HDTach results

Website: HD Tach 3.0


The 64MB cache of the Indilinx drives isn't as fast as the competing Samsung models like the Corsair P256, but the fact that it's there is the more important thing, allowing the drive to queue commands and so avoid the stuttering issues that have so troubled cache-less SSDs before.


Average read is a much better indication of performance, and we're pleased to see that the Falcon matches and even manages to edge the Vertex here (although this is likely due to differing wear patterns between the drives). Considering the drive's quoted maximum read speed is 230MB/s an average read speed of 228MB/s across the entire drive is a great result, outpacing the Corsair P256 and the Intel X25-M


Average write speed is another area where the Vertex had a good showing but our fresh and clean Falcon is able to post an massive average write across the drive of a 160MB/s. While some way off the 190MB/s peak write speeds quoted by G.Skill it's still a great result that's close to matching the Samsung ARM processor powered Corsair P256.

The reason the Vertex and Falcon test so different here is a very clear effect of slight performance degradation over extended use. When we tested the Vertex using v1.1 firmware it had already been subjected to a good day's worth of solid testing and lacked the now released TRIM defragmentation tool which can go a long way to restoring drive performance. In comparison our Falcon is able to produce a noticeably faster result, as we'd fully erased it before updating to the v1.1 software and then running the Wiper program to restore performance.


As with all the ARM based SSDs, random access time is a ludicrously nippy 0.1ms, happily trouncing the HDD slowpokes.