When Intel launched their first new SSD controller in years, it took the form of the high end enterprise drive, the DC S3700. The focus was on performance consistency over just about anything else, and it handled its steady state transition better than any drive we’ve ever tested.

However because it used very expensive high endurance 25nm NAND, with a lot of it over-provisioned (to attain said consistency), it may be considered too costly for a many of applications. Even though it is available in capacities as low as 100GB usable, that drive still costs $250. And not all applications call for such a high performance drive, or need such durable flash.