the ultimate performance and capacity
combination.
Before we speak about the test results,
one should make it known that this drive
requires that you use it in a PCI-Express
3.0 slot with at least four lanes (x4). It is
only in this configuration where there is
enough bandwidth so as to not limit the
performance of the drive. Your PCIe 2.0 x4
slot may work (I have not verified this), but
even if it does you’ll essentially be limited
to half the bandwidth. An unwise way in
which to utilize this drive as performance
is its key selling point.
The drive has a large heatsink at
the front which covers the DRAM,
controller and NAND. The heat sink is
likely needed only for the controller and
DRAM perhaps as the NAND on the back
of the PCB features no such cooling.
During the intensive testing, the heat
sink will become warm to the touch and
within a closed system it may get even
warmer, and as such you’ll want to make
sure that the SSD is not in between two
GPUs for instance. There shouldn’t be a
problem with this, but to avoid potential
performance degradation (controller
throttling for instance) you may want to
keep the drive as far as possible from
these heat sources. INTEL stipulates
that the 750 has a 25W TDP when active,
which is comparatively high against
standard 2.5” SATA drives, but at the
EDITOR’S CHOICE
AWARD
22 The OverClocker Issue 34 | 2015
same time, nothing that any enthusiast
system should have a hard time with.
As is typical with INTEL components
and products, the endurance rating is
stated very conservatively at 70GB of
host writes per day. The drive will likely
have a better rating than that in practice,
but it is appreciated none the less. An
interesting bit about this drive aside from
the lengthy 5 year warranty is that it can
supposedly retain its data for up to 3
months, with absolutely no power. That
is a lengthy period and certainly longer
than on any drive we’ve come across. It’s
perhaps in these numerous but often
overlooked assurances that one may find
some justification for the very high price in
addition to the performance. After all, with
such a large capacity drive, the odds are
that you’ll store plenty of data on it and not
only if one looking f ܈]