Intel's SSD 510 Series is currently available for pre-order in the U.K. and it expected to be released next month. The new SSD series promises to offer up to 400MB/S read and 200MB/s write speeds.

The new 2.5" SSD series are optimized to work with Intel's 2nd generation Core CPU-based PCs. The company will release two versions of the SSD in capacities of 250GB and 120GB.

Both drives are are SATA III 6Gb/s compatible and are promising to offer read speeds of 400MB/s and write speeds of 200MB/s, random 4K read of 20KIOPS and random 4K write of 4KIOPS. The MLC drives feature Intel's controller and will be backed by a three-year warranty.

According to online price listing in the U.K, the Intel SSD 510 250GB version (SSDSC2MH250A2K5) will retail for £s;463 (&euro540 / $735)

The previous performance king, the X25-E with its 64GB storage and 250MB read and 170MB write, still sells for around €600.

SandForce is also expected to release its SF-2000 controller this year, who are promising to deliver 500MB/s sequential reads and writes and up to 60K IOPS for 4KB random reads and writes. OCZ is expected to release the Vertex 3 series based on SandForce?s SF-2582 controller later this year.