EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
We are going to examine the performance of the OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid PCIe by evaluating the RevoDrive motherboard as an SSD followed by the hard drive and then examining the package as a whole in our evaluation and comparison of the OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid.
This provides a definite disadvantage, right off, as reviewers like to get the optimum result which usually occurs in an storage mediums first testing which I didn’t believe possible in this case because of the Dataplex Caching Software changing the structure of the SSD itself.
TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL
This is The SSD Review Test Bench Number Two. A quick click on the photo will give you a better look.
In testing, our main objective is to obtain results as pure and as accurate as possible and we want to ensure that no anomalies slip through. Simply put, we want to provide you with the absolute best results the tested hardware can provide.
Repetition in testing is standard and, if necessary, we may conduct specific tests in Windows 7 safe mode to ensure the OS has little to no influence on the end result.
In order to validate and confirm our findings, testing is supported by industry accepted benchmark programs. All results are displayed through capture of the actual benchmark for better understanding of the testing process by the reader.
We would like to thank ASRock, Crucial, Corsair, OCZ, Fractal-Design, and Icy Dock for sponsoring components of our Test Bench.
SSD COMPRESSION AND TESTING FLUCTUATIONS
All SSDs are not created equal and many new SSD enthusiasts realize that when they test their new drive to confirm specifications and ensure all is in order. SandForce controlled SSDs use compression techniques in storage whereas many others do not. This creates a bit of confusion when enthusiasts test the drive with random data through benchmarking programs such as AS SSD and Crystal Diskmark (random data sample). The results seem to be lower than the listed specifications.
The results actually present a false portrayal of the drives ability when compared to other drives such as the Samsung 470 Series and Crucial M4 SSDs that we have reviewed previously. It is for this reason that all of our comparison testing is done through PCMark Vantage. PCMark Vantage HDD Suite simply provides evaluation results based on transfer speeds reached through typical user patterns. Vantage provides a better testing medium, in that, it sees through the typical synthetic benchmarks and provides us with true to life results of the drive.
BENCHMARK SOFTWARE
Software used for testing by The SSD Review consists of ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal DiskMark, Anvil Storage Utilities, along with FutureMark PCMark Vantage. For this report specifically, there will not be a consistent set of benchmark tests for each storage medium, given exception to the Vantage comparison, as we are trying to highlight the different characteristics of each. This is sometimes best done utilizing different benchmarks.
All 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.
Benchmark software used by The SSD Review is can be obtained by clicking on the title of each application as all may be downloaded without cost to the consumer.
Great review, as always! You always provide useful insights and detailed analysis.
Thank you very much!
It’s a nice concept, but I’d like to see it implemented in a bit more down-to-earth way: SSD with half the capacity, and a single-platter HDD (all to reduce material costs and energy consumption) would be perfect for me. It doesn’t always have to be the super-duper fastest and largest drive 😉
Can you clarify the TRIM support issue? I thought Windows 7 supports TRIM if it is enabled correctly.
Windows 7 supports TRIM but not in RAID or SCSI environments, the latter of which is used by the new Revo 3 drives.
“OCZ says the Revo 3×2 Card supports TRIM because the architecture is based on SCSI. The MS Windows Storport architecture, however, does not presently support TRIM or SCSI UNMAP. Conversations with OCZ regarding this revealed that OCZ and Microsoft are working together and the functionality should be enabled in the near future.” from:
https://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews/ocz-revodrive-3-x2-480-gb-pcie-ssd-review-physical-characteristics-and-vca-technology/
Are you sure the memory is IMFT?? According to the IMFT website (link below), 100% of the IMFT NAND output is consumed by Intel and Micron.
https://www.imftech.com/company/faqs.html#customers
That is not correct. We have documented two separate ocasions where IMFT NAND flash memory was utilized in SSDs and the name of the flash made to reflect that of the company, the previous being SuperTalent.
That is not correct. We have documented two separate ocasions where IMFT NAND flash memory was utilized in SSDs and the name of the flash made to reflect that of the company, the previous being SuperTalent.Type your reply…
So, does it work on Linux and how well? That might be a much more important issue than Windows support – these SSDs are the best thing of the last decade for speeding up databases and other server operations!
Team up with Phoronix if you are lacking Linux expertise 😉
Great review, no complaints there. My spelling/grammar side was going crazy with your “their / there / they’re” misspellings, though! Might want to look up when to use each correctly.
Errors discovered amended and saved. Thank you very much!
You have a valid point as we do not utilize Linux at all but will look into it. No promises…
Great article, very in depth. Thanks. You may made me re-consider my 2nd SSD purchase.
FYI, page 5, first paragraph, 100MB/typo/100GB.
Glad to help…and TX!
can you dual boot ie linux/win7
On a new install, how do we download revo hybrid drivers and store to a folder without windows yet loaded?
You first download the drivers to a USB. During the Windows installation, it will come to a point where you need to insert the USB and select the drivers.
I liked your review and would very much like to employ this in my system. I have a z800 I tried to install this card but it would not function. I could see it but could not access the drive. My 135gb sas drives were stripped and very fast but I needed more drive space but didn’t want to take a hair cut on speed. Any suggestions on how I might get this to function? I tried ocz, that was disappointing as they were of no assistance. thanks