QuickBench Continued…
The entry level V-Series SSD is more than happy to step up and surpass the SATAII drive in the Random R/W results. When Cache is enabled, the V-Series gains another 10 to 12 MB/s on the sequential write in our test configuration. Despite the issues with the budget controller and its noticeable effect on the transfer rates, it’s still much faster than our standard SATAII platter drive.
Finally, we have the TorqX 128GB SSD and as expected, it does a phenomenal job with the Sequential Read and Write tasks. These rates are easily double and sometimes triple that of our entry level Kingston V-Series 128GB SSD drive. A bonus effect is that the TorqX happily choked down and booted up into Vista Ultimate 64-bit noticeably quicker. Anything that is physically noticeable in the computer world is a substantial gain in performance.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
The benefits of SSD have definitely made them the tech to beat in terms of storage. The benefits of shaving minutes to seconds off software loads and OS installs can add up over the course of a year. If you’re a notebook user, power savings and the extra durability of an SSD are extremely helpful in cutting down on overall weight and increasing usage time thanks to the lower power consumption. Plus, the lack of moving parts creates a certain level of confidence given that the TorqX SSD can take a beating, serve special purposes in the field, and still be covered for an impressive 10 years.
When it’s all said and done, the Patriot Memory 128GB TorqX SSD is mobile and agile in every respect. Despite its capacity, it’s the fastest SSD tested on the test bench to date. In fact, the SSD offers excellent performance handling small 4K-32K data blocks and even greater performance working with the larger data blocks. This is great news as it shows Patriot is on top their TorqX product. This should please users who are serious about managing data base queries to gamers that want to install and load up their games super fast (though it won’t do anything for frame rates).
The Patriot Memory TorqX truly does offer some “Insta-RAID” goodness right out of the box without the weight or size of platter based solutions. At a street price of around $360 US for the 128GB TorqX, it is priced well within the pack and provides better than the norm performance. Factor that in with a impressive 10 Year Warranty and we find ourselves unable to offer it anything but an Editors’ Choice Award. You have got to get one of these!
Pros
- Excellent small to larger block performance
- RAID like performance from one drive
- Low noise and power consumption
- Low weight lightens up your gaming rig
- Decent mounting adapter with some design flair
- Unprecedented 10-Year Manufacturer’s Warranty!
Cons
- It’s a little on the small side (even the 256GB model)
- There’s still an SSD price premium (patience!)
Overall Rating: 9.5 / 10.0
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