New SSDs

[coolVariable]

Haha!
I guess we have the first benchmark for a MLC SSD with cache!
Probably a rebranded Vertex?


Tom's Hardware

Soliware SSD S100 64 GB

Another drive, another chance. Silicon Power provides good application benchmark results and low power consumption, but insufficient write performance. The other candidates by Memory Corp and Chaintech are even worse at writing, and horrible when it comes to I/Os per second. Soliware, a Chinese flash SSD maker, whose Web site cannot be found if you Google ?soliware?, (even though its site is soliware.com) provided a 32 GB flash SSD called the S100 SSD, which the vendor calls the ?super value? series based on MLC flash memory. There is a P100 as well, which would be the SLC model.


Flash SSDs With Cache Memory
Soliware is different from other vendors in that it says that it uses an additional 128 MB cache memory on its drives, which are available in sizes of 32, 64 or 128 GB. The data sheet states read and write throughput of 110 MB/s despite multi-level cell flash memory. The rated power consumption of 1 W in idle and 3 W active power seems realistic as well.

We checked the facts. First we looked at the access times and were a bit disappointed: an access time of 1 ms is ten times longer than the 0.1 ms found with other SSDs. Then we found a 125 MB/s maximum interface throughput?not much, but it may suffice. The drive managed to sustain a constant 103 MB/s read throughput, which is 50% faster than the throughput of conventional hard drives.

Surprising Performance Results
Now comes the surprise: This drive reached the same 103 MB/s throughput on writes?and more. We measured a 122.4 MB/s maximum on our test system, which certainly is the result of the integrated cache memory. Then we looked at I/O performance and were surprised again. Although the drive isn?t really fast in any of the I/O benchmarks, it still outperforms its competitors in this roundup. It is many times faster than the other drives, and positions itself in the middle of the I/O performance charts.

And Surprising Power Consumption
This was yet another surprise: The Soliware SSD S100 flash drive is the most power hungry flash-based drive we?ve had in our test lab. While the 1.9 W idle power is almost twice as much as the vendor specifies, the real surprise is peak power of 4.0 W. This is more than any modern conventional 2.5? hard drive requires. However, the power requirement during DVD playback was not that bad, at 1.9 W. Two drives, the SSDs by Crucial and Mtron, required even more power to provide a DVD bit stream.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: coolVariable
Probably a rebranded Vertex?

That could very much be the truth, in which case I'm sure the OCZ contract would stipulate the OEM isn't allowed to sell them in the US and possibly Europe as well. Exclusivity agreements and all that.

Still though the benches give us info we did not have until now...although Tom's credibility when it specifically comes to SSD's is a tad tarnished so I'm going to wait and see what Anand has to say about these new OCZ drives before accepting any conclusions.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: coolVariable
Probably a rebranded Vertex?

Or could be the other way around.

Interesting about the access time and power draw. I'm wondering if the cache has to do with both?

 

[aka1nas]

The transfer rates are way slower than the specs on the Vertex, though.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: coolVariable
Probably a rebranded Vertex?

Or could be the other way around.

Interesting about the access time and power draw. I'm wondering if the cache has to do with both?

They might be the OEM for OCZ. OCZ to my knowledge does not manufacture any SSD drives.
Power could also be the controller.

Originally posted by: aka1nas
The transfer rates are way slower than the specs on the Vertex, though.

Would this be the first time that OCZ lied or exaggerated?

 

[aka1nas]

Point.