What's new
  • Please do not post any links until you have 3 posts as they will automatically be rejected to prevent SPAM. Many words are also blocked due to being used in SPAM Messages. Thanks!

Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD Review

Status
Not open for further replies.

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Real World Data Transfers

Real World Data Transfers


No matter how good a synthetic benchmark like IOMeter or PCMark is, it can not really tell you how your hard drive will perform in “real world” situations. All of us here at Hardware Canucks strive to give you the best, most complete picture of a review item’s true capabilities and to this end we will be running timed data transfers to give you a general idea of how its performance relates to real life use. To help replicate worse case scenarios we will transfer a 10.00GB file and a folder containing 400 subfolders with a total 12,000 files varying in length from 200mb to 100kb (10.00 GB total).

Testing will include transfer to and transferring from the devices, using MS RichCopy (set to 1 file depth) and logging the performance of the drive. Here is what we found.

copy_sm.jpg


copy_lg.jpg


As with all the other tests, the large file results are decent, and while they are a touch lower than you would want to see from a SF2281 based drive, the Force 3 does a more than adequate job.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Conclusion

Conclusion


On paper, the Force Series 3 120GB looks to be fighting an uphill battle in against some competing drives. It uses NAND built to an older ONFi standard populating its channels which leads to synthetic and real world numbers that will likely fail to impress anyone who wants cutting edge performance. However, the SF2281 controller is so powerful that it makes up for the NAND’s shortcomings in most real world scenarios and allows Corsair’s mid-tier drive to really shine.

The main reason for the Force 3 120GB’s appeal is its price coupled with numbers that begin to approach Force 3 GT territory. At about $199 it is well within the grasp of budget conscious system builders who don’t want to sacrifice much in the way of performance but just can’t justify spending the $350 or more for an enthusiast grade product.

Sadly, things are not so cut and dry when the Force 3 120GB is compared against a previously generation drive which resided in the high end bracket. For about $10 less than Corsair’s drive you can obtain a 25nm NAND based Vertex 2 120GB drive but some sacrifices will be necessary. Compared to a Vertex 2, there are many cases where we would consider the premium for the Force 3 to be well worth it. There is also the potential to see even more performance improvements as SandForce’s firmware matures – something that will not happen with previous generation drives.

One thing that should be mentioned is Corsair’s legendary customer support. It has been brought front and center due to the recent spat of issues that plagued certain batches (pre serial number 1123xxxxx) of Force 3 drives. The problems and RMAs were handled quickly and the public was kept well informed of any developments. Peace of mind such as this is easily worth a few extra dollars.

Due to its good performance and a relatively frugal price, we feel justified in rewarding our Dam Good Value award to the Force 3 120GB. It may not be right for everyone and we do not consider it much of an upgrade over the original Corsair Force 120GB SSD, but if you are looking for your first large SSD, this one deserves to be on your short list.


Pros:

- As good as or better than previous generation high end drives in many real world scenarios
- Great price to performance ratio
- Good warranty and support structure
- 2.5” to 3.5” adapter included free


Cons:

- ONFi 1.0 NAND does limit the performance
- “Maximum” specifications for this drive paint an incorrect picture of its real world performance
- Lowered performance compared to most other SF2281 based drives
- Large performance variance from test to test


<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/akg/Storage/Force3_120/DGV.gif" border="0" alt="" />

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...-force-3-120gb-ssd-review-comment-thread.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top