TRIM, Conclusion, Pricing, and Final Thoughts




Did you get linked to this conclusion page on accident?  Click here to go to the start of our review!    

Fragmentation Over Time:  

The RevoDrive x2 performed identically as compared to the RevoDrive

TRIM:
 
Like the RevoDrive, the x2 does not support TRIM as the on-board SiImage RAID controller is incapable of passing those commands onto the SandForce controllers.  The big advantage of SandForce controlled flash is its excellent handling of fragmentation.  Without TRIM at play, these chips can still maintain full write speeds after the most challenging write patterns have taken place.

ioDrive’s do not yet appear to support TRIM, but it would be an easy addition through an update to the firmware and/or driver.  After seeing that they do in fact fragment (and take a fairly large percentage hit on write speeds in the process), hopefully this addition comes sooner than later.

OCZ RevoDrive x2 240GB PCIe SSD - bigger and faster! - Storage 32

For the RevoDrive x2, I would have made this label read “My SSD is faster than your SSD.”

PROS: 
  • Competitive cost/GB (excellent when considering peers in its field). 
  • Less demanding on host system resources when compared to ioDrive.
  • Bootable! 
CONS: 
  • SandForce controller pricing still higher than much of the SSD competition.

Pricing 

Here are the current intro prices for the x2 (via Newegg):
  • 100GB: $459      ($4.59/GB)
  • 160GB: $569      ($3.55/GB)
  • 360GB: $1159    ($3.22/GB)
  • 720GB: $2539    ($3.53/GB)
  • 960GB: $3359    ($3.50/GB)
These prices are a bit higher than for the original Revodrive, but realize you’re paying for another pair of Sandforce controllers.

For comparison:
Intel X25-M G2: 160GB for $400 ($2.50/GB)
OCZ Colossus: 250GB for $800 ($3.20/GB)
OCZ Vertex 2: 100GB for $335 ($3.35/GB)
ioXtreme: I could only find it at one outlet for just over $11/GB.
ioDrive 160: At $40/GB, let’s just call this one unobtanium.

The bootable thing… 

Before we get into final thoughts, I have a bit of a bone to pick with Fusion-IO regarding their products lacking boot support.  Instead of going into a long tirade about the subject, I’m going to paste an excerpt from a product brief of theirs I downloaded back in 2007:

OCZ RevoDrive x2 240GB PCIe SSD - bigger and faster! - Storage 33 

Welcome to 8 quarters ago.  Considering this was published in 2007, Fusion-IO are pushing 3 years on their repeated promise of bootability.  A $1k ($7k in the case of the ioDrive 160) piece of storage gear should support this standard feature common to nearly every other storage 
device in existence.

Final Thoughts    

The RevoDrive x2 builds on the excellent performance of the original RevoDrive. It turned in some excellent figures, pushing past much of the competition, and nipping at the heels of enterprise-class SSD gear from Fusion-IO. Cost/GB is a bit higher than the RevoDrive, but given the ~50% gain in performance, it seems to be a fair increase. If you want even more fire-breathing than the RevoDrive can provide, go grab yourself a RevoDrive x2!
 
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