As February rolls into March, the PC enthusiast sector is primed and ready for a slew of new hardware, with the most exciting being a slew of next gen SSDs from leading manufacturers. While OCZ’s Vertex 3 Pro may be the speed demon according to early previews, Intel in particular has something very interesting lurking within their new 510 series as well.

If you know anything about Intel’s current line of SSDs, you know that compared to other higher end SSDs, performance isn’t exactly mind blowing — the average read speeds of ~170MB/s and writes at just south of ~100MB/s don’t exactly “scream”. But Intel’s next gen 510 series of high-end/enthusiast SSDs look to change that, boasting speeds of 430/315 MB/s read/write respectively. That’s quite a bit faster than the current C300 series of SSDs by Crucial (fastest SATA III SSD available at the moment) which tip the scales at 355/145 MB/s.

But before you go lunging for the wallet, take a gander at prices first:

• 120GB: $280

• 256GB: $580

Not exactly cheap, though pretty close to current gen pricing. Looks like the fastest 120GB SSD you can by will still sit squarely at ~$300. For those looking for a price break, there’s always next year. According to VR-Zone’s sources, we’re looking at a March 1st release date. Will you be partaking?

Via: VR-Zone