Test Methodology
Test bench |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| OCZ RevoDrive | 120GB | SandForce SF-1222 (x2) | 1.20 | PCIe x4 |
| 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 |
| OCZ RevoDrive X2 | 240GB | SandForce SF-1222 (x4) | 1.20 | PCIe x4 |
| 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 |
| OCZ Synapse + Samsung HD103SJ HDD | 1TB | SandForce SF-2281 | 2.15 | SATA 6Gbps |
| OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid | 1TB | SandForce SF-2281 (x2) | 2.13 | PCIe x4 |
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. |
| PCMark 7 | PCMark 7's storage test is a collection of workloads that isolate the performance of the PC's storage system. |
Notes
OCZ has sent us the 256GB and 512GB Vertex 4 drives for benchmarking, but we hope to add the 128GB model to our graphs in the near future; the smallest drive is likely to be closest to most users' budgets, but it also offers the least performance.
For comparison's sake, we've added a 480GB Vertex 3 to our list of benchmarked drives, and, by popular request, we've also re-acquired a 128GB Crucial M4, which has been tested from scratch using the latest available firmware release, version 0309.
