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TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL
In testing the Intel SSD DC S3500, along with all enterprise drives, we focus on long term stability. In doing so, we stress products not only to their maximum rates, but also with workloads suited to enterprise environments.
We use many off-the-shelf tests to determine performance, but we also have specialized tests to explore specific behaviors we encounter. With enterprise drives, you will see that we do not focus on many consumer level use-cases.
Our hope is that we present tangible results that provide relevant information to the buying public.
LATENCY
To specifically measure latency, we use a series of 512b, 4K, and 8K measurements. At each block size, latency is measured for 100% read, 65% read/35% write, and 100% write/0% read mixes.
A couple of things stood out when we looked at average latency, especially when compared to the SM843. The first is that even though the S3500 is rated for higher IOPS (75K v. 70K), it consistently had higher latency at 100% read operations. The second piece that caught our eye was how well the S3500 did when there were mixed read/write operations. This was something that left us disappointed in our Samsung SM843 SSD review.
Except for a few instances, the S3500 had higher maximum latency than the SM843. This was a little surprising considering the performance consistency of the S3700. Speaking of consistency, lets take a deeper dive into latency.
Two things concern me with this SSD. The power protection caps look rather outdated compared to other enterprise SSDs. Secondly, the SSD label indicates a +12V line is required along with the usual +5V. My OCZ SSDs only required +5V . What’s the +12V being used for?
dravo1 – The S3500/S3700s can operate on both the 5 and 12V rail. 12V is useful in enterprise rack systems where it may be more readily available than 5V. All of our testing was performed in systems using only 5V, so don’t worry too much.
what about the SM843 with tantalum caps? or the SM843T with super caps and e-mlc?
We can’t say much about products that are not released, but if the 843 had power loss caps, it would be much more attractive to enterprise. If they add a high endurance option, that would put it in a difference price/performance class, so it’s hard to tell how it would stack up,
they are just sold through oem like samsung was before their consumer SSD. Used to be microcenter was the only place to get samsung hard drives. SM843T is the same as the 840 pro as far as they are concerned the factory OP is higher. the 840 Pro only worked after we moved to 30% OP with some megascu love to the LSI 9266
The write endurance seems to be pretty low though! 450000GB/800GB = 562 cycles. Others do something like 2-3000!
You need to the into account the WA aswell, especially becouse it uses no compression, it will always be more than 1.
Yes, with the JESD standard, the write amplification is 5-7X, from my experience. If you are looking at a workload where WA=~1, you are looking at slightly over 3000 PE cycles.
Does it work with macbook pro early 2011, core i7, 500gb? looking to upgrade to SSD.
Of course it will.