Runcore ProV Max 120GB SSD Review – Runcore Strikes Gold With SandForce Premium Firmware

ANVIL STORAGE UTILITIES PROFESSIONAL

Over the last little while, we have been assisting with beta testing new benchmark software called Anvil Storage Utilities which is an absolutely amazing SSD benchmarking utility.  Not only does it have a preset SSD benchmark, but also, it has included such things as endurance testing and threaded I/O read, write and mixed tests, all of which are very simple to understand and utilize in our benchmark testing.

Testing the Runcore ProV Max with the Anvil Benchmark resulted in a great demonstration of the ‘gold firmware’ firsthand.  The disk access speeds  (Resp. time) are extremely fast and justifies Runcore’s claim that the ProV Max will ‘increase system responsiveness’ which, to an extent, may even result in shorter start times.

As well, we see 4k QD16 IOPS of 80,625 which is an excellent result, indicative of this firmware version.  Both the disk access speed and 4k QD16 are extremely close to that shown in our Kingston SSDNow v+200 SSD review, a characteristic that may validate the ideal that firmware is the same in both SSDs.

PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD SUITE

The SSD Review uses benchmark software called PCMark Vantage x64 HDD Suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. There are eight tests in all and the tests performed record the speed of data movement in MB/s to which they are then given a numerical score after all of the tests are complete. The simulations are as follows:

• Windows Defender In Use
• Streaming Data from storage in games such as Alan Wake which allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action
• Importing digital photos into Windows Photo Gallery
• Starting the Vista Operating System
• Home Video editing with Movie Maker which can be very time consuming
• Media Center which can handle video recording, time shifting and streaming from Windows media center to an extender such as XBox
• Cataloging a music library
• Starting applications

If you are new to testing and considering benchmark software, this is the best you can get because the program goes well beyond the results of simulated testing as we have already done. In comparing SATA 2.0 SSDs, we have reached the bandwidth limit and the performance of most new SATA 2 SSDs is as high as it can get with typical high sequential access speeds in the area of 280MB/s read and 270MB/s write.

We needed a way to differentiate these drives and to find a method that can actually put one drive above another and this is exactly what Vantage testing does. Its tests combined can provide an accurate comparison between drives and its tests individually can assist a smart shopper in finding the best SSD for their needs. Next to actual true to life testing which can take an insurmountable length of time, PCMark Vantage is the only program that can compare any SSD, side by side, regardless of SATA interface or controller in use.

RUNCORE PROV MAX 120GB SSD PCMARK VANTAGE RESULTS

The Runcore ProV displayed a final result of 63571 points in PCMark Vantage HDD Suite with a high transfer speed of 287MB/s when testing with Media Player.  This places it above the Future Storage 240GB SSD and just below the Runcore T50 120GB SATA 3 mSATA SSD, as luck may have it. The following result displays the individual test transfer speeds attained:

This next chart is our SSD hierarchy, as determined through testing of all new gen SATA 3 SSDs that we have tested in PCMark Vantage to date: