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A few weeks ago, my main desktop computer decided cash in on me. And before you ask, yes, as the Editor-in-Chief here at APH Networks, I do have tons of replacement components readily available on hand. The thing is, I am not about to reinstall Windows when I will have to do so again shortly anyway -- thanks to a collection of vastly superior equipment coming my way in the next week or so. So I decided to wait it out, and during this time, I took my spare computer upstairs and connected everything in. Now my "spare" computer probably isn't as bad as you think it is. In short, it consists of an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, ASUS Striker II NSE, a mix of OCZ Platinum XTE 2x2GB and Patriot Viper II Sector 5 2x2GB for a total of 8GB RAM, plus a Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 1GB to boot. Pretty good, right? Well, I will have to tell you this: My spare computer drives me absolutely nuts. It is not because the processor is slow, or it has a lack of memory; it is because all my fast SATA hard drives are in use somewhere else, so I simply shoved an old school Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB PATA drive in there. Back in 2005, it was probably a pretty decent drive. But fast forward to 2011, putting Windows 7 Professional on it simply ends up in an endless cycle of disk activity. Windows takes forever to boot. Programs take forever to load. What I am trying to say is, even if you have great hardware, a slow hard drive will ruin it all. This is why I want you to meet my new friend, the OCZ Vertex 2 160GB. Wait a second. What happened to our old friend, the OCZ Vertex 2 60GB? Other than the obvious of the new kid having bigger storage capacity, the last Vertex 2 we have reviewed back in November has 34nm flash ICs, whereas the one we are reviewing today is from a new batch consisting of 25nm chips. This is where all the controversy started. People were complaining about OCZ silently swapping to 25nm, resulting in degraded performance and lower usable capacity. But with all the controversy around lower capacity units like the 120GB version, how is the slightly more expensive 160GB unit? So we stacked up some benchmarks and put them in to the ring for a nice boxing match. OCZ Vertex 2 34nm vs. OCZ Vertex 2 25nm. Is it really as bad as you think? Read on to find out!
Looking to diversify their business even more ZOTAC recently released the RAIDBOX, a compact USB 3.0 enclosure which allows us to install two mSATA hard drives then RAID them for enhanced performance/data protection. Today we have a sample on our test bench, along with two high spec 256GB mSATA drives from ADATA.
The ZM-VE300 from Zalman may look a lot like the previous VE200 version, but it brings a lot of new features like the USB 3.0 interface, a more intuitive and rich menu, a pre-applied tape for avoiding short-circuits inside its chassis and a backup software for added value.
If you had a billion dollars to put in a bank, would you trust a Swede, or a German? If you wanted to invest in a new automobile, would you lean towards a Japanese vehicle, or a Korean made car? Haven't caught on yet? I'll give you one more example, this time a little more obvious. If you were to purchase a bottle of drinking water, would you rather have Canadian H2O, or Iranian water? First of all, I'd like to make it clear in stating that I am not a racist; nor does the point I'm going to make have anything to do with a certain race. Instead, I'm merely stating an observation that as consumers, we have created world-wide-product-stereotypes on what certain countries can and can't do –- or to be less harsh, what countries are good at, and what they aren't. Of course, these few 'cans' could very well be the pride of a nation. The flip side, however, is a little bit more humorous when this country tries another 'thing', and simply put, fails miserably, haha. South Korea also falls into this category. Undoubtedly Korea has its international successes (I.e., music industry, at least in my opinion; oh and who can forget their amazing potatoes), but also has their not so proud moments (Ever seen a true car enthusiast complement a Kia or Hyundai with a genuinely straight face?). What the world doesn't see as much though –- aside from us techni-fatics -- is the rise of electronics seen by Korean companies. Aside from highly respectable companies such as LG and Samsung, what about Zalman? Getting my hands on a unit made by a relatively smaller company competing against the big boys like Thermaltake and Cooler Master definitely gets the blood pumping. So, with my cultural-product-stereotype rant done, my sleeves rolled up, and my new unit beside me, let's get on with review! But wait, I haven't even introduced you to this sleek and innovative product. Today, I will introduce you to the Zalman ZM-VE200. On the surface, this seems like just another HDD enclosure, but it definitely has something up it's sleeve to impress the unimpressed... or does it? Unfortunately Fortunately you'll have to read the rest of this review to find out!
With the ZM-MH200 U3, Zalman successfully combines the convenience of a hard drive dock with the usefulness of RAID. All it takes is the flip of some dip switches and you have an instant JBOD, RAID 0, or RAID 1 array that is accessible externally.
SLC flash continues to become affordable and companies like Zalman are making good use of this faster speed NAND.
It was only a matter of time before Zalman jumped into the SSD ring as they have an excellent reputation for just about any technology related product one can think of. Their first entries are the N-Series and S-Series of SSDs, the N-series containing the SandForce SF-1200 controller while the S-Series contains the JMicron 616 controller. Today we will be hard at work putting the S-Series 128GB drive to the test. The Zalman S-Series 128GB SSD is a mid-level SSD which is available in capacities ranging from 32GB to 128GB with prices from $79 dollars up to $219, as would be the typical price for this test unit. The N-Series is presently available in capacities from 64GB to 128GB but their product site relates that new entries of 40GB and 256GB are expected soon.
Zalman's entry into the SSD market has left me impressed. The S-Series 128GB drive with its JMicron JMF616 controller performed well in benchmark tests, easily reaching the advertised 260mb/s read speed. Write speeds didn't quite reach the advertised 210mb/s, but they came close and you can count on this being a very quick drive for everyday computing as well as for gaming and other intensive tasks.
It is no secret that solid state drives are very profitable and every company is looking to take a slice of the green pie. The latest addition to the growing number of companies offering SSDs is Zalman. Zalman, a company best known for their high performance CPU heat sink coolers and high quality PC cases, might seem to be late for the party, but their entry comes at a time when the winners have been established and little chance of faultier was possible.
It seems like every week another company joins the SSD fray with a drive of their own. Granted, there's still a lot of users that still haven't made the leap from the trusty old platter hard drive. Does Zalman, a company best known for their cooling and cases, have what it takes to get a piece of the SSD pie? They're making an effort with their launch of two different SSD lines. We'll have a look at the N Series to see if it stacks up with the other SandForce drives already on the market.
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