discussion OCZ Agility EX 60GB SSD Review

[AkG]

IOMeter / IOMeter Stutter Test

IOMeter

IOMeter is heavily weighted towards the server end of things, and since we here at HWC are more End User centric we will be setting and judging the results of IOMeter a little bit differently than most. To test each drive we ran 5 test runs per HDD (1,4,16,64,128 que depth) each test having 8 parts, each part lasting 10 min w/ an additional 20 second ramp up. The 8 subparts were set to run 100% random, 80% read 20% write; testing 512b, 1k, 2k,4k,8k,16k,32k,64k size chunks of data. When each test is finished IOMeter spits out a report, in that reports each of the 8 subtests are given a score in I/Os per second. We then take these 8 numbers add them together and divide by 8. This gives us an average score for that particular que depth that is heavily weighted for single user environments.

Needless to say, this drive rocks the IOM tests. In fact, it basically ties the rock star of this test (the Intel X-25M) three times, beats it once and loses once which makes the Agility EX’s performance better than any other Indilinx drive we have tested.

IOMeter Stutter Test

In our usual IOMeter test we are trying to replicate real world use where reads severly outnumber writes. However, to get a good handle on how well a Solid State Disk Drive will handle a worse case scenario (and thus how likely the dreaded stutter issue will happen) we have also run an additional test. This test is made of 1 section at que depth of 1. In this test we ran 100% random. 100%writes of 4k size chunks of information. In the .csv file we then found the Maximum Write Response Time. This in ms is worst example of how long a given operation took to complete. We consider anything higher than 333ms (one third of a second) to be a good indicator that stuttering may happen, with the higher the number the worse the duration of the stutter will most likely be.

Once again the Agility EX puts down some great numbers. Not only is its average good enough for a solid second place, its maximum numbers (a much more important number as this number has the most effect on “stutter”) are down there at Hard Drive levels. You can forget about worrying about stutters with this drive as it is easily one of the best performers in this test.

 

[AkG]

XP Start Up / Adobe CS3

XP Start Up

When it comes to hard drive performance there is one area that even the most oblivious user notices: how long it takes to load the Operating System. For our tests the clock starts as soon as the system “beeps!” and stops when our Anti-Virus splash screen disappears. While all the other tests were run with a streamlined XP image this particular image is the test bed's “day to day” OS and it has accumulated a lot of crud over the months from installs and removals. We chose the Anti-Virus splash screen as our finish line as it is the last program to be loaded on start up.

As expected this drive eats the rest of the competition for breakfast. At this point in the review this came as no surprise, but what is interesting, is that these numbers are not even better than they are. We have to wonder if the 60GB vs. 120GB (or 64GB vs. 128GB) size is once again “hobbling” the Agility’s performance. In any case it still is easily the fastest at start up times we have ever seen.

Adobe CS3 Load Time

Photoshop is a notoriously slow loading program under the best of circumstances, but when you add in a bunch of extra brushes and the such you get a really great torture test which can bring even the best of the best to their knees. Let’s see how our review unit faired in the Adobe crucible!

Once again this drive kicks major butt in real world tests. Hopefully, one day OCZ will release a 120GB version of this beast so we can get an even more “apples to apples” comparison.

 

[AkG]

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 4.00GB contiguous RAR file and a folder containing 49 subfolders with a total 2108 files varying in length from 20mb to 1kb (1.00 GB total).

Testing will include transfer to and transferring from the devices, timing each process individually to provide an approximate Read and Write performance. To then stress the dive even more we will then make a copy of the large file to another portion of the same drive and then repeat the process with the small one. This will test the drive to its limits as it will be reading and writing simultaneously. Here is what we found.

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Interestingly enough this drive gets even faster when it is copying small files from itself…to itself. We really have to wonder if the small file transfer numbers are being hobbled by the hard drive we use as the “other” drive in these tests. With its kick ass controller, large cache and SLC NAND this is one frickin’ fast drive when it comes to real world file transfers.

 

[AkG]

Value

Value

The term “Value” is such an amorphous term that it truly has different meanings for different people. For some a hard drive is only as good as its performance potential, for others it is how quiet or durable it is; for others still it’s how effective it is for its cost. We here at HWC try to provide as many answers as possible for the term “Value”. Hopefully by this point in the review people looking at performance potential will have a fairly good idea of what its Value is. For the “best bang for the buck” crowd we have included a chart below showing how much a give drive costs per GB. No consideration has been made for performance, “durability” or any other extraneous factors; this is just raw performance vs. monetary cost. All prices are based on the lowest price found in our Price Comparison engine at the time of their initial review.

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If there is one weakness this drive has it has to be its cost per GB. Let’s face it, the Agility EX stinks as a “value oriented” drive. It may be less expensive than the Vertex EX….but that is not saying much as that drive is down right expensive by anyone's standards. However, we have to remember that you are paying for performance here, not value. Is giving up half your storage space worth the additional performance? We think it is, as this drive will not only last a heck of a lot longer than any MLC SSD, it will spank most other drives in the speed department too. To get access to all this speed, you have to be willing to pay the entry cost.

 

[AkG]

Conclusion

Conclusion

There is no getting around the fact that the OCZ Agility EX is one hell of a fast drive. So much so that there were very few competitors that could even touch it in most of our benchmarks and it even surpassed some of OCZ ‘s previously high-end drives. It is actually the first drive we have seen that ties the Intel X-25M in our IO Meter torture tests which is definitely saying a lot.

In the all important area of latency it is obvious that MLC NAND chips are really holding back the Indilinx drives since the SLC-equipped Agility EX really seems to pull away from its lower-end brethren in certain cases. The improved latency combined with the lowest stutter test results of ANY Solid State drive almost guarantees that your system is going to “feel” snappier even if you are replacing another SSD with this drive.

Even though the Agility EX can “only” be considered as part of OCZ’s mid-tier SLC lineup, we are positive it is going to last a heck of a lot longer than their premium MLC drives. The reason for this is that it uses Single Layer Cells which are supposed to have a ten times longer lifespan than Multi-Layer Cells (100,000 writes versus 10,000). This means you can literally abuse this drive day in day out for years and long after even a Vertex 120GB would have given up the ghost, the Agility EX will still be smiling and saying “Please Sir, may I have some more?”

There really is only one weakness here and that is the price premium it commands. Sure, this premium is less than that of the Vertex EX, but when you can buy a 120GB Vertex sans rebates and get nearly the same speeds with twice the amount of storage, you really have to ask yourself how much the Agility EX’s longer lifespan is really worth for you. If you plan on upgrading infrequently then yes, it really does make a lot of sense to make the jump to SLC as it is simply better from a longevity point of view. For everyone else, you may be better off with the more mundane MLC based Vertex. As time goes by we are sure that the price point will fall but for the time being, there are plenty of other drives on the market that will give you more storage space for your hard earned dollars.

Does this mean that we don’t think the Agility EX is worth the money? Hell no. If you want an SSD that is balls-to-the-wall fast while not retailing for the sky-high price of a Vertex EX, then the buck stops here. It even comes with latest firmware (at the time of this article) right out of the box which ensures optimal performance right out of the box. We can go on and on about why the Agility EX is so damn good but what should be said is that above all else is that its speed easily justifies its price premium. That is the highest accolade we can give any product.

The fact is that once again OCZ is pushing the envelope and not only talking about innovation (like so many companies do) but are actually moving ahead of the pack by releasing new and exciting products like the EX series. In addition to that, their warranty and RMA service are a cut above which is why they are considered one of the best customer orientated companies in the solid state drive market. If anyone can help get us off MLC drives and onto the SLC bandwagon, it will be OCZ. As such, this drive wins both our Dam Good and Dam Innovative awards.


Pros:
- Good looks
- Great packaging
- FAST
- SLC based Solid State Drive
- Native TRIM support
- Kick ass manufacturer’s support forum


Cons:
- Price
- “Only” three year warranty

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