Packaging

We just received the add-in card from Intel. You will receive additional accessories depending on whether you buy the OEM or retail version.

The Drive

The Intel 750 Series SSD comes as a low-profie PCI-Express add-in card, so it will fit into rack servers or even compact media PCs.


The drive uses the PCI-Express x4 interface with support for up to PCI-Express 3.0. The card will work in longer and shorter slots and with slower PCI-Express interfaces (at reduced performance). Instead of AHCI, which is a decade-old standard for mechanical (high-latency) hard drives, the modern NVMe interface is used, which is optimized for low-latency storage. Please make sure to install the SSD into a x4 3.0 slot that is directly connected to the CPU. Yes, that third x4 slot your motherboard might have is a big no-no if it is routed via the Southbridge, over the DMI, and to the CPU. So in most cases you'll have to sacrifice a PCIe x16 3.0 slot, which might get in the way of multi-GPU setups (on Z97, for example). Intel's X99 enthusiast platform has more lanes available, and here, you will be able to use CrossFire/SLI and up to two 750 Series SSDs.


You will find Intel's own SSD controller and 18 64 GB flash chips on the PCB's front. The back of the card holds another 14 16 GB flash chips. So the whole PCIe card is basically plastered with flash chips all over. Five DDR3-1600 DRAM chips also provide 1.25 GB RAM and cache for the controller.


Intel's own CH29AE41B0 controller is the same as on the DC P3700 SSD. It comes with 18 flash channels, which is more than twice that of traditional client SSDs (these come with up to 8 channels). This 18-channel design is also the foundation behind the huge bandwidth the 750 Series SSD can provide.


The 32 MLC flash chips are produced by Intel-Micron and are built on a 20 nanometer process.