OCZ’s RevoDrive X2: When A Fast PCIe SSD Isn’t Fast Enough

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In a storage market where it's easiest to take one vendor's controller, another vendor's NAND flash, and put the two in a standard 2.5" SATA drive, OCZ continues innovating, giving IT professionals and power users more performance with its RevoDrive X2.

Benchmark Results: 4 KB And 512 KB Random Writes

Random write performance has always been a bit of a weakness for Intel, and our Iometer chart demonstrates why. The RevoDrive again outpaces the IBIS, while the RevoDrive and Vertex 2 fall in behind.

But can we really trust the results here as definitive in all cases, in light of the fact that SandForce’s architecture can optimize for highly compressible data? A cross-check with CrystalDiskMark should help.

Writing completely random data to these drives represents a worst-case for SandForce, and Intel’s position improves substantially. Again, with a queue depth of one, the results spread isn't particularly impressive. The RevoDrive X2 takes a first place finish just under 100 MB/s, but even the slowest drives at 60+ MB/s deliver reasonable throughput.

Things change drastically when queue depth is increased to 32. The IBIS leaps into the lead, just as we saw in the sequential write test. Again, the IBIS and RevoDrive X2 should be pretty close here, so take the RevoDrive X2's modest gains as a worst-case example of what an SSD in its "dirty state" encounters. Intel’s X25-M is able to go up against OCZ’s first-gen RevoDrive, leaving the Vertex 2 in its dust.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • joelmartinez
    Too much money :( will get the vertex 3 though :) or intel
    Reply
  • alikum
    If only they could make SSDs cheaper ... Mechanical drives are still the way to go
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    although i think sandforce's new controller won't be as fast as they claim, i really think it's gonna change the face of the ssd race by the end of the year

    and probably a new iteration of the revodrive as well... can't wait!! =D =D i need me a 160gb for less than $1/gb... that's how much i bought my raptor for like 4 years ago!!
    Reply
  • dauthus
    In related news, OCZ stock is up to $6.80 a share, rising 19%+ today.
    Reply
  • How does this compare to the new Z-drive R3?
    Reply
  • cmi86
    Yeah its really cool and i wish i had 1...or 2 lol but it just costs waay too much money, isnt really practical for enthusiast use until the prices drop
    Reply
  • dirtmountain
    You routinely use $500 graphic cards (GTX580) and $1,200 displays (2560x1600)in reviews. The price for this upgrade ($650)isn't any harder to stomach then those.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    dirtmountainYou routinely use $500 graphic cards (GTX580) and $1,200 displays (2560x1600)in reviews. The price for this upgrade ($650)isn't any harder to stomach then those.
    Aye, but it's a little less tangible than exotic graphics configurations, too.
    Reply
  • razor512
    a pci-e ssd seems good, I want one, MS word will run sooo much better
    Reply
  • alidan
    i realy wish they would put a 7200 10000 and 15000 drive in there, all top of their respective class, just so we can get some prospective of how much an improvement these are over traditional hdds.
    Reply