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IOMeter test results
I/O Performance
There is little point of having an SSD drive that has blazing sustained reading and writing speeds, if the drive can’t handle reading and writing of small random files. If you intend to use your new SSD drive to store and run your operating system, then the drive must be able to cope with the many small random files that Windows will write to the drive continually. So I feel it is very important to test how many of these random files that a drive can handle in one second. I believe that anything over 1,000 I/O’s per second would be enough for most users running a consumer grade mainstream PC, and should provide a smooth running system. But obviously, the more I/O’s that a drive can handle, the faster the drive will feel and leave more headroom for those huge multitasking sessions that users sometimes engage in.
The things that I will look at are the total I/O per second and total MB/s.
Partition alignment and sector boundaries
Windows 7 and Vista will automatically align a partition to 4k boundaries during partition creation, Windows XP won’t. It is imperative that an SSD’s partition is aligned. Windows XP is also restricted to sector boundaries, while Windows 7 will use 4k boundaries if it can. The Intel 510 is 4k boundary aware, and will use these boundaries if possible. Of course it will also remap LBAs for compatibility with the sector boundaries so that the drive can be used with Windows XP.
IOMeter allows us to set the sector boundaries for conducting the tests, and I have therefore set the sector boundaries at 4K, which means the IOMeter tests are valid for Windows 7 and Windows Vista users. XP users will not be able to obtain such results.
I will provide a screenshot of the tests on the review drive for those of you who like to see the actual test result. All the comparison drive results are represented in the form of graphs.
If any of you would like to see a screenshot from any IOMeter test on a particular drive, please feel free to request one, and I’ll post the screenshot in the forum thread.
All the IOMeter tests create a 10GB data set on the target drive, and each test is run for a duration of 3 minutes.
IOMeter 4K random write test with repeating data.
The first test involves creating continual 4KB random files on the target drive with IOMeter. I use a 4KB file size, as it is believed that Windows will create and modify many of this size of file constantly in the background during a typical Windows session. It is said that most 4K random writes take place at a queue depth of only one, and I have been requested to include this test in my reviews.
Queue depth 1
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD – 4K random write (QD1)
The Kingston HyperX 3K SSD shows impressive performance, topping out at 72.37 MB/Sec.
Our next test involves creating continual 4KB random files on the target drive with IOMeter. I use a 4KB file size, as it is believed that Windows will create and modify many of this size of file constantly in the background during a typical Windows session. I will use queue depths of 4 and 32 for these tests.
Queue depth 4
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD (Queue depth 4)
The Kingston HyperX 3K SSD continues to show high performance.
Queue depth 32
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD (Queue depth 32)
Again we can see the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD refuses to leave the top of our chart, overall an excellent performance.
IOMeter 4K random read test.
If there are many 4k files created, then that must also mean that many 4k files need to be read. This test measures 4k reading performance.
It is said that most 4K random reads take place at a queue depth of only one, and readers have requested that I include this test in my reviews.
Queue depth 1
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD (Queue depth 1)
Again the Kingston HyperX 3K shows impressive reading performance with maximum speed of 34.58 MB/Sec.
Queue depth 4
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD (Queue depth 4)
Another impressive result from the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD.
Queue depth 32
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD (Queue depth 32)
The Kingston HyperX 3K SSD gives us an impressive result of 201.86 MB/s.
IOMeter 512KB write test with repeating data.
Sequential writing performance is also very important; in this test sequential writing performance is measured.
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD 512K Sequential write with repeating data
The Kingston HyperX 3K SSD finishes again on top of our chart with an impressive 523.53MB/s.
IOMeter 512KB write test with fully random data.
This test is exactly the same as the test above except that the test data is fully random in nature. This test was requested as SandForce based SSDs gain a lot of performance by being able to compress data on the fly. While the above test shows the SandForce based SSDs in a best case scenario, the following test will show the SandForce based SSDs in a more realistic light. In the real world, the data is neither 100% incompressible nor 100% compressible, it is somewhere in between. So please keep this in mind.
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD – 512K sequential write with fully random data
As we can see the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD gives an excellent result with small uncompressed files.
IOMeter 512KB read test.
This test measures 512k sequential reading performance.
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD – 512K sequential reading test
Another excellent result for the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD.
IOMeter Workstation simulation (outstanding I/Os = 64).
When running applications you will find that there is a mixture of small random files and larger sequential files, being created and read. Not only that, it isn’t just one file at a time. In this test I measure a simulated workstation pattern, with a queue depth of 64 (threaded).
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD – Workstation simulation
Once again the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD stays close to the top.
Summary
Overall, the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD gave some impressive results. In most of our tests the drive was either close to the top or it was on the top. An outstanding performance from the HyperX 3K SSD.
Now let’s head to the next page where we will look at how the Kingstone HyperX 3k SSD performs using a brand new benchmarking application….
