SSD by stefan @ 2014-12-16
The R7 240 AMD-Branded SSD succeeds to perform really well and positions itself along with the latest Vertex 460 and Vector 150 drives from OCZ; the product succeeds to render very good write speeds and it comes in 7mm format, which makes it compatible with the latest ultrabooks. AMD has extended the warranty to 4 years and for added value we are also getting the Acronis proven drive cloning software for easy migration.
At first we would like to thank OCZ for offering a sample of their AMD Radeon R7 240GB SATA III SSD for testing and reviewing.
"San Jose, California-based OCZ Storage Solutions - A Toshiba Group Company, is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of industry-leading solid state drives (SSDs), a disruptive, game-changing technology that is replacing traditional rotating magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs). OCZ develops best-in-class solid state drive solutions for professionals, enthusiasts, and gamers, and is committed to driving storage innovation. With a rich portfolio of consumer SSD offerings for laptop, desktop, and workstation applications covering a range of popular interfaces and media formats, our SSDs utilize proprietary in-house controllers and firmware to deliver exceptional I/O performance, differentiated features, lower power consumption and superior reliability, all of which translate into faster file transfers, instant system boot-ups, and an enhanced computing or gaming experience.
OCZ has a worldwide presence with regional offices and manufacturing in key regions to support our valued clients, and has earned outstanding brand equity and a reputation for quality products and customer service."
Empowering Gamers
Designed to deliver the ultimate storage solution for gamers and graphics-hungry power users
Next Generation A19nm MLC NAND Flash
Latest generation A19nm flash delivers a high performance yet cost-effective upgrade
Proprietary
Proprietary OCZ Barefoot 3 controller technology delivers superior performance and endurance
Lasting Performance
Advanced suite of NAND flash management keeps your drive at higher sustained performance over the long term
Enhanced Endurance
Putting emphasis on client workload endurance, rated at 30GB/day of host writes for 4 years*
Superior Mixed Workload Performance
Excels in both incompressible and compressible data types such as multimedia, encrypted data,.ZIP files and software
Ultra Slim
Sleek alloy housing offers slimmer 7mm z-height for compatibility with the ultra-thin notebooks
Added Value
Bundled with a 3.5-inch desktop adapter bracket and Acronis® True Image™ HD cloning software to easily transfer games, programs, and data from your old hard drive
In this article we will concentrate our look upon another SSD, this time Radeon R7-branded by AMD; after unpacking, we will discover that this product is really made by OCZ and is based on the successful combination of one Indilinx Barefoot 3 M00 controller and Toshiba-made 19nm MLC NAND Flash, which is quite durable. OCZ recommends up to 30GB/day writes and the manufacturer warranty is four years. The product has arrived completely sealed:
On the frontal part of the packaging we will see the AMD Radeon SSD logo, along with the total storage capacity; the SSD is also available in 120GB and 480GB capacities and while the 240 and 480 versions retain the rated sequential read/write speeds, the 120GB version has write speeds a bit lower than the rest:
On the back side of the box we will be able to spot the product main highlights along with the technical characteristics:
Besides the Installation manual, inside we will also receive one activation code for the Acronis HD cloning software, the actual product, the adapter plate but also the mounting screws:
The SSD retains the AMD Radeon logo colors on the front, while on the back we will be able to spot the OCZ sticker with the serial numbers, firmware versions but also the power rating:
By removing the bottom cover, we will be able to check the drive internals in more detail:
The OCZ Barefoot 3 M00 controller is running at 397MHz, while the “light” version found with the Vertex 460/450 and ARC 100 is clocked at 352MHz:
The Toshiba MLC 19nm NAND are in a number of eight on this side and each memory chip has 16GB; from the total of 256GB (by counting the chips on the other side), but 7% is used for over-provisioning:
Nearby, we will be also able to spot one 256MB Micron DRAM cache:
After removing the fixing screws, we will be able to look on the opposite side of the PCB, which has a similar positioning with the eight NAND Flash chips and the rest of the 256MB memory buffer:
As an extra, here we have the TPS652510 power management IC from Texas Instruments:
CPU : Intel I5 3750K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard : ASRock Z77 Extreme6
RAM :GeIL PC3-17000 2133MHz 8GB EVO Leggera
Video : Sparkle X560 Calibre
Power Supply : Cooler Master 850W
HDD : OCZ Vector 150
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
The drive is shipped unformatted:
Here is the total free space reported by Windows 7:
With the help of AIDA64, we can extract more information regarding the drive:
The drive comes with its own re-skinned toolbox, from which we can check more technical details or perform different actions. The detected OCZ drives will be listed in the respective tab, along with the full storage capacity, the serial number, firmware version but also the WWN:
From the Tools tab, we will be able to perform a firmware update but also send TRIM command to the drive:
The Security menu helps us perform a Secure Erase:
Finally, we have the Details menu which permits us to check some of the drive technical information:
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The R7 240 AMD-Branded SSD succeeds to perform really well and positions itself along with the latest Vertex 460 and Vector 150 drives from OCZ; the product succeeds to render very good write speeds and it comes in 7mm format, which makes it compatible with the latest ultrabooks. AMD has extended the warranty to 4 years and for added value we are also getting the Acronis proven drive cloning software for easy migration. The drives are recommended for about 30GB writes/day, while the Vertex 460 had specified 20GB/day and the Vector 150 an impressive 50GB/day.
The product is also backed up by the OCZ ShieldPlus Warranty, which really simplifies the process and more details can be checked out right HERE.
As always with OCZ drives, we have performed the IOMETER consistency test; once again, the results are proven impressive which tell us that the drive should perform optimally for a long time to come, without degradations:
The current pricing policy is not stellar, considering that the drive can be found online for about 140 Euros, while the Vector 150 and the Vertex 460 are cheaper; at the moment, we would recommend this drive to AMD fanatics or to case modders which would like to have all products inside branded with the same company logo; if the drive will drop only a little in price, it will become much, much more attractive. However, considering the durability, performance over time and the high quality NAND, we would like to still award the drive with the High End MadShrimps logo:
We would like to thank again to OCZ for making this review possible!