Which SandForce SF-2281 SSD shall it be?
Category : Storage
Published by Marc Büchel on 20.09.11
During the last months we have tested a total of seven SandFroce SF-2281 based SSD. There were models ranging from 60 to 240 Gigabyte capacity. Furthermore there also were drives with synchronous and others with asynchronous NAND Flash. All of them show different performance patterns and we think its about time that we show you what we've found so far.





Meanwhile there are quite a lot of SandForce based SSDs available. Numerous manufacturers try to get their piece of the SSD pie. Therefore there also are lots of tiny differences regarding the implementation. Some manufacturers, like for example OCZ, overwork the controler firmware and others like for instance Kingston chose to implement what the get from SandForce. The memroy can be different too: you'll find synchronous or asynchronous IMFT or Toggle-NAND Flash. For the following comparison we were using models with synchonous or asynchronous IMFT-NAND. Last but not least it also is very interesting to look at the performance, that drives with different capacities show. Especially regarding random read and write we see quite big deviations between drives with 60, 120 or 240 gigabyte.


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

Impressions

  


  


  


  


  


  


  



Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

How do we test?

Testenvironment

We recommend that readers who aren't interested in test procedures jump over this page and head directly to the test results.
Models Capacity NAND Flash
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 240 Gigabyte synchronous
Kingston HyperX 240 GByte SSD 240 Gigabyte synchronous
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 240 Gigabyte asynchronous
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 120 Gigabyte synchronous
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 120 Gigabyte synchronous
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 120 Gigabyte synchronous
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 120 Gigabyte synchronous
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 60 Gigabyte synchronous
 

Testenvironment
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Deluxe  
Chipset Intel P67 1'333 MHz
CPU Intel Core i7 2600k 3.4 GHz
Memory Kingston HyperX 2133 4 GByte
Graphics card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 285  
Storage (system) Seagate Barracuda 640 GByte
Operating systems Ubuntu 10.04  
Filesystem XFS  


We think everybody reading this article can imagine the following scenario: You just bought a hard drive which according the specs sheet should transfer 120 MByte/s reading and writing. In the reviews you read about astonishing 110 MByte/s but after you put the drive into you system it feels much slower. The whole story gets even worse when you start a benchmark which does randomread/write of 4 KByte blocks. There you only get two to three MBytes/s.

Because of this we don't want to publish screenshots of standard programs like HD-Tach, HD-Tune, ... we want our tests to be

... sind.

We test with activated caches and NCQ (Native Command Queueing) because they're also activated under daily use. But the data size tested is always at least twice the amount of the memory. In this there will be no intereference.

We noticed that the measuring error is constantly within ±2%. Therefore we mention it only here.

Additionally we evaluate the S.M.A.R.T. data to assess if there are already errors.

The following table give you a brief overview to which points we turn our centre of attention.

Test Observations
   
Sequential Read/Write Tests
  • Are the values within the specifications?
  • Which influence has the block size?
  • Which influence has the filesystems block size?
Random Read/Write Tests
  • How severe is the influence on the theoretically possible (sequential) datarate?
  • Which influence has the block size?
  • Which influence has the block size on the filesystem?
   


iozone3

iozone3 is a benchmark suit for storage solutions which natively runs under Linux.

Therefore we are testing the throughput with different block sizes using the following commands:

KByte/s

iops

 

Why do we test different block sizes?

It is important to reproduce scenarios of daily usage. Certain parameters need to be variable during the test to make a statement about the product. In our test the parameters are the different block sizes. It defines the size in KBytes which is written/read on the drive during a transaction.

With this method one can test the reading and writing of either small and big files. In a normal personal computer environment you usually don't find many files smaller than 4 KByte. The relative amount of small files is much bigger on a mail or database server. Therefore tests with small block sizes are of interest for database-based applications.

In bigger RAID arrays the hard disk cache is usually disabled and the RAID-Controller takes over the job of caching. Exactly in such setups hard drives need to be very fast when reading or writing small amounts of data. Sequential throughput isn't interesting in this case.



Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

Test results iozone KByte/s

iozone KByte/s, Sequential write
Sequential write 4 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 511'091 101.46 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte 506'135 100.48 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 505'392 100.33 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 503'735 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte 484'233 96.13 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte 480'058 95.30 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte 391'861 77.79 %
     
Sequential write 16 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte 532'746 105.18 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 525'756 103.80 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 515'854 101.85 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 506'508 100.00 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte 155'860 30.77 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte 127'064 25.09 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte 108'877 21.50 %
     
Sequential write 32 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte 524'007 104.50 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 516'023 102.90 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 503'782 100.46 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 501'457 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte 358'384 71.47 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte 230'516 45.97 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte 192'366 38.16 %
     
Sequential write 64 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 518'590 100.92 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 514'413 100.10 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 513'877 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 512'815 99.79 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 358'236 69.71 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 292'218 56.87 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 280'492 54.58 %
     
Sequential write 128 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 526'106 102.43 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte 522'483 101.74 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 513'548 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 507'379 98.80 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte 473'710 92.24 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte 446'980 87.04 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte 248'315 48.35 %
     
Sequential write 256 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 522'212 101.36 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 519'190 100.77 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 515'218 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 512'676 99.51 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 457'001 88.70 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 343'488 66.67 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 266'401 51.71 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone KByte/s, Sequential Read
Sequential Read 4 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 433'487 107.23 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte 422'258 104.45 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 414'108 102.43 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 404'273 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte 402'051 99.45 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte 388'966 96.21 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte 278'682 68.93 %
     
Sequential Read 16 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 494'290 105.64 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 483'553 103.35 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 483'345 103.30 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 470'670 100.60 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 467'883 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 446'137 95.35 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 368'034 78.66 %
     
Sequential Read 32 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 515'132 101.66 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 512'351 101.11 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 511'968 101.04 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 508'483 100.35 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 506'710 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 473'857 93.52 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 458'971 90.58 %
     
Sequential Read 64 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 531'471 100.26 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 530'359 100.05 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 530'307 100.04 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 530'117 100.00 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 528'298 99.66 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 514'499 97.05 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 490'029 92.44 %
     
Sequential Read 128 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 542'533 100.69 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 539'412 100.11 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 539'063 100.05 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 538'816 100.00 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 536'538 99.58 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 534'912 99.28 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 509'993 94.65 %
     
Sequential Read 256 KByte Percent
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 542'606 100.18 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 541'613 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 539'648 99.64 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 537'745 99.29 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 537'560 99.25 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 534'988 98.78 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 516'479 95.36 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone KByte/s, Random write
Random write 4 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 280'556 109.60 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 275'499 107.62 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 255'988 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 253'269 98.94 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 244'150 95.38 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 242'683 94.80 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 226'394 88.44 %
     
Random write 16 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 442'098 102.08 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 435'969 100.66 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 433'104 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 430'631 99.43 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 399'826 92.32 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 354'288 81.80 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 162'341 37.48 %
     
Random write 32 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 483'517 101.17 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 477'947 100.00 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 477'512 99.91 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 477'071 99.82 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 448'257 93.79 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 342'800 71.72 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 325'765 68.16 %
     
Random write 64 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 517'401 103.03 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 502'207 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 501'779 99.91 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 499'643 99.49 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 469'488 93.48 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 449'573 89.52 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 392'592 78.17 %
     
Random write 128 KByte Percent
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 529'196 103.51 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 516'042 100.94 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 512'508 100.25 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 511'248 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 469'909 91.91 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 452'599 88.53 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 422'628 82.67 %
     
Random write 256 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 518'498 100.69 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 515'118 100.03 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 514'941 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 513'132 99.65 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 490'474 95.25 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 473'789 92.01 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 421'303 81.82 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone KByte/s, Random read
Random read 4 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 168'648 175.60 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 167'922 174.82 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 142'942 148.83 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 98'387 102.44 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 96'042 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 95'928 99.23 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 51'187 53.30 %
     
Random read 16 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 385'225 151.68 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 377'397 148.60 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 320'072 126.03 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 257'247 101.29 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 256'648 101.06 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 253'965 100.00 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 133'631 52.62 %
     
Random read 32 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 477'342 110.69 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 469'872 108.96 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 431'245 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 428'624 99.39 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 419'502 97.28 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 409'716 95.01 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 259'010 60.06 %
     
Random read 64 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 517'952 100.33 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 516'265 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 515'399 99.83 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 514'763 99.71 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 502'791 97.39 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 459'333 88.97 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 443'755 85.95 %
     
Random read 128 KByte Percent
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 538'342 100.83 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 535'278 100.25 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 536'948 100.56 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 533'935 100.00 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 532'350 99.70 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 493'646 92.45 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 460'319 86.12 %
     
Random read 256 KByte Percent
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 540'466 105.48 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 524'687 102.40 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 515'299 100.57 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 512'386 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 505'924 98.74 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 390'104 76.13 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 317'151 61.90 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone ops, Sequential write
Sequential write 4 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 127'233 101.73 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 126'984 101.53 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 125'759 100.55 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 125'065 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 95'340 76.23 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 84'761 67.77 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 79'159 63.29 %
     
Sequential write 16 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 32'644 342.90 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 32'158 337.79 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 10'875 114.23 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 9'520 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 8'497 89.25 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 7'442 78.17 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 7'085 74.42 %
     
Sequential write 64 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 8'091 101.11 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 8'013 100.14 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 8'002 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 5'577 69.70 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 5'418 67.71 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 3'953 49.40 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 3'334 41.66 %
     
Sequential write 96 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 5'401 101.39 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 5'378 100.96 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 5'336 100.17 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 5'327 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 4'728 88.76 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 4'661 87.50 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 2'611 49.01 %
     
Sequential write 128 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 4'077 111.12 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 4'007 109.21 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 3'669 100.00 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 3'660 99.75 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 3'343 91.11 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 2'676 72.94 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 1'993 54.32 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone ops, Sequential read
Sequential read 4 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 108'049 107.66 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 107'568 107.18 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 100'365 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 100'059 99.70 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 99'903 99.54 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 98'207 97.85 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 73'515 73.25 %
     
Sequential read 16 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 31'417 105.95 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 30'898 104.20 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 29'881 100.77 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 29'654 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 29'422 99.22 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 28'099 94.76 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 23'023 77.64 %
     
Sequential read 64 KByte Percent
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 8'330 101.52 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 8'282 100.94 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 8'259 100.66 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 8'205 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 8'203 99.98 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 8'065 98.29 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 7'662 93.38 %
     
Sequential read 96 KByte Percent
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 5'623 100.30 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 5'606 100.00 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 5'593 99.77 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 5'586 99.64 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 5'583 99.59 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 5'561 99.20 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 5'222 93.15 %
     
Sequential read 128 KByte Percent
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 4'234 100.00 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 4'234 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 4'233 99.98 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 4'222 99.72 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 4'218 99.62 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 4'185 98.84 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 3'990 94.24 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone ops, Random write
Random write 4 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte 70'031 110.19 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 70'016 110.17 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 69'108 108.74 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 63'553 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 61'302 96.46 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 60'579 95.32 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 56'749 89.29 %
     
Random write 16 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 27'543 102.12 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 26'972 100.01 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 26'970 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 26'823 99.45 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 24'916 92.38 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 21'850 81.02 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 9'874 36.61 %
     
Random write 64 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 8'088 103.18 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 7'839 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 7'832 99.19 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 7'784 99.30 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 7'333 93.55 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 6'140 78.33 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 5'557 70.89 %
     
Random write 96 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 5'305 113.04 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 5'297 112.87 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 5'280 112.51 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 4'728 100.75 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 4'693 100.00 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 4'678 99.68 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 4'661 99.32 %
     
Random write 128 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 4'000 102.56 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 3'984 102.15 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 3'900 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 3'816 98.85 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 3'769 96.64 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 3'374 86.51 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 3'297 84.54 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum [pagebreak]

iozone ops, Random read
Random read 4 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 42'308 172.88 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 41'917 171.28 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 35'295 144.22 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 24'807 101.36 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 24'473 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 24'338 99.45 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 12'963 52.97 %
     
Random read 16 KByte Percent
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 23'895 149.05 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 23'747 146.42 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 19'882 124.01 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 16'351 101.99 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 16'032 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 15'981 99.68 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 8'649 53.95 %
     
Random read 64 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 8'091 100.32 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 8'065 100.00 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 8'035 99.63 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 7'951 98.59 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 7'839 97.20 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 7'212 89.42 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 6'916 85.75 %
     
Random read 96 KByte Percent
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 5'546 100.00 %
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 5'541 99.91 %
Corsair ForceGT 120 GByte 5'532 99.75 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 5'513 99.40 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 5'504 99.24 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 5'450 98.27 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 5'027 90.64 %
     
Random read 128 KByte Percent
ADATA S511 120 GByte SSD 4'206 116.67 %
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GByte MLC 4'199 116.48 %
ADATA S511 60 GByte MLC 4'191 116.26 %
OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte MLC 3'850 106.80 %
OCZ Revo Drive X2 480 GByte MLC 3'746 103.91 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GByte 3'605 100.00 %
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GByte 3'567 98.95 %


Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



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Conclusion

Announcement: Despite the circumstance that the rating of a product is based on as many objective facts as possible there are factors which can have an influence on a rating after publication. Every autor may perceive data differently over time whereas one possible reason for example is a deeper background knowledge or understanding of certain processes. Certain unforseen market conditions as well as changes have the potential to render a descision made at a certain point in time obsolete.

Generally spoken we tested four different categories of SandForce SF-2281 based SSD. There are the 240 Gigabyte models with synchronous NAND Flash to which the Kingston HyperX SSD and the OCZ Vertex 3 SSD with 240 Gigabyte belong. Then there are the 240 Gigabyte models with asynchronous NAND Flash to which the OCZ Agility 3 with 240 Gigabyte belongs. Furthermore we find the 120 Gigabyte models with synchronous NAND Flash. Here we have the Corsair ForceGT, the ADATA S511 and again a Kingston HyperX SSD. Last but not least there is the ADATA S511 with 60 Gigabyte synchronous NAND Flash memory.

240 Gigabyte SSD with synchronous NAND Flash
IOPS 4 KByte: approx. 40'000 IOPS read, approx.70'000 IOPS write
IOPS 16 KByte: approx.23'000 IOPS read, approx.27’000 IOPS write
Sequential throughput 256 KByte: approx. 535 MByte/s read, approx. 520 MByte/s write
In this group we clearly have the fastest drives. Especially the IOPS performance is extremely fast. It looks like the SandForce SF-2281 controller needs 240 Gigabyte of synchronous NAND Flash to show what it can do.

240 Gigabyte SSD with asynchronous NAND Flash
IOPS 4 KByte: approx. 35'000 IOPS read, approx. 60’000 IOPS write
IOPS 16 KByte: approx. 19'000 IOPS read, approx. 25’0000 IOPS write
Sequential throughput 256 KByte: approx. 515 MByte/s read, approx. 265 MByte/s write
Concerning the IOPS performance figures SandForce SSDs with asynchronous NAND Flash can convince. Also in this case you need a drive with 240 Gigabyte capacity to get a maximum of performance out of the controller. A closer look at the sequential throughput shows that the this value drops by quite a margin which is because of the asynchronous NAND Flash.

120 Gigabyte SSD with synchronous NAND Flash
IOPS 4 KByte: approx. 24'000 IOPS read, approx. 65’000 IOPS write
IOPS 16 KByte: approx. 16'000 IOPS read, approx. 26’000 IOPS write
Sequential throughput 256 KByte: approx. 540 MByte/s read, approx. 515 MByte/s write
Compared to the 240 Gigabyte drives with synchronous NAND flash there is an almost 50 percent performance drop concerning the 4k IOPS read. Obviously there must be a strong and almost linear correlation between performance and drive capacity. Regarding the write processes there also is a performance drop of about seven percent but you wont notice this during every day use. We very much liked that the sequential throughput is consistently high.

60 Gigabyte SSD with synchronous NAND Flash
IOPS 4 KByte: approx. 12'000 IOPS read, approx. 56’000 IOPS write
IOPS 16 KByte: approx. 8'000 IOPS read, approx. 10’000 IOPS write
Sequential throughput 256 KByte: approx. 535 MByte/s read, approx. 450 MByte/s write
Undoubtedly the most interesting group to look at is the 60 Gigabyte drives with synchronous NAND Flash. In this case one can see that the performance is exactly half as high as it was with the 120 Gigabyte drives, regarding IOPS 4k read and 16k read. In this case this has to do with the fact that the memory is only connected to the controller using two channels. All the other drives with higher capacity come with four channels. This is why one can see a 50 percent drop in IOPS read performance compared to the 120 Gigabyte drives. Concerning sequential throughput things look quite good. The sequential write performance is a bit more than ten percent below what the other drives with higher capacity and synchronous NAND Flash deliver.

240 Gigabyte and the fun really begins!
Our concluding remark goes as follows: if you do want to get what’s possible from the a SandForce SF-22881 SSD then you have to go for a 240 Gigabyte drive. These days those drives still are quite expensive but in our opinion they’re worth every buck. Furthermore with buying a 240 Gigabyte drive you also solve the issue that you do not have to think about if there is plenty of space to install every application or game on the SSD or if you’ll have to put it on the slow hard drive.
 

Page 1 - Introduction / Specs / Delivery Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 8 - Sequential write ops
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 9 - Sequential read ops
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 10 - Random write ops
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 11 - Random read ops
Page 6 - Random write KByte/s Page 12 - Conclusion



Discuss this article in the forum

Authors: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch,