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 V30, 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 Plextor PX-256M2P, Kingston HyperX, OCZ Vertex 3 and OCZ Agility 3.
As I mentioned earlier, the V30 is based on SandForce's 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 V30 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.
 Silicon Power V30 120GB |
 OCZ Agility 3 120GB |
According to Silicon Power, the 120GB V30 is capable of reading at 550MB/s and writing at 510MB/s when connected to a SATA 6 Gb/s port. 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 V30 was able to read at 468.7 MB/s and write at 456.6 MB/s.
 Silicon Power V30 120GB - All 0x00, 0Fill |
 OCZ Agility 3 120GB - All 0x00, 0Fill |
HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:
Next, I used HD Tach to test the V30'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 V30 had average read and write speeds of 361.5 MB/s and 340.9 MB/s respectively, as well as a burst speed of 364.6 MB/s.
ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:
I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the V30'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.
 Silicon Power V30 120GB |
 OCZ Agility 3 120GB |
When tested with ATTO, the V30's read speeds topped out at about 544 MB/s and its write speeds at 477 MB/s.
