Samsung PM800 128GB mSATA SSD Review – PCMark Vantage and Conclusions

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 270MB/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.

Although we have yet to reach SATA 3 bandwidth max, there will be a number of manufacturers introducing SATA 3 drives in the next few months. 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.

THE SAMSUNG PM800 mSATA 128GB STORY

Pulling off a score of 34617 Vantage Points places it above the Intel 310 with 33570 points and also places it above the crowd favorite Intel X25m of last year.  The synthetic benchmarks along with the AS SSD File Copy tests and PCMark Vantage result make the PM800 one heck of a mSATA SSD to beat.  We have to wonder again why Samsung limits this to oem sales and hasn’t pushed it into the consumer market as its high sequential reads and writes are the top we have seen by far for a mSATA drive.  Lets take a look at the chart to see how this SSD fared shall we?

For those of you walking the line on the HDD to SSD transition, you might want to see how the Samsung Spinpoint F2 1.5Tb hard drive fared.  Its a great drive for storage but we have really moved into a new realm of computing with solid state drives.

CONCLUSIONS

It hasn’t so long ago that we spoke of mSATA SSDs becoming the standard in laptops in the not so distant future and it seems we have arrived, at least with the new Samsung Series 9 laptop.  As capable as they are in maintaining lightweight ultraportable configurations, they will soon be seen as the standard for a boot drive with the hard drive for capacity in both laptop and desktop systems.  Actually, Gigabyte just announced their next series of motherboards where integrated mSATA is now becoming the standard.

Our next step is to fine tune performance and capacity and the Samsung PM800 128GB mSATA SSD does just that.  We don’t know of another SSD based product that has the power and small footprint of this SSD which puts it in a class of its own.

There are two thing we might suggest to Samsung, the first being to put out an up to date data sheet and then make this available for consumer sales.  Its just not conceivable, at least to me, why a company would come forth with the strongest contender in mSATA SSDs today and not advertise and place it in a market that would have great return for them.

If Samsung is interested, I just might consider a position as Samsung Global SSD Marketing Director.  My first change would be to explain that releasing new SSDs in the cloak of darkness is a loss for both the consumer and Samsung themselves.  The upside of a good marketing plan is simply that the 470 Series could have sold a ton more if it was marketed as what it was at that time which was one of the best SSDs available. Here we are again with the PM800 mSATA being the best there is by a length without marketing of such or consumer sales.

All fun aside, the m800 mSATA is an amazing drive and, being a new Series 9 owner with this as the standard, its good to see that Samsung values quality components in its product.

EDITORS CHOICE mSATA SSD !~!~!~

Pg1 – Introduction

Pg2 – Test Bench and Initial Tests

Pg3 – Crystal and AS SSD Benchmarks

Pg4 – HDTune Testing

Pg5 – PCMark Vantage and Conclusions

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