Corsair Performance Pro Series SSD Review

• Corsair Performance Pro Series SSD Review

Flexible, Marvell-based Performance Series™ Pro SSD drives provide consistent, reliable SATA3 performance in both single-drive and RAID configurations, whether you’re running Windows, OS X, or Linux.

Consistently Outstanding SSD Performance

Performance Pro Series SSDs tap into the power of the Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller for reliable performance across multiple platforms and PC configurations.

Fast reads and writes, regardless of file type

With an impressive ATTO Max performance of up to 515MB/s Sequential Read and 440 MB/s Sequential Write, Performance Pro Series solid-state drives offer incredibly fast boot and application load times that will make you wonder why anybody still uses old-fashioned mechanical hard drives. This isnt just limited to files that can be compressed and decompressed on the fly — Performance Pro Series SSDs offer similar performance when reading and writing compressed and non-compressible data. Since serious PC users work with so much compressed data — audio, images, and video files are just a few examples — its a difference youll notice every day.

It cleans up well

With full support for the TRIM command, youll get great performance under Microsoft® Windows® 7. Performance Pro Series goes one step further, with built-in advanced background garbage collection. It automatically uses idle time to optimize data storage, so that disk writes are consistently fast. Since this technology is built-in, youll get strong performance with Mac® OS X® and Linux as well.

RAID-ready

Multi-drive RAID configurations typically dont support TRIM. The built-in advanced garbage collection solves this problem and makes Performance Pro Series solid-state drives a great choice for RAID arrays.

Compatible with SATA 2 3Gb/s

Flexibility means the ability to last through several system upgrades. If you havent yet moved to SATA 3, adding a Performance Pro Series SSD today lets you enjoy incredible storage performance now, and youll tap into its full performance with your next upgrade.

 

Corsair SSDs: Designed for Performance and Durability

TRIM Support

Performance Pro Series SSDs feature support for the Windows 7 TRIM command. This allows them to store only the data they need and perform memory optimization to ensure the fastest possible write speeds

Reliability

Because SSDs have no moving parts, they can handle shock, vibration and temperature changes far in excess of traditional hard drives. Thats important for desktop PCs, and essential for notebooks.

Cool and Quiet, with Low Power Consumption

Traditional mechanical hard drives spin at thousands of revolutions per minute. This takes power, and generates noise and heat. Since SSDs have no moving parts, theres no noise or vibration, and the lower power consumption helps keep things cool inside your PC.

3.5" adapter

The 2.5" form factor allows for installation in most notebook PCs with no adapter required. If youre adding a Performance Pro Series SSD to your desktop PC, use the included 3.5" adapter to mount it in any standard hard drive bay.

Contents and Specifications

Performance Pro Series™ 128GB SSD

Performance Pro Series™ 256GB SSD

Here are some test that Mike Clements, from the Corsair blog, performed on the Corsair Performance Pro Series SSD early when the solid-state drives were announced. He posted the results at the Corsair blog on Nov 10th 2011. His post is available below:-

Corsair Performance Pro Series SSD Benchmarks: An Early Peek

Today we announced our newest line of solid-state drives, the Corsair Performance Pro Series™ SSDs. Designed with the Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s SSD controller, they deliver impressive performance when reading and writing compressed as well as non-compressible data, such as audio, images, and video files. Additionally, Performance Pro Series SSDs have built-in advanced background garbage collection to allow for consistently strong performance even with operating systems that do not support the TRIM command. This integral performance optimization makes Performance Pro SSDs an ideal solution for RAID configurations, which typically do not support TRIM.

Okay, enough with the canned ham marketing material. What we really want to talk about is the actual performance of this new SSD. Ive been staying on good terms with our SSD product manager so I got an early sample and ran a few quick tests. My first impression of this drive is very good. I wont bore you with the details but the Windows 7 installation on this drive is fast and painless and especially so when installing from a USB 3.0 flash drive. But, thats another story. Lets look at the Performance Pro drive performance with some benchmarks.

ATTO Disk Benchamark has long been an industry staple for measuring drive performance, and the Performance Pro 256GB SSD certainly does not disappoint in this test. Heres a screen shot of the drive tested as attached storage on a Z68 board using the latest Intel RST driver showing performance right at the rated speds of 515MB/s Sequential Read and 440 MB/s Sequential Write.


Another staple of benchmark users and reviewers alike is the PC Mark series from Futuremark and its HD Suite test. The suites characteristics according to Futuremark:

"PCMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed for Windows Vista offering one-click simplicity for casual users and detailed, professional grade testing for industry, press and enthusiasts. A PCMark score is a measure of your computer’s performance across a variety of common tasks such as viewing and editing photos, video, music and other media, gaming, communications, productivity and security. From desktops and laptops to workstations and gaming rigs, by comparing your PCMark Vantage score with other similar systems you can find the hardware and software bottlenecks that stop you getting more from your PC."

This test certainly measures a good variety of tasks that a large number of us ask our machines to perform daily. Drive performance can make or break this benchmark and the Performance Pro 256GB SSD does very well. This is an outstanding score for a single drive.


Another type of test we like to perform when evaluating our drives is a simple file transfer test showing the time to transfer a file to and from the tested drive. Weve compiled a 21.8GB test file comprised of Microsoft Office documents, music, movies, and compressed .RAR files containing music and movies. This is a realistic test of the drives ability to Read and Write large amounts of both compressed and uncompressed data. The other drive in the test is a RAID-0 stripe of 2 SSDs attached to the onboard Marvell controller so there is certainly no bottleneck on that side of the test.


The SSD posts some blazing speeds in both READ and WRITE speeds moving the test file to and from. The Performance Pro showed great READ performance and moved the file to the RAID-0 stripe in an impressive 1:10. The trip back showing the WRITE performance was equally impressive with the task being completed in a mere 1:01. These are fantastic times for moving almost 22GB of data.


The Performance Pro Series 256GB SSD was a dream right out of the box and does not disappoint. RAID performance and compressed data write speeds were both strong, thanks to the advanced Marvell controller. It proudly bears the Corsair label and performs like a pro.




Data taken from http://www.corsair.com/blog/corsair-performance-pro-series-ssd-benchmarks-an-early-peek/  ,  http://www.corsair.com/ssd/performance-pro-series-ssd/performance-pro-series-128gb-ssd-hard-drive.html  ,  http://www.corsair.com/ssd/performance-pro-series-ssd/performance-pro-series-256gb-ssd-hard-drive.html