Internals, Testing Methodology and System Setup
Internals:
Disassembly:
Interesting and unique layout. The SSD wrk comes apart like an old iPod Nano. The housing is seamless extruded aluminum. Fully apart:
A closer look at that small PCB:
Given this is a 512GB SSD, the flash math works out to 8 total (custom) packages, with 4 128Gbit dies each. Smaller capacities are similar in appearance, but with reduced dies per package (which also results in a write performance penalty, as noted on page 1 of this review).
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 |
- PCMark Vantage and 7
- Yapt
- IOMeter
- HDTach
- HDTune
- PCPer File Copy Test