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Smallest and Fastest SSD To Date This SSD Review is going to closely evaluate the renice X3 120GB SATA 3 mSATA SSD.  It will be a great comparison with our similar reviews of the Samsung PM800 and Intel 310 just a few months ago. Because of their tiny form factor, mSATA SSDs are starting to appear as the only storage …

We have to apologize up front because our Test Bench is going through a bit of a transition but we thought it beneficial to throw in a picture in any case. A simple click will enlarge it to assist. Our main goal in testing is to ensure that all test results are as accurate as they can be and no …

ANVIL STORAGE UTILITIES PROFESSIONAL (BETA) Over the last few SSD reviews, we have been introducing our readers to a new benchmark program called Anvil Storage Utilities which is an absolutely amazing program when it comes to benchmarking solid state drives.  Not only does it have a preset SSD benchmark, but also, it has included such things as endurance testing and …

Lets take a look now at our SATA 2 SSD hierarchy as determined by PCMark Vantage HDD Total Points.  Only 3 mSATA SSDs have been tested and all are highlighted: mSATAS FUTURE Although the mSATA SSD is still the new kid on the block, its size alone brings forward a whole new outlook with respect to portable computing.  The Samsung …

The storage industry is shifting from 3Gb/s devices to the new 6Gb/s specification which has been a boon to manufacturers as new devices are needed to handle the new, faster devices that 6Gb/s enables. The 3Gb/s specification reigned  for roughly five years which allowed user speeds up to 300 MB/s. With the advent of “disruptive” technologies like SSD devices, the …

A look inside the exterior casing of the OWC Electra was a bit unexpected as many believe that asynchronous NAND flash memory is new to the SSD scene.  I knew I recognized this specific ‘strain’ of memory but couldn’t recall it being in any recent SSDs which eventually led to my giving in to a Google search.  Back in late …

ATTO DISK BENCHMARK VER. 2.46 ATTO Disk Benchmark is perhaps one of the oldest benchmarks going and is definitely the main staple for manufacturer performance specifications. ATTO uses RAW or compressible data and, for our benchmarks, we use a set length of 256mb and test both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5 to 8192kb.  …

ANVIL STORAGE UTILITY PROFESSIONAL (BETA) Over the last few SSD reviews, we have been introducing our readers to a new benchmark program called Anvil Storage Utilities which is an absolutely amazing program when it comes to benchmarking solid state drives.  Not only does it have a preset SSD benchmark, but also, it has included such things as endurance testing and …

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 …

Today’s OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD review will mark our third such report as we watch asynchronous NAND flash memory make its appearance in the world of SSD storage. Manufacturers realize the consumer demand for value priced SSDs and believe they may have found the balance necessary to tip consumer storage sales in their favour. For those sitting on the …

HDTUNE PRO VER. 4.60 BENCHMARK HDTune is a great software program which covers all areas of our testing and does a great job of showing how capable this drive truly is. HDTUNE PRO VER. 4.60 FILE BENCHMARK HDTUNE PRO VER. 4.60 RANDOM TESTS HDTUNE PRO VER. 4.60 EXTRAS If you are still wondering how this drive stands up to the …

The memory market has seen a lot of fluctuation and change in the past year. RAM timings have gotten lower, performance has gotten better, and prices have submarined to a point where consumers can easily afford to fill their entire DIMM slots. Because of these market conditions, many memory manufacturers have slowed down their production, offerings, and some have even …

PACKAGE AND MEMORY OVERVIEW G.Skill has packaged the F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL in a standard plastic clam shell with cardboard insert which is a far cry from the dreaded blister pack. Clam shell cases are typically the norm and while some can be too loose to hold the stick in place, there was no such issue here. Everything came securely in place, and …

FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS Now that we have taken a closer look at the modules, lets dive into the internal specifications: Even though the official specifications are designed for Intels Sandy Bridge platform, they are also backwards-compatible with first-generation Core processors, as well as the AM3+ chipset, as illustrated by the proceeding CPU-Z and test results. NEXT: Testing Methodology and Overclocking INDEX Page 1: Introduction …

TESTING METHODOLOGY AND OVERCLOCKING I decided to use only two clock-speeds to test the modules, as the stock speed is already at a relatively high 1866MHz: In order to present an unbiased review, I decided to test the G.SKILL RipjawsX Series kit on both an AMD and Intel platform. The memory benchmarks and overclocking results are recorded from both architectures, …