Benchmark Results: 4 KB Random Performance
As we noted in our 60/64 GB SSD round-up, we're changing the way we test using Iometer. In the past, we tested random transfers by benchmarking with four workers active in Iometer. This mimics threaded environment, as each worker represents a different application accessing the drive. However, that approach is also overoptimistic because four workers with one outstanding I/O operation each actually translates into a queue depth of four. In order to make things more realistic, we cut the number of workers to one, actually yielding a queue depth of one.
We made two additional tweaks to testing, better tuning the suite for our purposes here today. You see, the average desktop workload experiences a lot of bursty data transfers. However, our prior methodology emphasized sustained performance. In trying to reflect increasingly real-world results, our Iometer scripts now run for one and a half minutes. That's a substantial reduction from our previous scripts that ran for five minutes. Additionally, we're testing queue depths from 0 to 31 in increments of three, since SATA's Native Command Queuing extension only supports that many outstanding commands.
Random Read Performance
Examples include antivirus scans and typing in Word
At a queue depth of one, each SSD performs similarly on a 3 Gb/s or 6 Gb/s connection, except for the SandForce-based Vertex 3.
As you hit seven and sail past 10 outstanding commands, the 3 Gb/s standard constrains the entire field to the 200 MB/s.
Interestingly, Crucial's m4 is substantially slower than the competing 6 Gb/s-capable drives, though it does enjoy a performance boost attached to the faster interface.
For the other two drives (Samsung's 830 and OCZ's Vertex 3), SATA 6 Gb/s demonstrates its benefits at queue depths of four and higher. Once you hit seven outstanding commands, the interface allows these drives to deliver more throughput than a second-gen port would otherwise enable.
Random Write Performance
Examples include email, file compression, and Web browsing
As you can see in the chart below, Samsung's 830, Crucial's m4, and OCZ's Vertex 3 all lose a little bit of performance attached to a 3 Gb/s interface, even at a queue depth of one, accounting for a roughly 9% drop. That's despite the fact that all of these benchmark results fall well under what even a first-gen SATA interface can accommodate.
Although Intel's SSD 320 doesn't impress in this test, the gap between it and other SSDs becomes much wider once you move to a higher queue depth. For example, at more than 10 outstanding I/Os, the 240 GB Vertex 3 and 256 GB m4 top out around 180 MB/s plugged in to a 3 Gb/s port. That's roughly 70 MB/s faster than Intel's SSD 320, which hits its limit at 110 MB/s.
Once you switch to SATA 6Gb/s, the 240 GB Vertex 3 and 256 GB m4 accelerate significantly. At queue depths higher than four, both drives push past the 200 MB/s barrier easily.
