Testing Methodology and System Setup
Testing MethodsI have migrated from Windows XP to Windows Vista x64 with the SP1 service pack installed. We are still using a P35 motherboard with the ICH9 south bridge (still used on X48 motherboards and unchanged) but upgraded to 2GB of memory in alleviate any issues with Vista as the new operating system of choice. We are still using a Core 2 Duo E6400 dual-core processor that is more than capable of pushing our storage options to the limits. Other components are listed in the table below.
Our tests are a good mix of synthetic and real-world benchmarks. The two PCMark suites offer a good combination of both worlds while the IOMeter, HDTach, HDTune, Yapt and our custom File Copy test round out the selection to cover just about all bases. If you have any questions about our tests just drop into the Storage Forum and we’ll help you out!
Test System Setup
For reviewing the OCZ 64GB SATA-II SSD drive I included a varying set of hard drives in the comparisons. First, we will obviously compare the new SATA-II version to the original SATA-I OCZ SSD and we’ll continue to compare it to another 2.5″ hard drive for mobile applications the WD Scorpio 250GB drive was included. Secondly, in order to see how the OCZ drive compares to desktop competition in the form of the most recent 3.5″ drives we have reviewed on PC Perspective – that means the OCZ SSD has to face the new WD VelociRaptor drive.
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Hard Drive Test System Setup |
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CPU |
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Motherboard |
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Memory |
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Hard Drive |
OCZ 64GB SSD SATA-II
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Sound Card |
none |
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Video Card |
ATI Radeon X800 XL |
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Video Drivers |
Catalyst 8.3
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| Power Supply | Antec TruePower 480 watt |
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DirectX Version |
DX10 |
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Operating System |
Windows Vista x64 SP1 |
- PCMark05
- PCMark Vantage
- Yapt
- IOMeter
- HDTach
- HDTune
- PCPer File Copy Test
