CrystalDiskMark 2.2
CrystalDiskMark is yet another useful and compact program for measuring the read and write performance of storage drives.
As I stated previously, read and write figures placed together in a single chart can and will look like a mess. My reasoning for mixing them here is really to show the similarities and differences with a bit more clarity. The Vertex drive was the only one that maintained some semblance of consistent speed throughout the various read/write operations. A trend has emerged here and that was the point of this little exercise. To show that the SSDs have real performance gains over the old mechanical hard drives. Small 4k read/write operations are still roughly the same across the board though.
PCMark Vantage (x64)
PCMark Vantage's HDD Suite is designed to apply real world stresses to the drives. These tests include the following:
- Using Windows Defender to scan for spyware
- Streaming data from the HDD in games like Alan Wake
- Importing digital photos to Windows Photo Gallery
- Starting Windows Vista
- Home video editing with Windows Movie Maker
- Simultaneous video recording, time-shifting, and streaming to an extender in Windows Media Center
- Cataloguing a music library
- Starting various applications
The differences are a bit more decisive here. The OCZ Vertex absolutely destroys its 7200RPM mechanical hard drive cousin here. Many should take note of these tests because they are easily repeatable real-world tests that show the transfer rates of the various drives involved. An added bonus is the application of a HDD score. The second chart shows the scores that each drive garnered relative to its fellow combatant. The Vertex, Apex and Seagate received 23135, 11998 and 4147.
Benchmark Conclusions
What you should take away from this is that the benchmarks from ATTO Disk Benchmark, CrystalDiskMark, and Everest Ultimate show specific performance values with varying sizes of blocks of data, sequential read/write, and so forth. These figures don't necessarily represent how the drive will perform in the real world, but it does help to paint one side of the picture. PCMark Vantage and Boot Racer provide real world figures to round out the results. You can say with relative certainty that the Vertex drive is the best of the pack while the Apex rounds out a reasonable second, not a photo finish mind you, but definitely reasonable. A question that would likely be posed is why I chose the Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM drive over some of the faster 10,000RPM+ drives. I went with something that is a high quality 7200RPM drive with a nice amount of onboard cache. If I were a betting man, I'd wager that 7200RPM drives represent the lion share of drives in most consumer computers these days. Keeping that in mind, I used the 7200RPM drive as a realistic starting point for what people have now and what they may expect when switching to a SSD. If you have a slower drive, the gains will be more noticeable and vice versa.
For more info: email Nicholas at technic.amoroso@gmail.com
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