Test Methodology
Test Bench |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3770K (up to 3.9GHz, 8MB cache, quad-core) | ||||||||
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H | ||||||||
| Memory | 8GB G.Skill TridentX (2x4GB) DDR3 @ 2,400MHz | ||||||||
| Storage Controllers | Intel Z77 PCH (SATA 6Gbps, AHCI) | ||||||||
| Graphics Card | Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC 2GB | ||||||||
| Power Supply | Corsair AX750 | ||||||||
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1, 64-bit) | ||||||||
Comparison Drive Configurations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Controller | Firmware | Interface | |
| Kingston SSDNow V+200 | 120GB | SandForce SF-2281 | 332ABBF0 | SATA 6Gbps |
| SanDisk Extreme | 120GB | SandForce SF-2281 | R112 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Crucial m4 | 128GB | Marvell 88SS9174 | 0309 | SATA 6Gbps |
| OCZ Octane | 128GB | Indilinx IDX300M00-BC | E0882584 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Corsair Force Series GS | 240GB | SandForce SF-2281 | 5.02 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Corsair Neutron Series | 240GB | Link_A_Media Devices LM87800 | M206 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Corsair Neutron Series GTX | 240GB | Link_A_Media Devices LM87800 | M206 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Crucial M500 | 240GB | Marvell 88SS9187 | MU02 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Intel 520 Series | 240GB | SandForce SF-2281 | 400i | SATA 6Gbps |
| Kingston HyperX 3K | 240GB | SandForce SF-2281 | 501ABBF0 | SATA 6Gbps |
| PNY Prevail Elite | 240GB | SandForce SF-2281 | 5.05 | SATA 6Gbps |
| SanDisk Extreme | 240GB | SandForce SF-2281 | R201 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Samsung 840 Series | 250GB | Samsung MDX | DXM06B0Q | SATA 6Gbps |
| ADATA XPG SX910 | 256GB | SandForce SF-2281 | 5.0.1 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Corsair Performance Pro | 256GB | Marvell 88SS9174 | 1.0 | SATA 6Gbps |
| OCZ Vector | 256GB | Indilinx Barefoot 3 | 10200000 | SATA 6Gbps |
| OCZ Vertex 4 | 256GB | Indilinx IDX400M00-BC | 05.10.31 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Plextor M5 Pro | 256GB | Marvell 88SS9187 | 1.02 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Samsung 830 Series | 256GB | Samsung MCX | CXM03B1Q | SATA 6Gbps |
| Samsung 840 PRO Series | 256GB | Samsung MDX | DXM03B0Q | SATA 6Gbps |
| SanDisk Ultra Plus | 256GB | Marvell SS889175 | X211200 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Corsair Neutron Series GTX | 480GB | Link_A_Media Devices LM87800 | M206 | 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 840 PRO Series | 512GB | Samsung MDX | DXM02B0Q | SATA 6Gbps |
| Crucial M500 | 960GB | Marvell 88SS9187 | MU02 | SATA 6Gbps |
| Samsung HD103SJ HDD | 1TB | N/A | 1AJ100E4 | SATA 3Gbps |
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 7 | PCMark 7's storage test is a collection of workloads that isolate the performance of the PC's storage system. |
| Performance Consistency | Each SSD is subjected to random 4K writes across the entire span of the drive at a queue depth of 32 for a full 10 hours to help gauge performance over time, average latency and maximum latency. |
