Features and Specifications
First up, OCZ will describe why this thing is awesome:
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“PCI-E Solid State Drive / Workstation-Class / 130,000 IOPS / 120GB-480GB Designed with power users and multimedia designers in mind, the RevoDrive 3 SSD Series provides the ultimate storage solution for intensive workstation applications with maximum performance and a sophisticated feature-set based on OCZ’s proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0 (VCA) technology. The RevoDrive 3 provides unique benefits to users by incorporating features from the VCA 2.0 flash virtualization software that allow certain direct memory access (DMA) and data management functions. Included in this feature-set are OCZ’s exclusive command queuing and queue balancing algorithms, which can be handled by the onboard processing core for higher performance and reduced burden on the host resources. VCA 2.0 is also the only virtualization layer in the industry with TRIM and SCSI unmap support to enhance sustained performance and provide greater endurance by significantly reducing the overhead associated with garbage collection. Furthermore, VCA also offers consolidated SMART support and provides system administrators with advanced features for monitoring, analyzing, and reporting device attributes. With an all-new architecture, the RevoDrive 3 shatters its predecessor’s performance record and is faster than comparable solutions ten times the price. The dual-controller Revo3 delivers up to 1GB/s of bandwidth and up to 130,000 IOPS (4K random write) under HPC or workstation workloads with a single-card solution. Additionally, the Revo3 offers ample capacity for users in media development and management looking for more storage room. Available in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities, the OCZ RevoDrive 3 provides incredible performance for data warehousing, applications, multimedia files, and operating systems with the superior durability, energy efficiency, and reliability of SSDs.” |
The big thing here is the VCA setup, it allows for TRIM support as well as supporting the SCSI command set. A lot of VCA is aimed at enterprise people, but there are two big things that it gives the normal desktop users. TRIM combined with insane drive speeds, and multiple flash array controllers on/in a single card. We’ll talk a bit more about VCA in the testing section. You also get SMART monitoring, something generally lacking in PCIe drives as well as RAID setups.
TRIM is a feature that prolongs drive life and performance by mopping up chunks of data that are no longer in use and allowing the flash controllers to skip organizing the now useless data. In practical terms, TRIM keeps the drive running at full speed for much longer than otherwise possible. The biggest downside to TRIM is that very few RAID controllers support it, which means that the kind of data throughput that the RevoDrive3 is claiming to have only possible to get at the cost of TRIM. This is why I’m excited to see TRIM support on the RevoDrive3.
One of the key words in OCZ’s description is “workstation”, the RevoDrive3 isn’t really aimed at home desktop users. By and large home desktop users don’t put nearly as much stress on their storage system as a workstation type system dealing with lots of large files.
Ok now for the full specification list:
- Available in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities
- PCI-Express Gen. 2 x4 interface
- MLC NAND flash
- Full height form factor
- OCZ SuperScale Storage Controller
- Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0
- Bootable as a direct-attach device
- 128-bit & 256-bit AES-compliant data encryption
- SMART monitoring
- 167.64 (L) x 98.42 (W) x 15.25mm (H)
- Weight: 114g
- Shock Resistance: 1500g
- Operating Temp: 0°C ~ 70°C
- Ambient Temp: 0°C ~ 55°C
- Storage Temp: -45°C ~ 85°C
- Power Consumption: 7.5W idle, 8.3W active
- MTBF: 1,000,000 hours
- 3-Year Warranty
- Current OS Supported: Windows 7 32/64
120GB Max Performance
- Read: Up to 975 MB/s
- Write: Up to 875 MB/s
- Max Random Write 4KB (Aligned): 120,000 IOPS
240GB Max Performance
- Read: Up to 1000 MB/s
- Write: Up to 900 MB/s
- Max Random Write 4KB (Aligned): 130,000 IOPS
480GB Max Performance
- Read: Up to 1000 MB/s
- Write: Up to 925 MB/s
- Max Random Write 4KB (Aligned): 130,000 IOPS
Part Numbers
- 120GB: RVD3-FHPX4-120G
- 240GB: RVD3-FHPX4-240G
- 480GB: RVD3-FHPX4-480G
We have the 120GB flavor here today, and yes that really does say 975MB/s read and 875MB/s write. Those are some mighty big numbers!
Note the Supported OSs however: Windows 7 or forget it. The proprietary controller used on the RevoDrive3 requires special drivers, and OCZ has not made drivers for any OS other than Windows 7. Run Linux? Tough. Windows XP? Nope!
There is an individual who has modified other OCZ drivers to work with the RevoDrive3 in Linux, but I was unable to make them work.
In my mind this is a serious oversight.
Now lets check out the box and the drive.
