Over the past several years, OCZ have transformed themselves from an enthusiast system memory brand into a recognized name for high-performance storage devices. They’ve earned consumer praise for their ability to deliver Solid State Drive technology at a reasonable price, and they push the boundaries with their High Speed Data Link project. There’s a solid middle ground between SATA and HSDL, and that’s the PCI Express bus. Not long ago Benchmark Reviews tested the SandForce-driven OCZ RevoDrive, and now we’re back with the high-level version of that product: OCZ RevoDrive X2. Now using four SF1200 SSDs in RAID-0, the RevoDrive X2 series is capable of up to 120,000 IOPS at speeds up to 740 MB/s.
Solid State Drive technology has become the high-performance option for SATA-drive upgrades, yet these ultra-fast NAND components are capable of so much more. Most computers are capable of offering 3.0 GB/s bandwidth via second-generation SATA controllers, which is fast enough for most general power-users. Although the latest desktop motherboards have incorporated third-generation SATA controllers good for up to 6.0 GB/s bandwidth, there’s currently only one SSD storage product capable of utilizing this speed (as of September 2010). PCI-Express is an ideal alternative, since it doesn’t require an add-on chip to support a new standard and still offers 5.0 GB/s bandwidth.
Storage standards and bandwidth aside, it’s understandable why SSDs were developed on a drive profile first: notebook and desktop hard disk drive upgrades offered a tremendous user-base. Unfortunately, SSDs were introduced with premium prices that rendered many consumers numb with sticker shock. As the technology became more prevalent, prices have also become more affordable and power-users have embraced the performance SSDs are known to offer. Now the market is ready for the next step: high-performance PCI-Express SSDs built for hardware enthusiasts. Enter the OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCI-E SSD series.
Source: Benchmark Reviews
