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Review: OCZ RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD ADVERTISEMENT
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There are times when SATA just isn't fast enough to meet the
demands of high end workstation workloads. Of course, you could RAID a few SATA
SSDs in a RAID0 configuration to boost reading and writing speeds, but this can
become complicated and messy, and not to mention eats up those precious
motherboard SATA ports.
A much neater, and less complicated solution is to purchase
a PCIe based SSD. Gone is the restrictive SATA bandwidth. and you have a single
card solution that is neat and doesn't use up those precious SATA ports.
Enter the OCZ Storage Solutions RevoDrive 350. The RevoDrive
350 completes the OCZ transition to Toshiba NAND. It doesn't stop there though.
The RevoDrive 350 also makes the transition to a PCIe generation 2 x8 connection
to the PCIe system bus. Thereby increasing the total bandwidth to approximately
4GB/s.
The RevoDrive 350 is available in three different
capacities, 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB. The RevoDrive also uses the LSI Sandforce
SF2282 SSD controller, with two of these SSD controllers utilised in the 240GB
version, and four SF2282 SSD controllers utilised in the 480GB and 960GB
versions.
The RevoDrive 350 is aimed at the high end workstation
market, where mixed read/write performance needs to be of a very high standard.
Having only got my hands on this SSD yesterday, there simply
wasn't the time to complete a full review of the OCZ RevoDrive 350. So what
follows is a first look at the RevoDrive 350, and I will back this up a full
review in the coming days.
The version I'm looking at today is the 480GB version.
So let's find out how this new SSD performs in our range of
tests.
OCZ Storage Solutions company information
OCZ should need no introduction, but those of you who would
like to find out more about OCZ Storage Solutions, can do so at their website.
The OCZ RevoDrive 350 - 480GB SSD
Now it’s time to take a look at the drive itself and what it
came shipped with.
Packaging
The review sample I received was the full retail kit.
The box contained the OCZ RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD, driver
software for Windows 7/8/8.1, and Linux drivers for Fedora, Mint, and Ubuntu.
There is also a user guide on the supplied CD-ROM.
Drive front
Software
The software supplied via download from the OCZ website is
as follows.
- OCZ SSD Toolbox
OCZ SSD Toolbox
The OCZ SSD toolbox provides a means of updating the SSD's
firmware, controller BIOS, Secure Erasing the SSD, TRIM the free space on the
SSD, and also providing useful information about the OCZ RevoDrive 350 hardware
via S.M.A.R.T.
Software drivers are also supplied for Windows 7/8/8.1, and
Linux drivers for Fedora, Mint, and Ubuntu.
A closer look at the OCZ RevoDrive 350 hardware.
PCB
Drive rear and PCB
Removing the integrated heat sink reveals the PCIe controller
(not shown), and on the rear side of the PCB, we can see 4x LSI Sandforce
SF2282 SSD controllers, and the 19nm 'premium grade' Toggle 2 MLC NAND chip
packages manufactured by Toshiba.
Features
Let’s head to the next page where we take a look at a few
synthetic benchmarks and I/O performance.....
