Three PCI Express-Based SSDs: When SATA 6 Gb/s Is Too Slow

Features
By Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos
published

When it comes time to hunt down the ultimate in storage performance, you simply cannot settle for standard SSDs. Instead, look to PCI Express-based drives that circumvent the limitations of SATA. We have products from Fusion-io, LSI, and OCZ on the bench.

Benchmark Results: AS SSD Read/Write And Total Score

Please have a look at the AS SSD introduction page for more details on how the scores are calculated and weighted. The clear result is that the LSI WarpDrive is strongest in reads, mostly because 4 KB random reads are weighted heavily. However, Fusion-io’s ioDrive demonstrates impressive consistency, and is almost as fast in a preconditioned state, particularly when handling writes. This is reflected in the overall score. LSI delivers better peak performance, but drops behind Fusion-io (ioDrive) in real-world conditions. The OCZ Ibis does great, but its numbers are no match for the two other candidates.

Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos