OCZ RevoDrive PCI-Express SSD Review

All SSD manufacturers, earlier or later, encounter the limitation problem ascribed to the bandwidth of the connected interface. The way out of the situation is the employment of different interfaces with a better bandwidth. OCZ became famous due to the development of SSDs with outstanding parameters, so it never stops marvelling the community. The company's RevoDrive PCI-Express model is called to maximally approach to the contemporary demands of the market. Besides, it is supposed to be an affordable solution for the demanding consumers.

Design and Specifications

It is a well-known fact that design plays a vital role in the process of winning the targeted customer groups. OCZ RevoDrive PCI-Express is delivered in a black card board with a specific framework which is called to attract the consumer from the first sight. This model is complemented by CD with drivers and cursory user guideline that unveils the product's general specifications:
— volume capacity: 120 GB;
— employed controller: 2x SandForce SF-1200;
— form-factor: PCI-Express x4 board:
— peculiarities: integrated RAID-controller;
— memory cell type: MLC;
— speed: Read speed – 540 Mb/sec, Write speed – 480 Mb/sec.

Integrated Circuit

The major peculiar feature of this SSD model is that it employs PCI-Express x4 interface instead of the traditional SATA. RevoDrive PCI-Express consists of two SSD-disks that are unsoldered on a single textolite. High-end SandForce SF-1200 controllers are called to control a pair of MLC NAND memory chips. More efficient performance is achieved by means of the implementation of RAID controller into the SSD layout. This controller is based on Silicon Image SIL3124 chip and switched on RAID 0 mode by default. However, there is always a possibility to alter the array mode due to BIOS standards. SIL3124 is a SATA controller with PCI-X interface which employs Pericom bridge for the conversion of data blocks from PCI-X bus to PCI-Express x4 bus.

The reverse side of the coin shows that RevoDrive does not support TRIM technology, but the manufacturer claims that the product itself is quite speedy and there is no need to stuff the drive. In addition, there is a dedicated Garbage Collection option that facilitates the restoration of speed characteristics in the operational process. Intel memory chips serve the data storage purposes. Each of the chips has got 4 GB volume capacity, so the overall capacity of 32 chips equals to 128 GB. Nevertheless, 8GB are designated for the prolongation of SSD lifetime.

To continue, the integrated circuit board is equipped with LED indicators. The first indicator is called to reflect the power supply, the other two reflect the activity of controllers, and the other four reflect the SATA activity. Proceeding from the model's specifications, one can identify several destinations of RevoDrive. Hence, this SSD can be employed as a server drive, as an upgrade means for PC enthusiasts and gamers, and as a download drive for bencher. The OS installation is realized in a similar to RAID-array method. The user just needs to indicate the root to the driver which is located on CD.

Testing Results

OCZ RevoDrive proves to demonstrate quite decent testing results. First of all, it does not produce any noise in operational mode which is a peculiar feature of practically all high-end SSDs. Secondly, it promotes for instant access to memory cells (0.1-0.2 seconds), and surpasses the rival products in this test. Thirdly, the integrated PCI-Express x4 bus provides for the SSD's better performance that is vindicated by high writing and reading speeds.