A-Data Nobility N002 (Indilinx, 128 GB)
The N002 is a dual-interface drive that employs an additional ASMedia controller placed on the N002’s circuit board. The Indilinx Barefoot IDX110 controller uses SATA 3Gb/s and accesses 64 MB of SDRAM. A-Data implemented SATA and USB 3.0 in a way that makes this drive very versatile. It feature’s a 9.5 mm z-height, making it fully compatible with all laptop designs that require standard 2.5” storage devices. The USB 3.0 interface was placed on one side of the drive and is fast enough not to significantly bottleneck the Indilinx architecture.
We don’t include USB 3.0 performance results in the benchmark section because we’re looking at SSDs as SATA system drives. Still, we want to provide a little USB performance teaser here. We measured up to 193 MB/s read and 187 MB/s write throughput, which is more than any other USB 3.0 hard drive reaches.
We’re not sure how many people would use SATA and USB 3.0 on a regular basis, but we still think that the additional interface is quite a neat idea for power users who may need maximum interface flexibility paired with maximum bandwidth.
Even though A-Data also offers 64 GB and 256 GB capacity points, this might still not be enough capacity for enthusiasts needing mobile storage. We still recommend picking a fast system drive and adding high-capacity external storage for the most optimal configuration value.
We found that the A-Data drive lacks punch on 4 KB random writes and in our I/O performance testing, but application performance and throughput results are typically strong. The added USB 3.0 controller probably adds a little power consumption, but not much.
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That's just plain awesome, i can't wait to get a SSD one day.
I just bought myself an SSD yesterday (Coincidence maybe?) and I absolutely love it. The model I got was a 40GB Mushkin Callisto Deluxe, which is also based on sandforce. Ratings at 280/270MB/s, really, really fast! Cost me a small pot of gold considering I live in the Middle East, but it was well worth it. Everything runs so much snappier now!
Anyways nice article, really enjoyed reading it!
Why wasn't any Vertex 2 with the test? They are very popular.
Happy with my Pro Phoenix 120gb. I don't know if i "needed" it, but I do know that it would be very difficult to go back now. :-)
I find it strange that you have not tested and benchmarked ADATA S599 SSD, based on the latest SandForce SF-1222 processor,which provides a 280 MB/s read speed and 270 MB/s write speed at maximum and reaches 50,000 IOPS.
Why wasn't any Vertex 2 with the test? They are very popular.
Did you even look at the stats? there are two vertex ssd's one first gen and and a vertex 2 120gb. They do perform very good across the whole board, I'm gonna get one soon!
Edit: there are even 2 vertex 2 ssd's
Vertex are terrible SSDs. Simply look at the reviews at the sites that sell them and you wil see a huge death rate within the first week, sometimes reaching as high as 15%. Would you chance that?
We reviewed the Samsung at www.thessdreview.com and got some greatr numbers in return. Normally I wouldn't link as such but the review seems to be the only north American available. If you check the comments of the review, there is also a link to the only Asian available translated as well.
The drive is a rock solid drive and well above anything that Samsung has put out before it.
would an ssd be worth buying now (say a gskill sandforce drive) or would it be worth waiting for the next revolutionary ssd architecture in the coming months?
The next revolution will mean a hardware upgrade and even in a few months there will then be something else to wait for. Grab it now!
I wouldn't believe high score of Sandforce controller based SSD. It shows high score in certain pattern, and it ruin the user experience.
Thats not correct. The reviews with synthetic benchmarks, such as Vantage, show how the SF drives stand up to the others. They are one of the best.
would an ssd be worth buying now (say a gskill sandforce drive) or would it be worth waiting for the next revolutionary ssd architecture in the coming months?
It depends. If you need one, I see no reason not to buy one. So you should would first think about how much an SSD would benefit your system and wether that benefit is enough to offset the costs. I'm still waiting for prices to drop a lot closer to regular drives because my HDD is not a critical bottleneck for my usage. It's something I can easily live with.
In still contend that if you are planning to buy a drive and use for a while, you still can't go wrong with an Intel. They aren't quite as fast, but the big difference is going from mechanical drives to a solid state. I still contend that reliability is important, and I swear by my X-25. I have other, faster drives, but over time the Intel drive seems to get faster while the others seem to get slower. Its been nothing but reliable. I recommend people migrating to SSDs to try the X-25v to get the swing of thing. Then go from there.
Test configuration is 3Gbps, but C300 sequential read test result shows 353MB/s. It is too awkward!! Someone knows why?
I did and excellent choice with my C300 and SATA 6Gb/s.
Working on the review, wait for it in the storage section of the forum
How about performing a few game benchmarks when installed on SSD vs. HDD?
I have a vertex 2 120 gb. I must say, after you have one for awhile you just can not go back. I plan on getting another SSD soon, but even with the 120gb, I still have 50-60 gb left with, Win 7 ult. 64 bit. office 2007 professional, Bc2, MoH. Get one!