OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G 240GB SSD Review
Comparison Drives & Test System
Legit Reviews Test System
All tests were performed on a fresh and up-to-date install of Windows 7 Pro x64 with no other applications running while using AHCI mode set through the BIOS. Synthetic Benchmarks were run with the OS loaded on a 40GB Corsair Force SSD. In between every test, the drive was secure erased using Parted Magic. As such, all results should be indicative of optimal performance. All components were set to their default speeds and are listed below and we’d like to thank ASUS for their generosity and support in providing the motherboard for our test bench.
P67 Test Bench
| Intel LGA 1155 Test Platform | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Brand/Model | Live Pricing | |||
|
Processor |
Core i5 2500k | ||||
|
Motherboard |
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe | ||||
|
Memory |
Crucial 2 x 2GB PC3-10600 | ||||
|
Video Card |
Gigabyte GeForce GT 430 | ||||
|
OS Drive |
Corsair Force 40GB | ||||
|
Power Supply |
Corsair HX1000 | ||||
|
Operating System |
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit | ||||
Comparison Drives & Other Models We Have Tested
Since there are so many SSDs out there now with different controllers, we started a reference table of which controllers are used by each drive to help you compare results. Different controllers definitely perform differently and each has various strengths and weaknesses. Like CPU’s, even identical drives will have variations in performance and part of that variance may be attributable to the NAND flash used. Since the tests of the drives listed have spanned different test benches and represent three different interfaces, we have listed them for easy reference.
| SSD MODEL | CONTROLLER(S) | TRIM? | Interface |
| OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB |
SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | Yes | SATA III |
| OCZ Agility 3 240GB |
SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | Yes | SATA III |
| OCZ Vertex 3 120GB |
SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | Yes | SATA III |
| PQI S535 256GB |
SandForce SF-1200 | Yes | SATA II |
| OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 120GB |
SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | Yes | SATA III |
| Crucial m4/Micron C400 256GB |
Marvell 88SS9174 | Yes | SATA III |
| Intel 320 Series 128GB |
Intel PC29AS21BA0 (G3 FW) | Yes | SATA II |
| Corsair Performance 3 Series 128GB |
Marvell 88SS9174 | Yes | SATA III |
| Intel 510 Series 250GB |
Marvell 88SS9174 | Yes | SATA III |
| Plextor M2 Series 128GB |
Marvell 88SS9174 | Yes | SATA III |
| Kingston V100 Series 128GB |
JMicron JMF618 (Toshiba branded) | Yes | SATA II |
| OCZ Vertex 3 Pro 200GB (beta) | SandForce SF-2500 (SF-2582) | Yes | SATA III |
| RunCore Pro V 120GB |
SandForce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| Samsung 470 Series 256GB |
Samsung S3C29MAX01-Y340 | Yes | SATA II |
| Zalman N Series 128GB | SandForce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| Kingston V+100 128GB | Toshiba T6UG1XBG | Yes | SATA II |
| Corsair Force 40GB | Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| Intel X25-V 40GB | Intel PC29AS21BA0 (G2 FW) | Yes | SATA II |
| G.Skill Phoenix Pro | Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| Patriot Inferno 100GB | Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| OCZ RevoDrive X2 240GB |
4X Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | No* | PCI-E |
| OCZ RevoDrive 120GB |
2X Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | No* | PCI-E |
| ADATA S596 128GB | JMicron JMF612 | Yes | SATA II |
| Corsair Force Series 120GB | Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| Patriot Zephyr 128GB | JMICRON JMF612 | Yes | SATA II |
| Patriot Torqx 128GB | Indilinx Barefoot | Yes | SATA II |
| Kingston 30GB V Series SNV125-S2 | Toshiba T6UG1XBG | Yes | SATA II |
| Kingston 128GB V Series SNV425-S2 | JMICRON JMF618 | Yes | SATA II |
| Corsair Force Series 100GB | Sandforce SF-1200 (SF-1222) | Yes | SATA II |
| Corsair Nova Series 128GB | Indilinx Barefoot | Yes | SATA II |
| Intel X25-M 160GB G2 |
Intel PC29AS21BA0 (G2 FW) | Yes | SATA II |
| Micron RealSSD C300 256GB | Marvell 88SS9174 | Yes | SATA III |
| * TRIM is not supported due to the RAID controller. | |||
In the readout on CrystalDiskInfo 3.10.0, both NCQ and S.M.A.R.T. are enabled, as is TRIM. This is a great free tool to see what version of firmware the drive is running in the event there are updates available and at the time of this review, 311ABBF0 is the latest from OWC and the mass production release version.
On to the benchmarks!
Comments are closed.