Intel X-25M 80GB SSD Review

IOMETER

IOMeter is heavily weighted towards the server end of things, and since we here at HWC are more End User centric we will be setting and judging the results of IOMeter a little bit differently than most.

To test each drive we ran 5 test runs per drive (1,4,16,64,128 que depth) each test having 8 parts, each part lasting 10 min w/ an additional 20 second ramp up. The 8 subparts were set to run 100% random, 80% read 20% write; testing 512b, 1k, 2k,4k,8k,16k,32k,64k size chunks of data. When each test is finished IOMeter spits out a report, in that reports each of the 8 subtests are given a score in I/Os per second. We then take these 8 numbers add them together and divide by 8. This gives us an average score for that particular que depth that is heavily weighted for single user environments.


The X-25M is a monster when it comes to IOMeter results and it actually is so much better that it crams all the others at the bottom of the graph. This is far from an easy test, yet the X-25M makes it look easy by posting monster numbers.

IOMeter Stutter Test

In our usual IOMeter test we are trying to replicate real world use where reads severely outnumber writes. However, to get a good handle on how well a Solid State Drive will handle a worse case scenario (and thus how likely the dreaded stutter issue will happen) we have also run an additional test. This test is made of 1 section at que depth of 1. In this test we ran 100% random and included 100% writes of 4k size chunks of information. In the .csv file we then found the Maximum Write Response Time. This in ms is worst example of how long a given operation took to complete. We consider anything higher than 333ms (one third of a second) to be a good indicator that stuttering may happen, with the higher the number the longer the duration of the stutter will most likely be.


When it comes to predicting stutters, there is good news and mediocre news when it comes to the X-25M. The good news is the average write time is amazingly good; the mediocre is .322 of a second is only mediocre at best. It is still good enough to minimize stutters from happening (and this drive does do a heck of a lot more in a second than most drives do in 5) but more importantly we have a sneaking suspicion that this number is going to stand as the gold standard for MLC SSDs for the next while as well. Only time and more SSDs will prove to us one way or the other but to us these numbers are good enough to earn a pass from us.