Performance consistency tells us a lot about the architecture of these SSDs and how they handle internal defragmentation. The reason we do not have consistent IO latency with SSDs is because inevitably all controllers have to do some amount of defragmentation or garbage collection in order to continue operating at high speeds. When and how an SSD decides to run its defrag or cleanup routines directly impacts the user experience as inconsistent performance results in application slowdowns.
To test IO consistency, we fill a secure erased SSD with sequential data to ensure that all user accessible LBAs have data associated with them. Next we kick off a 4KB random write workload across all LBAs at a queue depth of 32 using incompressible data. The test is run for just over half an hour and we record instantaneous IOPS every second.
We are also testing drives with added over-provisioning by limiting the LBA range. This gives us a look into the drive’s behavior with varying levels of empty space, which is frankly a more realistic approach for client workloads.
Each of the three graphs has its own purpose. The first one is of the whole duration of the test in log scale. The second and third one zoom into the beginning of steady-state operation (t=1400s) but on different scales: the second one uses log scale for easy comparison whereas the third one uses linear scale for better visualization of differences between drives. Click the dropdown selections below each graph to switch the source data.
For more detailed description of the test and why performance consistency matters, read our original Intel SSD DC S3700 article.
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25% Over-Provisioning
The IO consistency is very similar to the ARC 100 but the R7 is maybe slightly faster. Compared to the Vector 150 and Vertex 460 there is a small decrease in consistency as performance occassionally drops below 10K IOPS, but on average IOPS of 15-20K is excellent for a client drive. The same goes for IO consistency with 25% over-provisioning – the R7 is not as good as the Vector 150 and Vertex 460 but it is still one of the best performing client SSDs.
I don't know why the samsung 840 Pro is absent form the benchies comparaison SSD list ! which would be the most interesting one ! I Owns 3 SSD from OCZ and a beautiful old school golden DDR3 1600, none of them failed, Agility 3 240 GB was bought 3 years ago for 140 bucks when SSD s were very expensive and was already achieving 550 mbps transfer speeds, few BSODS though.
Power Consumption charts are incomplete. SSDs spend most of their time in an Idle state. Your charts would be more helpful if they included simple Idle state power consumption. After all, millions of laptops and notebooks in everyday use do not have dev-slp or other advanced power options of the latest models, and those owners would be well-served knowing, for example, that a Samsung EVO draws much, much less power when idling compared to a Corsair Neutron GTX or Vertex 4, etc.
OCZ went broke because they had to replace a huge, HUGE number of faulty drives, and many of those had to be replaced a second time! Cash flow could NOT sustain such overheads, and using their customers as guinea pigs for SSDs with half-baked controllers won them few admirers among bankers asked to back them when things started spinning out of control. MAYBE their drives are OK now and MAYBE they are much reliable, but those who were once/twice bitten are right to be twice/thrice shy of OCZ.
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R 0 G - Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - link
I don't know why the samsung 840 Pro is absent form the benchies comparaison SSD list ! which would be the most interesting one !I Owns 3 SSD from OCZ and a beautiful old school golden DDR3 1600, none of them failed, Agility 3 240 GB was bought 3 years ago for 140 bucks when SSD s were very expensive and was already achieving 550 mbps transfer speeds, few BSODS though.
andrewbaggins - Monday, November 10, 2014 - link
Power Consumption charts are incomplete. SSDs spend most of their time in an Idle state. Your charts would be more helpful if they included simple Idle state power consumption. After all, millions of laptops and notebooks in everyday use do not have dev-slp or other advanced power options of the latest models, and those owners would be well-served knowing, for example, that a Samsung EVO draws much, much less power when idling compared to a Corsair Neutron GTX or Vertex 4, etc.andrewbaggins - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
OCZ went broke because they had to replace a huge, HUGE number of faulty drives, and many of those had to be replaced a second time! Cash flow could NOT sustain such overheads, and using their customers as guinea pigs for SSDs with half-baked controllers won them few admirers among bankers asked to back them when things started spinning out of control. MAYBE their drives are OK now and MAYBE they are much reliable, but those who were once/twice bitten are right to be twice/thrice shy of OCZ.Leyawiin - Saturday, September 12, 2015 - link
$99 now at Amazon. For the performance it has, warranty and accessories that's a pretty decent deal.