe/PCIe high end performance, for lower than SATA SSD prices. I took a look at the 256GB model.
Affordable NVMe Drive That Performs
Intel 600p 256GB SSD Specs
| SEQUENTIAL READ | 1,570 MB/s |
| SEQUENTIAL WRITE | 540 MB/s |
| RANDOM READ | 71,000 IOPS |
| RANDOM WRITE | 112,000 IOPS |
| INTERFACE | PCIe 3×4 |
| MEMORY TYPE | 3D TLC NAND |
| CONTROLLER | Silicon Motion SM2260 NVMe |
| FORM FACTOR | M.2 80mm |
Installation
The 600p is no different than any other 80mm M.2 ssd. Simply insert the drive into your m.2 slot. and screw it down.
Performance & Benchmarks
The Intel 600p is targeted at people who may normally be looking for an entry level upgrade. The drive uses 3D TLC NAND memory, as opposed to the MLC chips found in high end drives like Samsung’s 950 Pro line. This limits its max performance, but by how much?
For the first set of performance tests I chose Crystal Disk Mark. I compared the 600p to a Samsung 850 Evo, since they are in the same price bracket.
Crystal Diskmark Performance Test
| Intel 600p 256GB | Samsung 850 EVO 500GB | |
| SEQUENTIAL READ Q32T1 | 1,473 MB/s | 547.5 MB/s |
| SEQUENTIAL WRITE Q32T1 | 590.5 MB/s | 520 MB/s |
| 4K RANDOM READ Q32T1 | 285 MB/s | 396.5 MB/s |
| 4K RANDOM WRITE Q32T1 | 506.8 MB/s | 354.9 MB/s |
| SEQUENTIAL READ | 1176 MB/s | 534.6 MB/s |
| SEQUENTIAL WRITE | 599.6 MB/s | 486.2 MB/s |
| 4K READ | 36.34 MB/s | 41.06 MB/s |
| 4K WRITE | 164.6 MB/s | 141.6 MB/s |
As you can see in the results above the 600p compares favorably to the popular Samsung 850 EVO line. It beats it in every write test, while losing both 4K read tests.
4K read speeds test the drive while transferring large amounts of small 4 Kilobyte files. The Intel 600p is not ideally suited for tasks or workflows that really hammer the drive. If your workflow requires you to constantly access tons of files this isn’t the drive for you.
If you are using this as a boot drive, and running games or basic programs off of it you shouldn’t have any issues.
Passmark Diskmark Performance Test
| SEQUENTIAL READ | 1,462 MB/s |
| SEQUENTIAL WRITE | 509 MB/s |
| RANDOM SEEK | 444 MB/s |
| OVERALL SCORE | 8736 |
Passmark Diskmark Comparison Chart
| SCORE | |
| SAMSUNG 960 EVO | 13558 |
| Intel 600p 256GB | 8736 |
| SAMSUNG 850 EVO | 4592 |
The 600p’s Passmark score of 8736 puts it firmly between popular MLC NVMe drives, and MLC SATA drives when it comes to performance. The super cheap pricing makes the 600p series a no brainer if you are looking for a new hard drive on a tight budget.
The drives come in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB variants. Check the links above for pricing. You can also watch the video below if you want to learn a little more about the drives. You can also find a full system utilizing the 600p 256GB model with benchmarks here.