Final thoughts and rating
We've witnessed a surge of second-generation SandForce SSDs in recent months, but it's clear that the recipe behind these high-performance drives isn't derived from a single set of ingredients.
While an identical SF-2281 controller acts as the central brain of many a drive, manufacturers are partnering the chip with varying flavours of NAND flash memory - and the results are more varied in both price and performance than we'd anticipated.
At one end of the scale, Corsair's 120GB Force Series 3 pairs the SF-2281 chip with affordable asynchronous NAND flash memory and delivers great performance at a compelling £160 price point. But that particular combination can struggle when working with incompressible data, hence the arrival of top-end models such as Patriot's 120GB WildFire. Carrying a premium price tag of £240, Patriot's solution makes use of quick 32nm Toggle Mode NAND from Toshiba and delivers class-leading results for those who won't accept anything less.
Somewhat surprisingly, Corsair's Force GT doesn't aim for the top - it instead chooses to sit between the aforementioned drives with a £200 asking fee and excellent overall performance. Outfitted with 25nm synchronous NAND, the Force GT can struggle to keep up with rival solutions armed with Toshiba's premium Toggle Mode NAND, but the drive's ability is nonetheless impressive and it's comfortably quicker than the Force Series 3 in almost all of our benchmarks. Put two together in RAID and the results can be staggering.
The Good
Excellent single-drive performance via SATA 6Gbps
Can hit speeds of over 1GB/s when configured in RAID
Racing red colour scheme: you might love it
The Bad
Not the fastest 120GB SF-2281 drive on the market
Racing red colour scheme: you might hate it
HEXUS Rating
Corsair Force Series GT (120GB)
HEXUS Awards
Corsair Force Series GT (120GB)
HEXUS Where2Buy
The 120GB Corsair Force Series GT SSD is available to purchase from SCAN.co.uk*.
HEXUS Right2Reply
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*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUSforum.
