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Review: Corsair Accelerator Series SSD Cache (60GB)

by Parm Mann on 25 April 2012, 09:04 3.5

Tags: Corsair

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabfln

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Test Methodology

Test bench

CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (3.3GHz, 6MB L3 cache, quad-core, LGA1155)
Motherboard Intel DP67BG
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance (9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz)
Storage controllers Intel P67 PCH (SATA 6Gbps, AHCI)
Graphics card AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB
Power supply Corsair AX750
Operating system Windows 7 Ultimate SP1, 64-bit

Comparison Drive Configurations

  Total Capacity Controller Firmware Interface
ADATA S511 60GB SandForce SF-2281 319ABBF0 SATA 6Gbps
Crucial Real SSD C300 64GB Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 002 SATA 6Gbps
Intel 510 Series 120GB Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 PPG2 SATA 6Gbps
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SandForce SF-2281 1.2 SATA 6Gbps
Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SandForce SF-2281 1.2 SATA 6Gbps
Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB SandForce SF-2281 332ABBF0 SATA 6Gbps
Patriot Pyro 120GB SandForce SF-2281 319ABBF0 SATA 6Gbps
Patriot Pyro SE 120GB SandForce SF-2281 332ABBF0 SATA 6Gbps
Patriot Wildfire 120GB SandForce SF-2281 319ABBF0 SATA 6Gbps
SanDisk Extreme 120GB SandForce SF-2281 R112 SATA 6Gbps
Crucial m4 128GB Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 0309 SATA 6Gbps
OCZ Octane 128GB Indilinx IDX300M00-BC E0882584 SATA 6Gbps
OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SandForce SF-2281 1.11 SATA 6Gbps
Kingston HyperX 240GB SandForce SF-2281 320ABBF0 SATA 6Gbps
Intel 520 Series 240GB SandForce SF-2281 400i SATA 6Gbps
Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 0006 SATA 6Gbps
Corsair Performance Pro 256GB Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 1.0 SATA 6Gbps
OCZ Vertex 4 256GB Indilinx IDX400M00-BC 05.10.31 SATA 6Gbps
OCZ Vertex 3 480GB SandForce SF-2281 2.15 SATA 6Gbps
OCZ Vertex 4 512GB Indilinx IDX400M00-BC 05.10.31 SATA 6Gbps
Samsung HD103SJ HDD 1TB N/A 1AJ100E4 SATA 3Gbps
Corsair Accelerator + Samsung HD103SJ HDD 1TB (60GB cache) SandForce SF-2181 1.3.4 SATA 3Gbps
OCZ Synapse + Samsung HD103SJ HDD 1TB (32GB cache) SandForce SF-2281 2.15 SATA 6Gbps

Benchmarks

ATTO Disk Benchmark The freeware ATTO benchmark provides basic sequential speed results for both read and write operations. Using the default queue depth of four, we record read and write speeds during 1MB transfers.
CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark provides various storage benchmarks, but we're interested in the returned 32-thread 4K performance numbers to see how well the drives fare when tasked with numerous small transfers.
AS SSD

Another freeware benchmark, AS SSD is designed primarily for testing solid-state storage. We run the benchmark and record the drive's overall read and write scores. The final numbers take into account sequential speeds, input/output performance and access time.

Iometer Iometer is an I/O subsystem measurement tool originally developed by Intel. To measure a drive's I/O performance, we set the benchmark to utilise 4KB transfers in a random spread. Read and write distribution is set to 50 per cent, and queue depth at 32. The test is run for two minutes and we record the total I/Os per second.
PCMark Vantage Emulating real-world use, PCMark Vantage spits out a bunch of data on the relative speed of the drives when undertaking common tasks. We record Windows startup, application load time and gaming performance.

Notes

The two configurations we're interested in are the 60GB Corsair Accelerator with a 1TB hard disk and the 64GB OCZ Synapse with a 1TB hard disk. Corsair's solution costs £70, provides a full 60GB cache and utilises a SATA 3Gbps interface. OCZ's alternative, meanwhile, is pricier at £75, but provides a smaller 32GB cache via a faster SATA 6Gbps interface.