Our consumer storage platform is based on Intel's Z77 platform controller hub paired with an Intel Core i5-2400 CPU. Intel's 6- and 7-series chipsets are virtually identical from a storage perspective. We're standardizing on older RST 10.6.1002 drivers for the foreseeable future.

| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 3.1 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1866 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V |
| System Drive | Kingston HyperX 3K 240 GB, Firmware: 5.02 |
| Tested Drives | Sandisk Extreme II 120 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Sandisk Extreme II 240 GB, Firmware: R1311 | |
| Sandisk Extreme II 480 GB, Firmware: R1311 | |
| Comparative | OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 1.0 |
| Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: B660 | |
| Intel SSD 525 30 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: LLKi | |
| Intel SSD 525 60 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: LLKi | |
| Intel SSD 525 120 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: LLKi | |
| Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: LLKi | |
| Intel SSD 525 240 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: LLKi | |
| Intel SSD 335 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 335s | |
| Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: PWG2 | |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.25 | |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0 | |
| Samsung 830 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO3B1Q | |
| Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 000F | |
| Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 1.02 | |
| Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M206 | |
| Graphics | MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1 GB |
| Power Supply | Seasonic X-650, 650 W 80 PLUS Gold |
| Chassis | Lian Li Pitstop |
| System Software and Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Drivers | Graphics: Nvidia 314.07 RST: 10.6.1002 IMEI: 7.1.21.1124 |
| Benchmarks | |
|---|---|
| Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0 | Trace-Based |
| Iometer 1.1.0 | # Workers = 1, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential, 8 GB LBA Precondition, Exponential QD Scaling |
| PCMark 7 | Secondary Storage Suite |
| PCMark Vantage | Storage Suite |
Previous
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Summary
- Extreme II, The Sequel From SanDisk
- A Guided Tour Of SanDisk's Extreme II
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Results: Sequential Performance
- Results: Random Performance
- Results: Tom's Storage Bench
- Results: PCMark Vantage And PCMark 7
- Results: Power Consumption
- Not Extreme To The Second Power, But Close Enough
Ask a Category Expert
Also, you appear to have put one of the labels back on the wrong way round.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vertex-450-256gb-review,3517.html
See here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7006/sandisk-extreme-ii-review-480gb
It's Anand's new favorite SSD, and based on the results, I'm inclined to agree.
It's peak performance is right up there with the 840 Pro, but what's really extreme is the drive's consistency. It's performance when the drive is close to full is unmatched.
There are no high peaks accompanied by low valleys in performance when it comes to the Extreme II. It's pretty much smooth and fast sailing all the time, which in my book, places the Extreme II a step above the 840 Pro. The 840 Pro would have to be at least $30 cheaper than the Extreme II for me to even consider it over the Extreme II.
The "Heavy hitters" for modern SSDs include the fastest SSDs on the market right now, which are The Plextor M5 pro Xtreme, the OCZ Vector and Samsung 840 pro. Of these, you have only included the OCZ, and the slower version of the Plextor. Also, you have also included the old Crucial m4, which is a good drive, but old, and not one of the heavyweights now. At least include the improved "M500" version. I also find it confusing why you include the older Samsung 830.
These are minor points though. Thank you for the great comparison. I look forward to more storage comparisons
that single omission itself made this review critically flawed.
Thanks,
Chris
What we are seeing is stagnation. We have a great Marvell controller, Indilinx Barefoot 2 controllwer and a solide Sandforce 2000 series controllered SSDs.
I'm waiting for the next generation, maybe for the Sandforce/LSI 3000 series controllers that can do 200,000 IOPS! Google it. Though that drive was using a PCIe 4x interface rather than SATA but it was in the 2.5" drive form factor.
Maybe increase queue depth of 1 4KB random reads and write speeds too. So far I've only seen as high as about 30MB/s 4K random read with a queue depth of 1 on Crystaldisk Mark.