Intel DC P3520 Enterprise NVMe SSD Review (1.2TB) – With 3D NAND Comes Value

4KB RANDOM READ/WRITE

In order to properly test random 4KB performance, we first secure erase to get it in a clean state. Next, the drive is filled by sequentially writing to the RAW NAND capacity twice. We then precondition the drive with 4KB random writes at QD256 until the drive is in a steady state. Finally, we cycle through QD1-256 for 5 minutes each for writes and then reads. All this is scripted to run with no breaks in between. The last hour of preconditioning, the average IOPS, and average latency for each QD is graphed below.

During preconditioning, we can see that for the most part, the Intel DC p3520 delivers between 25-30K IOPS write performance at QD256 with some outliers higher than that. Latency also ranges from 8-10ms at this QD. Overall, the consistency demonstrated here is fairly good given this SSD’s price point.

During 4K reads the DC P3520 demonstrates strong performance from QD1-16. At QD32 and on performance trails behind the pack of higher performance drives.

Looking at 4K write performance, the Intel DC P3520 shows a result of 28K IOPS at QD1, but after that, it maintains that performance and doesn’t scale past it. Latency simply doubles per doubling of QD.