ADATA SX300 128GB mSATA SSD Review
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Testing:
Testing of hard drives can be done in several different ways – one method involves leaving the drive bare and connecting it as a secondary drive in an existing system. By simultaneously cleaning the drive after each benchmark run-through, this allows you to see its theoretical peaks in performance. However, these results would only represent a best-case scenario – one that you may never see unless operating a bare drive. The second method, which OverclockersClub employs, involves loading the operating system and benchmarking suite onto the test drive itself. This would give performance results that emulate real-world usage more closely. Testing will be completed with the Z68-based system listed below, alongside a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit that is updated to SP1 and fully patched as of the date of testing. The latest Intel Rapid Storage technology drivers and software have also been installed. All tests are conducted with the drive connected to a native SATA III 6 Gb/s port on the motherboard, in an effort to eliminate any possible bottlenecks with performance.
An important note about this setup:
The motherboard used in this review setup does not have a SATA3-capable mSATA port, which will hinder result reporting. We were unable to find a SATA3-capable mSATA port in OCC's arsenal of available hardware or else we would have tested on that!
Testing Setup:
- Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K - 3.4 GHz
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68 AP-D3 Rev 2.0
- Memory: Mushkin Blackline PC3 16000 9-9-9-24 1600MHz
- Video Card: XFX HD 7970 Black Edition
- Power Supply: Mushkin 1000 watt Joule Modular power supply
- Hard Drive: ADATA SX300
- Optical Drive: Lite-On DVD-RW
- OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
- Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D
Comparison Drives:
- Intel 520 Series 240GB
- Mushkin Callisto 240 GB
- Corsair Performance Pro 3 256GB
- Corsair Force GT 120 GB
- Seagate Barracuda XT 1 TB
- Mushkin Io 128 GB SSD
- OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB
- Patriot Wildfire 120 GB
- Patriot Pyro 120 GB
- Patriot Pyro SE 120 GB
- Patriot Pyro SE 240 GB
- Seagate Momentus 750 GB Hybrid Drive
- OCZ Vertex 4 256GB
- Kingston SSDNow V200 128GB
- OCZ Agility 4 256GB
- ADATA SX900 128GB
Benchmarks:
- Drive Tests:
- HD Tune 4.60 Pro
- HD Tach
- SiSoft Sandra 2012
- Crystal Disk Mark
- ATTO Disk Benchmark
- AS SSD
- IO Meter
- PCMark Vantage
- Windows Startup / Shutdown