Conclusion, Pricing, and Final Thoughts

Conclusion

PROS

  • Best random performance seen to date.
  • Improved sequential performance over 900P.
  • Still amazing 10-drive-writes-per-day endurance.
  • I'm not one for LED lighting, but this one looks sharp.

CONS

  • Pricing is disproportionately high.
  • No Star Citizen or other software bundles with this premium SKU.

Pricing, Endurance, and Warranty (street price at the time of this writing)

905P comes with a 5 year warranty, rated at 10 DWPD.

Final Thoughts

The Intel Optane SSD 905P caught us a bit by surprise, but it offers a welcome refresh to the Intel Optane lineup. The performance is only an incremental upgrade over the 900P, but the 905P offers a doubling of the available capacities of both the HHHL and U.2 form factors. The add-in card adds a sharp design complete with diffused blue lighting effects – something we thought would never make it past concept form. All of that said, the cost/GB does take a hit, which becomes more painful for those who were hoping to find a value-add Star Citizen license in the box. Despite the higher price, the Intel Optane SSD 905P offers performance matching Intel's Optane enterprise SSDs at a significantly reduced, more consumer-friendly cost.

It's the cream of the crop, so Editor's Choice would normally be a default option here, but based on the lack of value-add found in its predecessor (which is still shipping), and the >$100 price premium for what is already a very expensive part, I'm compelled to drop to Gold for this one.

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