The test system used in this review was an HP 8200 Elite. The computer came equipped with an Intel Core i5-2400 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz memory, Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3250312AS 250GB SATA 6 Gb/s hard drive, NVIDIA Quadro FX580 512MB PCIe graphics card and an Intel 82579-LM gigabit network card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Enterprise.
To test the performance of the OCZ RevoDrive 3, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1, HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0, ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46, AS SSD, HD Tune Pro 4.61 and Iometer. For comparison, I've also included test results from the SanDisk Extreme, Samsung 830 SSD, Plextor PX-256M3S, Patriot Pyro SE, Plextor PX-256M2P, Kingston HyperX, OCZ Vertex 3 and OCZ Agility 3.
As I mentioned earlier, the RevoDrive 3 is based on LSI's SandForce SF-2281 controller. Like other SandForce controllers, the SF-2281 features a technology called DuraWrite, which uses data compression to lower write amplification and extend the life of the drive by reducing the number of program-erase cycles. This data compression also plays a big part in the controller's performance. The more the data can be compressed, the faster an SSD like the RevoDrive 3 is able to read and write. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that there is a considerable performance difference when writing incompressible (0%) and compressible (100%) data.
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1:
First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.
 OCZ RevoDrive 3 120GB |
 OCZ Vertex 3 120GB |
According to OCZ, the 120GB RevoDrive 3 is capable of reading at 975 MB/s and writing at 875 MB/s. The drive didn't come close to these numbers using CrystalDiskMark's default (random) test data. However, with the highly compressible 0x00 (0 Fill) data, the RevoDrive 3 was able to read at 821.4 MB/s and write at 730.7 MB/s.
 OCZ RevoDrive 3 120GB - All 0x00, 0Fill |
 OCZ Vertex 3 120GB - All 0x00, 0Fill |
HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:
Next, I used HD Tach to test the RevoDrive 3's read, write and burst speeds as well as its seek times and CPU usage.
Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the RevoDrive 3 had average read and write speeds of 417.9 MB/s and 364.0 MB/s respectively, as well as a burst speed of 637.6 MB/s.
ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:
I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the RevoDrive 3's sequential read and write speeds. The tests are run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.
 OCZ RevoDrive 3 120GB |
 OCZ Vertex 3 120GB |
When tested with ATTO, the RevoDrive 3's read speeds topped out at about 1020 MB/s and its write speeds at 872 MB/s.
