Testing and Results
I used the following computer to test this SSD:
- Intel Core i7 2600K CPU
- Gigabyte P67a-UD4 Motherboard
- G.Skill Ripjaws-X 2133-7-10-7 Ram.
- Antec HCP-850W PSU
- Samsung Spinpoint F1 mechanical HDD.
It’s a solid box with excellent SATA3 (6Gbps) performance, it should be able to drive this SSD to it’s maximum potential. Please note that if you use the drive on a SATA2 (3Gbps) port it will work fine, but will not be able to perform as fast due to SATA2’s limited bandwidth.
The following benchmarks were used:
- ATTO Disk Benchmark
- AS SSD Benchmark
- CrystalDiskMark
- PCMark05 XP Startup
PCMark05 is a fairly obscure benchmark that I’m including for the benefit of extreme benchers, it’s results are really only relevant to itself. CrystalDiskMark, AS SSD and ATTO are excellent SSD benchmarks with no disclaimers.
I ran everything except for PCMark05 twice, once with the SSD totally empty and the computer booting from the mechanical HDD, and once with Windows installed to the SSD and booting from the SSD. Some SSDs slow down with any data in them, so I wanted to test both scenarios.
In all cases below, the empty benchmark screenshot comes first.
CrystalDiskMark
Nice numbers, also nice to see that installing windows didn’t slow the drive down much.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
Installing windows puts a pretty serious dent in the write speeds in ATTO at the larger data sizes, though a peak of 433MB/s and most of the chart >232MB/s is still great. With the drive empty the results are simply blistering, and the Read speed doesn’t drop much at all with windows installed. >550MB/s is crazy fast for a single drive!
AS SSD Benchmark
Good numbers in AS SSD Benchmark as well, though given the ATTO results I expected higher numbers. It doesn’t lose much at all with windows installed, which is a plus.
PCMark05 XP Startup Benchmark
319MB/s is very high for a single drive, especially for a single drive that costs well less than $200. I’m impressed!
Lastly there is the subjective “how does it feel?” test. The answer to that is: “Really, really, really fast!”. Windows7 goes from displaying the first hint of a logo to a usable desktop in maybe 12 seconds, programs opening instantly. It’s a far cry from a mechanical drive, that’s for sure!
