Corsair P256 256GB MLC Solid State Drive Review

HD Tune v3.50 – Random Access

When HD Tune Pro 3.50 was released in December 2008 it included a brand new Random Access test. The random access read and write test is a very important performance area to look at on solid state drives as some controllers have problems with random writes. To take a closer look at Random Access performance the Super Talent MasterDrive OX and Corsair P256 were compared to see how they do.

Random Access Read Test Results:

Benchmark Results: When it comes to the Random Access read performance test the two drives were nearly identical, even though one uses the Jmicron controller and the other uses the second generation Samsung controller.

Random Access Write Test Results:

Benchmark Results: While the Random Access read performances were nearly identical, the write performance showed a major difference between the two drives. The random access write times were between 160-200ms on the Super Talent drive, while the same test was between .4-20ms on the Corsair drive. The Super Talent MasterDrive OX suffers from the ‘stutters’ that many Solid State Drive users complain about and this is due to the high latency when it comes to random access write times. The Corsair drive doesn’t appear to have this issue in this benchmark or in the real world. If you are interested in buying a Solid State Drive the random access write performance results should be the most important benchmark to look at.