Test configuration
For our today’s SSD test session, we use a
unified test system built on an Intel H77 based mainboard, which has two SATA 6
Gbit/s ports. We are going to use these ports to connect the tested SSDs.
For the today’s testing participants, it is
clear that the new OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB has to be compared with the various
incarnations of the second generation based-Sand Force models, which have been
multiplying day by day, as well as for other popular SSDs. Therefore, you will
find the numbers on the diagrams about the performance of other products based
on the SandForce controller: Intel SSD 520, Kingston SSDNow V300, Corsair Force
GS and Corsair Force GT, which is an overview analysis for the OCZ Vertex 3.
The other platforms are going to stand for the following participants: Corsair
SSDs on LAMD LM87800 controller (Neutron GTX and Neutron), OCZ Vertex 4 on
Indilinx Everest 2 controller, the latest OCZ Vector SSD on Indilinx Barefoot 3
controller, Crucial m4 on Marvell 9174, and Plextor SSDs on Marvell 9174
controller (M5S) and Marvell 9187 controller (M5 Pro). All of the hard drives
mentioned above used synchronous MLC flash memory. Especially, Crucial m4,
Corsair Force GT, Corsair Neutron, Intel SSD 520, OCZ Vertex 4, OCZ Vector and
Plextor M5S use 25 nm IMFT memory with ONFI-interface. And Corsair Force GS,
Corsair Neutron GTX and Plextor M5 Pro use Toggle Mode MLC NAND produced by
using 2x nm or 19 nm technology.
OCZ
Vertex 3.20 Solid State Drive
Overall our test was configured as follows:
·
Intel Core i5-3470S (Ivy Bridge, 4 cores, 2.9
GHz, EIST and Turbo Boost turned off);
·
Intel DH77DF mainboard (BIOS 0108);
·
2 x 2 GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM DIMM 9-9-9-24-1T;
·
Crucial m4 256 GB system disk (CT256M4SSD2);
·
Tested SSDs: Corsair Force GS Series 240 GB
(CSSD-F240GBGS-BK, firmware version 5.03); Corsair Force GT Series 240 GB
(CSSD-F240GBGT-BK, firmware version 5.03); Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
(CSSD-N240GBGTX-BK, firmware version 2.06); Corsair Neutron 240 GB
(CSSD-N240GB3-BK, firmware version 2.06); Crucial m4 256 GB (CT256M4SSD2,
firmware version 070H); Intel SSD 520 240 GB (SSDSC2CW240A3K5, firmware version
400i); Kingston SSDNow V300 240 GB (SV300S37A/240G, firmware version 5.0.5);
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB (VTX3-25SAT3-240G.20, firmware version 2.30); OCZ Vertex
4 256 GB (VTX4-25SAT3-256G, firmware version 1.5); OCZ Vector 256 GB
(VTR1-25SAT3-256G, firmware version 2.0); Plextor M5S 256 GB (PX-256M5S,
firmware version 1.03); Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB (PX-256M5P, firmware version
1.03).
·
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate x64
·
Drivers: Intel Chipset Driver 9.3.0.1026; Intel
Graphics Media Accelerator Driver 9.17.10.2932; Intel Rapid
Storage Technology 11.7.0.1013.
Performance
The process of random and sequential read/write
We use Anvil's Storage Utilities 1.0.51 to
measure the speeds of random and sequential write. The synthetic benchmark
integrated into this software suite gives an excellent overview of the products
by performing a series of speed characteristics of the tested SSD.
The results you see here refer to the FOB
(fresh out-of-box) non-degraded SSD performance. Furthermore, we use the
incompressible data, which is the most usable scenario for the LSI SF-2281
controller that uses on-the-fly data compression. However, our tests show that
in today's world when the data can only be partially compressed and the used
flash memory has high-speed synchronous interface, the compression algorithms
do not greatly affect the actual performance of SSDs with the SandForce
controller suite. Consequently, we renounced the idea of testing SandForce
SSDs based on compressed data: These results will be proprietarily artificial
in nature and there will not have any practical value for us today.
The
process of sequential read
Random
Read 4K
Random
Read 4K QD=4
Random
Read 4K QD=16
Random
Read 32K
Random
Read 128K
The
process of sequential write
Random
Write 4K
Random
Write 4K QD=4
Random
Write 4K QD=16
The remarkable longevity of the LSI SF-2281
controller is reflected in the performance of SSDs using it. They are not very
quick in processing the blocks of 4KB random-address data and only likely to
match today’s leading products in sequential processing operations or
processing the large data blocks. The OCZ Vertex 3.20 is not better than the
other models of the second generation SandForce platform. What’s more, it is
one of the worst models that utilize synchronous flash.
Unfortunately, the modernization of the
Vertex 3 models is just good in terms of reducing manufacturing cost but does
not provide any performance benefits. If you would like a faster SSD, OCZ
exposes the Vertex 4 and Vector models that are more appealing in this respect.
The Vertex 3.20, for its part, is an inexpensive and even not highly fast
solution, which is even slower than its predecessor, the Vertex 3. We are able
to easily see this since the Corsair Force GT has also the same Intel’s 25nm
synchronous flash platform, is a perfect analysis to show this.
