The SSD Review The Worlds Dedicated SSD Education and Review Resource | 
TEST BENCH, SOFTWARE AND PROTOCOL
TEST BENCH CONFIGURATION
| Motherboard | Asus Rampage III Gene SATA 6Gb/s USB3 |
| CPU | Intel i7-930 CPU@2.80Ghz (OCd to 3.2Ghz) |
| RAM | 6Gb G.Skill 1600 Triple Channel |
| Graphics | MSI N460GTX DDR5 768MB |
| Power Supply | OCZ ModXStream-Pro 600w |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212+ |
| OS | Windows 7 64 Bit Ultimate |
| Wifi | Belkin Surf & Share Wireless USB Adapter |
| Monitor | Dell E228WFP 22? Flat Panel |
| Desktop Case | BitFenix Survivor Mid-Tower ATX Gaming Case (x) |
| Front Loading Mobile SSD Rack | Icy Dock SSD 4 x 2.5? Mobile Rack (x) |
Software used for testing by The SSD Review consists of Crystal Disk Mark, HDTune Pro, ATTO Benchmark, along with FutureMark PCMark Vantage. The first three do a great job of showing us the numbers that we want to see, or dont want to see in some cases, while PCMark Vantage x64 is an excellent program which recreates tests that mimic the average users activity, all the while providing a medium to measure each.
In order to ensure accuracy of tests throughout the evaluations, tests may be repeated or conducted in safe mode to confim consistency throughout and eliminate any possibility of a wild card result. Safe mode may be utilized as well as any other number of set criteria to ensure that tests conducted at present do not differ from those conducted in the past. Where comparative SSDs are still in the possession of The SSD Review, we will follow every opportunity to gain fresh test evaluations from sample media.
We also like to provide a bit of background to the reader that all SSDs are not created equal and this can have a confusing impression to users that are not aware of the intricacies of testing their SSD. SandForce SSDs utilize compression techniques in storage whereas many others do not. This presents a false portrayal of their ability when testing a SandForce SSD with software such as Crystal DiskMark-Random Data Mode or AS SSD.
A comparison of a Samsung, Crucial or Intel to the SandForce will result in the SandForce appearing to have inferior performance scores whereas, PC Mark Vantage HDD Suite will show the SandForce to be equal and sometimes better through synthetic testing that represents the users normal daily computing pattern. This is followed with an accurate measurement for all tests that provides consistently accurate results across all SSD media. All comparison testing at The SSD Review is through use of this software.
CRYSTAL DISK INFO VER. 3.9.3
Crystal Disk Info is great in displaying the SSDs features to which we see thatTRIM is functional as well as being able to provide confirmation if anything should ever occur with the drive itself. Something you might not see often with an SSD is a ‘power on count’ of 4 with 0 hours of usage.
INITIAL TESTING
In looking over the product page, we found something a bit unusual that is not displayed with any other manufacturer we know of and that is the methodology used in arriving at their drive performance specifications which is as such:
“Note: All read and write speeds are derived from testing using ATTO Disk Benchmark“
It would only make sense that we conduct our ATTO testing right off.
1. ATTO Disk Benchmark Ver. 2.46
Corsair advertised 285MB/s read and 275MB/s write to which we arrived at highs of 280MB/s read and 272MB/s write which is a great start to our testing.
Pg1 – Introduction & Physical Characteristics
Pg2 – Testing Protocol & ATTO Disk Benchmark
Pg3 – Benchmark Evaluation