Internals, Testing Methodology and System Setup

Internals:

After disassembly:

Internals are nearly identical to the Vertex 450, with the significant exception of Toshiba flash.

This model had flash on both sides, totaling 16 flash packages. Spec differences suggest the 120GB model drops this count down to 8 – resulting in that model's reduced write speed.

Here is a closer shot of the Barefoot 3 M10 and Toshiba 19nm MLC flash.

 OCZ Vector. dubbed BF3-M10, drives IMFT-packaged 20nm flash. It seems OCZ has opted to not package the flash themselves on this go around.

Testing Methodology

Our tests are a mix of synthetic and real-world benchmarks. PCMark, 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

We currently employ a pair of testbeds. A newer ASUS P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt and an ASUS Z87-PRO. Variance between both boards has been deemed negligible.

PC Perspective would like to thank ASUS, Corsair, and Kingston for supplying some of the components of our test rigs. 

 
Hard Drive Test System Setup
CPU Intel Core i7-4770K
Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Pro/TB / ASUS Z87-PRO
Memory Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR3-2133 CL9
Hard Drive G.Skill 32GB SLC SSD
Sound Card N/A
Video Card Intel® HD Graphics 4600
Video Drivers Intel
Power Supply Corsair CMPSU-650TX
DirectX Version DX9.0c
Operating System Windows 8.1 X64
  • PCMark05
  • Yapt
  • IOMeter
  • HDTach
  • HDTune
  • PCPer File Copy Test
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