SSD Performance PCMark Vantage HDD
PCMark Vantage HDD test suite
PCMark vantage has a very good test suite to benchmark storage performance. The software will look at items you normally do with your PC and will try to measure what kind of an effect that has on your user experience by testing eight different segments stressing the storage unit.
| HDD1 | Windows Defender |
| HDD2 | Gaming |
| HDD3 | Import Pictures |
| HDD4 | Windows Vista startup |
- HDD1 - Spyware is very common on systems without protection against it, letting Windows Defender scan & protect your system is recommended.
- HDD2 - Streaming data from an HDD in games allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action.
- HDD3 - Importing digital photos to Windows Photo Gallery is where a high performance HDD shines.
- HDD4 - Starting Windows Vista is a rather demanding task for the storage device, but a fast HDD will notably decrease the loading time.
The tests include a series of reads, writes and copies under a set of specific conditions and applications.
Now first off have a very good look at the traditional HDD drive, the Western Digital Velociraptor, it's totally trashed by the SSD drives. In red the drive tested today.
Let's fire up the second round of real-world performance tests:
| HDD5 | Video editing |
| HDD6 | Media Center |
| HDD7 | Media Player Music Adding |
| HDD8 | Application loading |
- HDD5 - Home video editing with Windows Movie Maker can be very time-consuming unless you have a high performance HDD.
- HDD6 - Windows Media Center with a high performance HDD can handle simultaneous video recording, time-shifting, and streaming to an Extender for Windows Media Center, such as Xbox 360.
- HDD7 - Cataloguing your music library is a breeze for fast and powerful HDDs.
- HDD8 - Starting various applications can take a long time unless you have a high performance HDD.
In the past test 5 (video editing) and test 6 (MCE) we noticed the traditional mechanical Raptor drive and HDDs in general completely cave in. This is where SSDs are good at. Stunning -- positively stunning performance here for the two SandForce 1200 listed products, and the OCZ Vertex 3 with the series 2200 controller is really a class of its own.
PCMark Storage Score
Above you can see the overall HDD/SSD score as derived from PCMark Vantage. Again, if there is one test series we feel is a great example of real-world usage, it's this test. And yes try to look at the WD Velociraptor again, that's not a mistake. Obviously the Zalman N series drive looks a bit outclassed here, but look what its competing with. 40k points should be it's rough ranking, which it is. Excellent performance really.
