Test Methodology
Test Bench |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-3770K (up to 3.9GHz, 8MB cache, quad-core) |
| Motherboard |
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H |
| Memory |
8GB G.Skill TridentX (2x4GB) DDR3 @ 2,400MHz |
| Storage Controllers |
Intel Z77 PCH (SATA 6Gbps, AHCI) |
| Graphics Card |
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC 2GB |
| Power Supply |
Corsair AX750 |
| Operating System |
Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1, 64-bit) |
Benchmarks |
| ATTO Disk Benchmark |
The freeware ATTO benchmark provides basic sequential speed results for both read and write operations. Using the default queue depth of four, we record read and write speeds during 1MB transfers. |
| CrystalDiskMark |
CrystalDiskMark provides various storage benchmarks, but we're interested in the returned 32-thread 4K performance numbers to see how well the drives fare when tasked with numerous small transfers. |
| AS SSD |
Another freeware benchmark, AS SSD is designed primarily for testing solid-state storage. We run the benchmark and record the drive's overall read and write scores. The final numbers take into account sequential speeds, input/output performance and access time. |
| Iometer |
Iometer is an I/O subsystem measurement tool originally developed by Intel. To measure a drive's I/O performance, we set the benchmark to utilise 4KB transfers in a random spread. Read and write distribution is set to 50 per cent, and queue depth at 32. The test is run for two minutes and we record the total I/Os per second. |
| PCMark 7 |
PCMark 7's storage test is a collection of workloads that isolate the performance of the PC's storage system. |
Notes
To help illustrate the performance differential between low- and high-capacity SSDs, we'll be including and comparing results for the 120GB and 750GB Samsung 840 EVO SSDs.
HEXUS readers will know that the 840 EVO's performance can be enhanced through Samsung's RAPID Mode shenanigans - a beta technology covered in our original review - but for the purpose of today's testing, RAPID Mode will be left disabled. We will revisit the technology and analyse its real-world implications once Samsung makes available an official release.
