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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.
The one aspect of Anvil testing that I really wanted to examine closely was that of disk access times at the different levels. I knew what I was going to find in both the IOPS and transfer speeds but I found the AS SSD disk speed to be a bit slow and wanted to have it confirmed or refuted in this test. I was pleased to see that the disk access speed results (Resp. time) were very low and indicative of what I would have expected to see from the upStream.
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
SUPERTALENT RAIDDRIVE UPSTREAM VANTAGE RESULTS
The upStream fared better than it did in the products listed specifications and a result of 43416 points was achieved with a high transfer speed of 451MB/s when testing in Windows Media Center. Although we would have liked to see higher scoring here, once again it seems indicative of Super Talents choice to go with the LSI SandForce SF-1222 processor. I still found the results of the remaining tests to be a bit low and would like to have a new test sample in my hand at some point.
We had to wrestle for some time before deciding on not placing this within our hierarchy charts and with good reason. First and foremost, we have stood by our policy that previously used review samples would not be included in our testing. Should we ever receive a new review sample for evaluation, it will most definitely be included. In the end, the opportunity to be the first person outside of Super Talent to handle this SSD was was simply to great to pass up. Hence the decision to review the product without direct comparison.
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Before we get to the report analysis and some final thoughts, I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to show what a great light show the upStream creates when mixed with the OCZ Fatal1ty 1000W PSU.
Does the card support trim? What are the onboard LEDs used for? IO status or error indicators? Is there any DRAM cache on the board?
Just as has always been the case with every PCIe card or RAID 0 config, the board does not support TRIM. Stated that the LED lights are for activity and not for error and there has never been DRAM cache used by SF processors which is why it is not mentioned.
Thanks ahead.
so you cant secure erase the drive? also good 4k cmd results for a a single sf 1222 drive are much higher so its really not indicative of the sf 1222. what it is showing is the effects of no TRIM which is played out in the vantage results.
Les, is this by chance the card that we were guessing as to its manufacturer,etc. back in October/November from the pics you posted?
What is of further interest to me is the cards operating temperature range, power consumption, error correction abilities and data longevity. I’m not at all interested in a light show and can’t understand how anyone could find it interesting looking at the insides of a computer case as it it was a feature film. Seriously, doing so must get old very quickly and if this is the focus of the hardware design at the expense of the previously mentioned issues, then it’s indded a sad state.
Why did they go with this old Sandforce controller?
I am told value.
I don’t think they can put low enough price tag on it. Compare it to Plextor you reviewed earlier, it beats upstream almost in every situation and Vanatage shows it perfectly. And if you add more complexity with all that RAID stuff (more danger of failure, no TRIM etc) that’s getting really sad.
Upstream can only be used by those who need to sequentially read huge files and that’s a rare case, cause usually there’s another bottleneck.
The only positive thing is Super Talent steps into interesting market and could encourage other manufacturers to do so.
Good review, thanks.