Test Setup And Benchmarks
Our consumer storage test bench 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.
Updates to the RST driver package occasionally result in subtle performance changes. They can also lead to some truly profound variance in scores and results as well, depending on the revision. Some versions flush writes more or less frequently. Others work better in RAID situations. Builds 11.2 and newer support TRIM in RAID as well. Regardless, results obtained with one revision may or may not be comparable to results obtained with another, so sticking with one version across all testing is mandatory.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| 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 | Intel DC S3500 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: D2010353 |
| Drive(s) Under Test | Crucial M550 1024 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware MU01 |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | Crucial M550 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware MU01 |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 730 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: L2010400 |
| Row 7 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 120 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 250 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 9 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 500 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 10 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 1000 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 11 - Cell 0 | SanDisk X210 256 GB, Firmware X210400 |
| Row 12 - Cell 0 | SanDisk X210 512 GB, Firmware X210400 |
| Comparison Drives | Intel SSD 530 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: DC12 |
| Row 14 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 520 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 400i |
| Row 15 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA, Firmware: LLKi |
| Row 16 - Cell 0 | SanDisk A110 256 GB M.2 PCIe x2, Firmware: A200100 |
| Row 17 - Cell 0 | Silicon Motion SM226EN 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M0709A |
| Row 18 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 19 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 20 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 21 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 960 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 22 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 23 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 24 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 25 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 26 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Ultra Plus 64 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: X211200 |
| Row 27 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Ultra Plus 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200 |
| Row 28 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200 |
| Row 29 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q |
| Row 30 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q |
| Row 31 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Extreme II 120 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Row 32 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Extreme II 240 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Row 33 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Extreme II 480 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Row 34 - Cell 0 | Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: B660 |
| Row 35 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 30 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 36 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 60 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 37 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 120 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 38 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 39 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 240 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 40 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 335 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 335s |
| Row 41 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: PWG2 |
| Row 42 - Cell 0 | OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.25 |
| Row 43 - Cell 0 | OCZ Vector 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0 |
| Row 44 - Cell 0 | Samsung 830 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO3B1Q |
| Row 45 - Cell 0 | Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 000F |
| Row 46 - Cell 0 | Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 1.02 |
| Row 47 - Cell 0 | 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 |
| RAID | LSI 9266-8i PCIe x8, FastPath and CacheCade AFK |
| System Software and Drivers | |
| OperatingSystem | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Drivers | Graphics: Nvidia 314.07RST: 10.6.1002IMEI: 7.1.21.1124Generic AHCI: MSAHCI.SYS |
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| 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 |
| PCM Vantage | Storage Suite |
TOPICS