Although we are putting the final touches on our new and upgraded System test Benches, we felt this picture would be of benefit. 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 anomalies slip through. We conduct all tests three …

Patriot releases another SATA 3 SSD into the consumer arena this morning, this going by the name of the Patriot Pyro.  The Pyro follows suit with the few other manufacturers that have recognized consumer apprehension over premium SSD prices and have wisely made use of a more value driven asynchronous (Async) NAND flash memory. These new ‘Async’  SSDs include the …

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 …

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 …

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.  …

This is the Test Bench and a quick click will display it close up.  As you may have guessed, it truly is no ordinary Test Bench, and I have dedicated many many hours creating this build, which has been used in many benchmarking excursions and extreme overclocking sessions. She has even set a few HWBot world records along the way! …

The front of the Force Series GT PCB displays the SandForce SF-2281 processor which is proving to be the hottest thing in solid state drives these days.  There is not a company around that has moved to SATA 3 and not shaken hands with SandForce in some way, shape or form. In fact, I only know of one SSD manufacturing …

COMPRESSIBLE vs INCOMPRESSIBLE DATA Before we venture into the meat and gravy of the review, lets start with a bit of background on data samples used in evaluations and, more importantly, by the user in daily computer use.  An understanding of compressible and incompressible data will help us incredibly as we move through this report.  Compressible data includes such things …