Legit Storage Reviews
OCZ RevoDrive 120GB PCI-Express SSD Review
| Manufacturer: | OCZ Technology |
| Product: | OCZSSDPX-1RVD0120 |
| Date: | Wed, Jul 28, 2010 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Joe Evans - |
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Capacity, Final Thoughts & Conclusions
While there is a total of 120GB of NAND on board, the usable drive capacity is more along the lines of 111GB with the rest being provisioned for drive maintenance and performance preservation activities.
The benchmarks clearly show that the RevoDrive is a seriously fast SSD and as well it should be with dual Sandforce SF-1200 controllers and a RAID 0 configuration. Could you replicate this yourself with a couple of Vertex 2 drives? Yes, but to be most effective you would need to buy a quality RAID controller card as well as two SSDs and, for less savvy users, setting up a RAID array can be intimidating. In the end, you'd still face the same challenges with the lack of TRIM and idle garbage collection support.
While OCZ may release a tool or a method to employ OS TRIM to help maintain drive performance, there has been so much focus on TRIM due to problems with early SSDs (not all attributed to lack of TRIM) that users will be very wary of a drive that lacks TRIM support. The results we have seen don't indicate that lack of TRIM should cause significant concern and other reviews have reported similar findings. If you are using XP, you aren't taking advantage of OS TRIM anyway. OCZ has been very proactive in support of their products and we would certainly expect that to continue. The RevoDrive carries the same 3-year warranty as their other SSDs which is a big plus as well.
OCZ tells us that the RevoDrives will hit Newegg soon at $349 which is much lower than we are seeing at e-tailers currently due to the lack of supply. The cost per usable GB ratio comes out to roughly $3.15 which is amazing given the RevoDrive is carrying two of the Sandforce controllers! By comparison, the 100GB Vertex 2 is currently at $3.50 per usable GB which just emphasizes what a great job they have done on the RevoDrive. Obviously, with the RevoDrive being PCI-E interfaced, this isn't going to find a home in a notebook or netbook PC so the Vertex 2 wins out there but those with desktops would be wise to give serious consideration to the RevoDrive over comparable SATA-based drives.
Legit Bottom Line: OCZ has really outdone themselves as the RevoDrive is probably the best bang-for-your-buck SSD purchase you can make right now. The only piece that may worry consumers is the lack of TRIM and idle garbage collection support but that may be remedied by OCZ in the future and the Sandforce controller has shown itself to be very resilient and adept at drive maintenance.
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| Review Index |
|
Page 1 - OCZ RevoDrive - Introduction
Page 2 - OCZ RevoDrive - Closer Look Page 3 - OCZ RevoDrive - Drivers, RAID & Boot Page 4 - OCZ RevoDrive - Test System Page 5 - ATTO & AS-SSD Synthetic Benches Page 6 - HD Tach & CrystalDiskMark Synthetic Benches Page 7 - PCMark Vantage Synthetic Benchmark Page 8 - OCZ RevoDrive - Real World Testing Page 9 - Capacity, Final Thoughts & Conclusions |
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