The rumor mill expected Intel to slash SSD prices in August, and it was incorrect. Turns out Intel went ahead and announced the cuts on its Chip Shot blog yesterday. The company didn’t provide a list of drives and their updated prices, but it confirmed that it’s "lowered suggested reseller pricing" on "a number" of drives, including 320, 330, and 520 Series SSDs.
Sure enough, the prices VR-Zone quoted last week seem to be largely in effect at Newegg. 180GB, 120GB, and 60GB variants of the 330 Series SSD are down to $159.99, $109.99, and $69.99, respectively. (VR-Zone predicted cuts to $154, $104, and $69, numbers which I expect might apply to bulk orders.)
The same goes for the SandForce-powered 520 Series. I see Newegg charges $104.99 for the 60GB model, $149.99 for 120GB, $209.99 for 180GB, $269.99 for 240GB, and $519.99 for 480GB. Bare, "OEM" versions of those same SSDs are available at slightly lower prices. However, from what I can tell, Intel doesn’t cover them under its normal warranty. Retail-boxed drives, on the other hand, are covered for five years directly by Intel.
That’s not all. Along with the cuts, Intel has beefed up the 330 series with the addition of a new 240GB model. The drive seems to have the same specs as its lower-capacity siblings: 25-nm multi-level-cell NAND flash, a peak read speed of 500MB/s, a peak write speed of 450MB/s, a 2.5" form factor with a 9.5-mm thickness, and a five-year warranty. I’m not seeing the drive listed at Newegg or Amazon just yet, though.