So, which 128 GB solid state drive is the fastest? Well, it depends on the parameter you choose to look at.

For sequential read, the three programs we used confirmed Intel X-25M 160 GB as the fastest solid state drive under this kind of task. The other two drives that had great performance on sequential read were Corsair Nova 128 GB and Digital SiliconEdge Blue (both confirmed by two out of three programs to be the next choice after Intel’s unit).

Now for sequential write, Intel unit was the worst! This also happened with the 80 GB model. Under this particular test, Corsair Nova 128 GB and Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128 GB were the best-performing products.

Then we have random operations. For random reads using 512 KB blocks we have Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128 GB and Corsair Nova 128 GB again as winners, and when we reduced block size to 4 KB Corsair Nova 128 GB was the best-performing SSD, followed by Mushkin Io, Crucial CT128M255 and Patriot Torqx, which achieved the same performance level.

Now for random writes using 512 KB blocks we have Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue and Corsair Nova 128 GB tied in first place. When we reduced block size to 4 KB Intel X-25M 160 GB showed up as the fastest unit, followed by Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128 GB and Kingston SSDNow V Series 128 GB.

So, as you can see, Intel X-25M is really the fastest drive for sequential read operations – for all other kinds of operations (sequential writes, random reads and random writes), it loses to other products, in particular to Corsair Nova 128 GB and Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128 GB – except when writing random 4 KB blocks of data.

After this big summary, one big question remains: which 128 GB SSD unit should you buy?

Intel X-25M 160 GB is definitely an option if you are building a high-end PC and has a lot of money, but at USD 500 we don’t think it has the value the average user is looking for. If you are looking for performance, Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128 GB (USD 400) and Corsair Nova 128 GB (USD 369) are too terrific options with a better cost/benefit ratio for the normal user than the Intel unit, and we’d probably pick Corsair’s solution because it is always nice to save a little bit. This unit from Corsair is faster and cost less than Patriot Torqx (USD 389) and Mushkin Io (USD 379).

Now if you don’t have this kind of money, we have two units at the lower price spectrum: Crucial CT128M255 at USD 307 and Kingston SSDNow V Series 128 GB at only USD 279 for the “desktop bundle” kit (USD 259 for the stand-alone drive). Though not the fastest, both are interesting options because of their price. The unit from Kingston performed better than this unit from Crucial on most read tests, while the unit from Crucial was faster than the unit from Kingston on all write tests.