OCZ SSD 32GB Solid State Hard Disk

 

Quite a simple and self explanatory test. We took each of the three disks, installed a fresh copy of Windows Vista SP1 on to them and measured the time each took to boot into the Windows desktop and display the Welcome page. To ensure that the tests were fair and that Windows has fully completed installing all devices, the results were recorded after three initial reboots.

 

 

In all honesty we was expecting each of the three disks to come out with exactly the same results. However, as we can see from above, the OCZ SSD managed to boot into Windows and display the welcome screen a full 3 seconds faster than it’s mechanical counterparts. While this may be no outstanding feat, it certainly goes to show that despite the SSD drive lacking in write performance, it’s read performance and low latency results certainly can be seen in real world situations.

 

 

 

With a fresh copy of Vista installed on each hard disk, the final test was to find out if the Windows loading times seen above would also be applicable to the map loading time of a popular PC game. Once again, the test procedure was quite simple: Install Unreal Tournament III, load the game, select a map to play (ONS-Torlan) and measure the time taken from pressing the “Begin” button to the time the map is fully loaded. This procedure was repeated a total of three times on each of the hard disks, with a reboot in between each test to clear system memory.

 

 

Once again the OCZ SSD takes the top spot, loading the UT3 map in 9 seconds flat. The Velociraptor is a negligable 1 second behind with the RaptorX a further 2 seconds behind that.