 |
Review: Samsung 830 256GB SSD |
Today I'm taking a look at the Samsung 830 series SSD. It
won't have escaped your notice that the Samsung 830 series was launched roughly
one year ago. For various reasons I was not able to obtain a review sample when
the 830 series was launched. Having said that, I am now in a position to bring
you a review of a product that has had time to mature, and also prove its
reliability.
The Samsung 830 series of SSDs has become popular with MyCE
members, and that is hardly surprising as the Samsung brand name has a huge
reputation for reliability, and also for bringing excellent quality products to
the market.
One thing that is very different about Samsung SSDs. They
don't rely on anyone else for components, they are all designed and built
in-house, and that includes the SSD controller, NAND, and even the SDRAM cache.
In this review I will be taking a close look at the 830
series 256GB model, which Samsung were very kind to send me for review. The
retail kit that arrived was actually the notebook kit, but since the desktop
and laptop SSD hardware is identical, and only the supplied accessories vary, I
will be testing the drive in a desktop PC.
So let's see how this SSD performs in our range of tests.
Samsung company information
Samsung should need no introduction, but those of you who
would like to find out more about Samsung, can do so at their website.
The Samsung 830 - 256GB SSD
Now it’s time to take a look at the drive itself and what it
came shipped with.
Packaging
Complete package
Package front
Package rear
Inside the box
The package contained the Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD, SATA
to USB2 adapter, Quick start manual, Software DVD-ROM, and finally a spacer
which allows the 7mm SSD to be mounted in an older laptop.
Samsung 830 256GB SSD
The top of the unit is made of plastic, and looks extremely
nice with its brushed effect.
Drive underside
On the underside of the drive we can see the SATA power and
data connectors, and four drive mounting holes. The bottom of the case is made
from plastic with a metal shield, which also acts as a heat sink for the SSD
controller and NAND. We can also see that the SSD was manufactured in Korea.
Software
The software supplied on the DVD-ROM was as follows.
- Samsung SSD Magician
- Norton Ghost 15
The SSD Magician software covers all aspects of maintaining
Samsung SSDs, and I will cover a few of these SSD maintenance features a little
later in this review.
Now let's head to the next page, where we look in more
detail at the Samsung 830 series SSD.....
A closer look at the Samsung 830 series hardware.
Let's take a look at the hardware found inside the Samsung 830
series SSD.
Inside the case.
PCB topside
As you can see in the above screenshot, the top of the PCB
has no components whatsoever.
PCB underside
On the underside of the PCB we can see eight NAND chips
manufactured by Samsung, the SSD controller, 256MB of DDR2 cache, and finally a
few support components.
SSD controller
Above we can see the SSD controller which is a Samsung
specific (MCX) ARM9 with 3 cores clocked at 250MHz, designated S4LJ204X01- Y040.
There is very little known about this controller, or how the
3 cores are utilised.
Samsung toggle mode 27nm MLC NAND
The NAND onboard the Samsung 830 series is Samsung toggle
mode, with each NAND package having a capacity of 32GB giving a total of 256GB
of NAND flash memory. Samsung have 7% of the NAND set aside as an
over-provisioned area so when the 830 series 256GB model is formatted, the user
is left with approximately 238GB.
Specifications
Drive maintenance features
For Windows 7 users and some distributions of Linux, the Samsung
830 series SSD supports ATA TRIM to keep the NAND clean. The Samsung 830 series
also has advanced garbage collection to clean the NAND during drive idle
periods.
Samsung SSD Magician
The SSD Magician software allows the user to maintain the
SSD, and has the following features.
- System: Allows the user to see system and drive properties.
- Performance Benchmark: Performs a very basic
benchmark on the SSD. - Performance optimization: Performs a manual TRIM of
the SSD. - OS Optimization: Allows operating system features which
can affect SSD performance to be switched on or off. - Firmware Update: Allows the Samsung 830 firmware to
be updated. - Secure Erase: Sends a Secure Erase command to the
SSD, clearing all NAND and returning the SSD back to its factory default
state. - Over Provisioning: Allows the user to set aside a
given amount of NAND as a manual over provisioning area. - Disk Clone: Launches Norton Ghost 15, if the
application has been installed.
Performance optimization
In the above screenshot, we can see the SSD optimization in
action. Note, this will only work with Samsung SSDs.
Performance Benchmark
Once the SSD optimization has completed, a basic benchmark
is run so you can see how the SSD performs after optimization.
The Samsung SSD Magician is an excellent example of how an
SSD toolbox should work. It looks great, works great, and above all is
simplicity itself to operate.
Let’s head to the next page where we take a look at our
testing methods and the review PC.
Test machine
For this review I will be using a computer with the
following configuration:
Hardware:
- Motherboard: Asus P8Z77 V Deluxe (Intel Z77 chipset)
- Processor: Intel 3nd generation Core i7 3770K
- RAM: 16GB Samsung Green DDR3 1600MHz (dual channel)
- GFX: Onboard Intel HD 4000
- Sound: Onboard Realtek ALC898 HD audio controller
- Hard disk OS: OCZ Octane 512GB SSD
- Hard disk storage: 1X 500GB Samsung Spinpoint F3, and 1X 1TB
Samsung Spinpoint F1. - Case: Antec Performance One P280
- PSU: Antec True Power modular 550W
- Display: Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24” widescreen IPS LCD (HDCP
compliant) - Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with Service Pack 1
The Samsung 830 series SSD was connected to the Intel native
SATA 6Gbps (port 0) on the Z77 motherboard of our review PC and all tests on
the drive were carried out with the drive connected to this port.
AHCI mode was also selected for all drives in the UEFI of
our test PC, and all tests were carried out in this mode. The SATA 6Gbps drivers
used on our review PC were the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) Version
11.1.0.1006
Test applications
To test the performance of the Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD,
I will be using the following test applications in this review.
- HD-Tune Pro
- ATTO
- Iometer
- AS SSD
Benchmark - CrystalDiskMark
- MyCE Reality Suite
- Anvil’s
Storage Utilities
Test procedures
I will start off our testing procedures explanation by
stating that I did not run many synthetic benchmarks on the Samsung 830 series SSD.
You may ask why I have run so few synthetic benchmarks?
SSD technology has moved so fast in the last couple of years,
that basic synthetic benchmarks alone are now of very limited use, as they don't
really tell us much about performance and how the drive will behave in the real
world. I have therefore decided to show some basic benchmarks of the Samsung 830
series SSD, and will complement this with advanced benchmarks using IOMeter and
AS SSD benchmark. I will also show how the Samsung 830 series SSD performs in
the real world with our MyCE Reality Suite test.
The reality of SSD performance
While I can easily show you which SSD is technically the
faster, when you use one of these modern SSDs as an operating system drive it
becomes very difficult to tell them apart as far as performance is concerned.
A typical use of a small capacity SSD at the moment is to
have your operating system and applications installed onto the SSD. The
performance difference compared to a traditional HDD is enormous, however when
you start to compare SSD to SSD the difference becomes almost impossible to
detect.
Let’s look at why this is the case.
Drive A can boot to the desktop in 8.11 seconds, and drive B
can boot to the desktop in 8.12 seconds, the difference in time is
milliseconds, and can one really tell the difference?
The fact is, all modern SSDs are only ticking over when they
are only running the OS and launching applications, it’s only when you get to
some of the larger capacity SSDs, with enough free space to be able to hold the
actual data that you’re going to be working with, be that video, audio or
pictures, for example, that you actually get a tangible difference in
performance. This is where the SSDs with the better sequential performance start
to pull well ahead of the SSDs which have lower sequential read/write
performance.
Small file random IOPS vs sequential performance
IOPS
This is a fairly complex subject, but I will do my best to
explain things in a manner that is easy to understand.
The term IOPS is the amount of input or output transactions
that can take place in a one second interval, so for example, if an SSD is
quoted as being able to cope with 20,000 4K random write IOPS, then the SSD
should be able to cope with 20,000 input transactions in a period of one
second. If the same SSD is said to be able to produce 20,000 4K random read
IOPS, then the same SSD should be able to produce 20,000 4K random read output
transactions in a one second interval.
Ok, now we have some figures to work with, the next question
is how many IOPS are actually required?
This will depend on your usage pattern. If you are a typical
desktop user who browses the internet, does some word processing or perhaps
some audio or video editing, and perhaps plays a few games, then in actual
fact, you don’t need to have massive 4K random read/write performance. The
actual amount of 4K random performance that is required for a fast and smooth
running system for a desktop user with a usage pattern similar to the above
will be well under 1,000 4K IOPS.
On the other hand, if the SSD is being used for running a
large and complex database server, then 4K random performance is the absolute measurement
of how fast that server will run, as this type of application does most of its
input and output transactions in the 4K domain.
So why would I need an SSD with 80,000 4K IOPS for a
desktop?
In fact you don’t need this type of performance for a desktop,
but an SSD which is capable of coping with 80,000 4K IOPS will be faster than
an SSD which can only cope with 20,000 4K IOPS.
OK, I just said if under 1,000 4K IOPS are actually required
for typical desktop usage, why is an SSD with 80,000 4K IOPS faster than an SSD
with only 20,000 4K IOPS, confused?
You may ask, if I only require 1,000 4K IOPS surely the rest
is wasted?
While you may never need 80,000 4K IOPS, IOPS is all about
latency. The reason that an SSD can cope with as much as 80,000 4K IOPS is
because latency in this domain is very low. With 4K files, even if you require
to process 500 of them at the same time, you are not talking about a huge
amount of data, it has far more to do with how long it takes the SSD to process
a single file, and the amount of time required to process a single 4K is all
about how long it takes for the SSD to access or store that data before it can
move on to the next transaction.
In other words an SSD with 80,000 4K IOPS performance will
handle those 500 files faster than the SSD with 20,000 IOPS.
So how will a desktop user even notice this faster speed if
so little 4K random IOPS and data are actually used?
Multitasking is a good example. The more tasks you run at
the same time, you more you will notice the speed difference.
Sequential performance
I have always maintained that sequential performance was
every bit as important as small random file performance for a desktop SSD. Some
highly regarded people on other sites found this statement quite funny a couple
of years ago when I made it, but my, how times have changed in the world of SSD
reviewing.
To me this was always so obvious for a desktop user. For
example, let’s say you want to launch an application or game. Both have some
fairly large files to load, and also a great many small files, but the point
is, even the smaller files are sequential in nature. Now let’s say you’re into
audio or video editing. Video files tend to be huge, and the files are written
or read sequentially. Isn’t this how many users are using their PCs these days?
Summary
So how does this shape up in the real world? Which is
better, massive 4K IOPS or massive sequential performance?
In an ideal world you want both, as an SSD with massive
random 4K IOPS and sequential performance will always be faster than an SSD
that has high sequential performance and moderate 4K random IOPS performance,
and the same applies to an SSD that has massive 4K random performance and
moderate sequential performance. The SSD which has high performance in both
patterns will always be the faster SSD.
However, you can still have an SSD that is very fast for
desktop use that has moderate random 4K performance and massive sequential
performance, the same can be said about a drive having massive random 4K
performance and moderate sequential performance, as it is about getting the
balance right if you have to compromise on one or the other.
Test drives
- 500GB Samsung SpinPoint F3 (HD502HJ) HDD
- Plextor PX-256M2S SSD
- Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB SSD
- OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD
- Intel 510 series 120GB SSD
- Crucial M4 256GB SSD
- OCZ Octane 512GB SSD
- Plextor PX-256M3 256GB SSD
- OCZ Vertex 4 512GB SSD
- Kingston Hyper X 3K 240GB SSD
- SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD
- OCZ Agility 4 256GB SSD
- Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD
- Samsung 830 256GB SSD
Drive preparation for running the tests
All the SSDs used in this article were in a clean and fresh
state when the testing period started. From then on, each drive had to rely on
its own NAND cleaning effectiveness for the remainder of the tests.
For the sake of clarity, I now only include SATA 6Gbps SSDs
in these tests, and all were connected to the native Intel SATA 6Gbps (port 0)
of my motherboard for these tests.
- The spinning HDD drive was defragged before the start of
each test.
- All SSDs and the HDD used in this article had their
partitions aligned to the Windows 7 x64 defaults.
Where I use graphs in this article to display results, I
will use the following colours to make it easier, for our readers to see which drive
we are reviewing.
Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD
Comparison SSD
Comparison HDD
Now let's head to the next page, where I look at some
basic benchmarks...
Synthetic Benchmarks
HD Tune Pro
In this benchmark I am checking sequential reading speed.
With an average sequential reading speed of 508.6 MB/s the Samsung
830 series is showing an excellent turn of speed.
Let's see how this compares to other recently tested SSDs in
the table below.
Although there is not a big difference in the sequential reading
performance of the top eight contenders, the 830 series finishes the test in
sixth place.
ATTO disk benchmark
ATTO has become a standard tool for measuring the data
throughput of HDD and SSD. It measures the performance of reading and writing,
using different file sizes and block sizes.
The reading speed results on the Samsung 830 series are
extremely impressive, topping out at nearly 548 MB/s, and writing speed is also
very good topping out at nearly 413 MB/s.
CrystalDiskMark 3.0
Crystal Disk Mark is quite a handy benchmarking application,
as it focuses on the file sizes that can cause a problem on a system drive.
As we can see from the above screenshot, sequential reading
and writing speeds are excellent, and random read and write speeds, especially
at higher queue depths are very impressive.
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD benchmark is a benchmarking tool specifically
designed to test SSDs. The application tests sequential reading and writing
performance, 4K random reading and writing performance.
AS SSD benchmark also tests 4K threaded performance. This is
very exciting, as this test is the first available test that I am aware of,
that simulates how a PC operating system actually works. A modern PC and OS,
such as Windows Vista/7 does not just run a single thread at a time, it runs
many threads. The AS SSD benchmark "4K 64Thrd" tests run 64 threads
simultaneously throughout the test. If this result is good, then you can be
pretty sure the drive will perform extremely well as a system drive.
After the tests complete, AS SSD benchmark derives a total
score for the drive being tested. This is based on all aspects of the test
results, and gives an indication of how the drive is performing overall.
Now let’s look at the result from the Samsung 830 series in
the form of a screenshot. All our other comparison drives’ results are
presented in the form of a graph.
The Samsung 830 series is showing good performance in the AS
SSD test run, and finishes the test in fifth place.
Summary:
The Samsung 830 series has performed well in the basic
synthetic benchmarks. Random reading and writing performance is excellent, and
not to be outdone, sequential reading and writing speed is also very good.
However, as we have learned over the years, synthetic benchmarks don't really tell
us much about how an SSD will perform in the real world. So let's wait and see
how the Samsung 830 performs in the real world a little later in this article.
Let's head to the next page for our IOMeter test
results.....
I/O Performance
There is little point of having an SSD drive that has
blazing sustained reading and writing speeds, if the drive can't handle reading
and writing of small random files. If you intend to use your new SSD drive to
store and run your operating system, then the drive must be able to cope with
the many small random files that Windows will write to the drive continually.
So I feel it is very important to test how many of these random files that a
drive can handle in one second. I believe that anything over 1,000 I/O’s per
second would be enough for most users running a consumer grade mainstream PC,
and should provide a smooth running system. But obviously, the more I/O's that
a drive can handle, the faster the drive will feel and leave more headroom for
those huge multitasking sessions that users sometimes engage in.
The things that I will look at are the total I/O per second and
total MB/s.
Partition alignment and sector boundaries
Windows 7 and Vista will automatically align a partition to
4k boundaries during partition creation, Windows XP won’t. It is imperative
that an SSD’s partition is aligned. Windows XP is also restricted to sector
boundaries, while Windows 7 will use 4k boundaries if it can. The Samsung 830
series is 4k boundary aware, and will use these boundaries if possible. Of
course it will also remap LBAs for compatibility with the sector boundaries so that
the drive can be used with Windows XP.
IOMeter allows us to set the sector boundaries for
conducting the tests, and I have therefore set the sector boundaries at 4K,
which means the IOMeter tests are valid for Windows 7 and Windows Vista users.
XP users will not be able to obtain such results.
I will provide a screenshot of the tests on the review drive
for those of you who like to see the actual test result. All the comparison
drive results are represented in the form of graphs.
If any of you would like to see a screenshot from any
IOMeter test on a particular drive, please feel free to request one, and I’ll
post the screenshot in the forum thread.
All the IOMeter tests create a 10GB data set on the target
drive, and each test is run for a duration of 3 minutes.
IOMeter 4K random write test with repeating data.
The first test involves creating continual 4KB random files
on the target drive with IOMeter. I use a 4KB file size, as it is believed that
Windows will create and modify many of this size of file constantly in the
background during a typical Windows session. It is said that most 4K random
writes take place at a queue depth of only one, and I have been requested to
include this test in my reviews.
Queue depth 1
Samsung 830 series SSD – 4K random write (QD1)
At 122.24 MB/s the Samsung 830 series is showing excellent
performance at this queue depth, and is the fourth fastest SSD in this test.
Our next test involves creating continual 4KB random files
on the target drive with IOMeter. I use a 4KB file size, as it is believed that
Windows will create and modify many of this size of file constantly in the
background during a typical Windows session. I will use queue depths of 4 and
32 for these tests.
Queue depth 4
Samsung 830 series (Queue depth 4)
At a queue depth of 4, the Samsung 830 series performance is
good, but is left behind somewhat by the newer SSDs.
Queue depth 32
Samsung 830 series (Queue depth 32)
Once again the Samsung 830 is being outgunned by the newer
SSDs in this test.
IOMeter 4K random write test with fully random data.
This test is exactly the same as the test above except that
the test data is fully random and is therefore much more difficult to compress.
This test was requested as SandForce based SSDs gain a lot of performance by
being able to compress data on the fly. While the above test shows the
SandForce based SSDs in a best case scenario, the following test will show the
SandForce based SSDs in a much more realistic scenario.
Queue depth 4
Samsung 830 series SSD – 4K random write (QD4 with fully random data)
Although the Samsung 830 pays no penalty when writing data
which is incompressible, it's still some way behind in this test, and finishes
in sixth place.
4K random write queue depth profile
For this test I used various queue depths from 1 – 32 to
give you an idea how this SSD performs at different queue depths. For a normal
desktop user for lightweight multitasking, the queue depth will rarely rise
above 2. For heavy multitasking, the queue depth is unlikely to rise above a
value of 8.
The result is below.
While the Samsung 830 can't compete with many SSDs with regard
to 4K random write, it does reach peak performance at low queue depths, which
is very important for a desktop SSD.
Below I present a table of the results in more detail.
IOMeter 4K random read test.
If there are many 4k files created, then that must also mean
that many 4k files need to be read. This test measures 4k reading performance.
It is said that most 4K random reads take place at a queue
depth of only one, and readers have requested that I include this test in my
reviews.
Queue depth 1
Samsung 830 series SSD (Queue depth 1)
The Samsung 830 series is performing well in this test, and finishes
in the middle of the pack.
Queue depth 4
Samsung 830 series SSD (Queue depth 4)
With a higher queue depth the 830 series really starts to
motor, and finishes this test in fifth place.
Queue depth 32
Samsung 830 series SSD (Queue depth 32)
With a high queue depth the 830 series is performing
extremely well, and is third fastest SSD in this test.
4K random read queue depth profile.
This test shows how the review drive scales with increasing
queue depths.
Below I present a table of the results in more detail.
If we look at the Samsung 830 series 4K random read
performance in detail, we can see that as queue depth rises, the 830 scales
very well indeed.
IOMeter 512KB write test with repeating data.
Sequential writing performance is also very important; in
this test sequential writing performance is measured.
Samsung 830 series 512K
Sequential write with repeating data
The Samsung 830 series has good sequential writing
performance, but with data that is easily compressed by the SandForce based
SSDs, it can't quite keep pace. However, it is still performing very well
indeed.
IOMeter 512KB write test with fully random data.
This test is exactly the same as the test above except that
the test data is fully random in nature. This test was requested as SandForce
based SSDs gain a lot of performance by being able to compress data on the fly.
While the above test shows the SandForce based SSDs in a best case scenario,
the following test will show the SandForce based SSDs in a more realistic light.
In the real world, the data is neither 100% incompressible nor 100%
compressible, it is somewhere in between. So please keep this in mind.
Samsung 830 series SSD – 512K sequential write with fully random data
With data that is not so easy to compress, the SandForce SF-2281
based SSDs take a big hit in performance. On the other hand, the Samsung 830
series is performing extremely well, finishing this test in third place.
IOMeter 512KB sequential read test QD1.
This test measures 512k sequential reading performance at
very low queue depths.
Samsung 830 series SSD – 512K sequential reading test QD1
The Samsung 830 series has exceptional sequential reading
performance at very low queue depths, and is very comfortably the fastest SSD
in this test.
IOMeter 512KB sequential read test (dual threaded).
This test measures 512k sequential reading performance QD2.
Samsung 830 series SSD – 512K sequential reading test QD2
At a more realistic queue depth the Samsung 830 series is still
showing excellent sequential reading performance, and is only marginally slower
than the Corsair Neutron GTX.
IOMeter Workstation simulation (outstanding I/Os = 64).
When running applications you will find that there is a
mixture of small random files, and larger sequential files, being created and
read. Not only that, it isn’t just one file at a time. In this test I measure a
simulated workstation pattern, with a queue depth of 64 (threaded).
Samsung 830 series SSD – Workstation simulation
The workstation simulation has proved to be a bit of task
for the Samsung 830. It's still performing well in this environment, but it
can't keep pace with many of the other SSDs in this test.
Summary
Overall the Samsung 830 series SSD has done very well in the
IOMeter tests. Being nearly one year old, the Samsung 830 is starting to show
its age a little bit, but nonetheless, it is still showing an excellent turn of
speed in the IOMeter tests, with reading performance in particular being very
strong.
Now let’s head to the next page where we will look at how
the Samsung 830 series SSD performs using a brand new benchmarking
application....
Anvil’s Storage Utilities
As well as performing SSD endurance tests. Anvil’s Storage
Utilities has a very nice SSD benchmarking application. The SSD benchmark tests
many different aspects of SSD performance, including 4K random at different
queue depths, and also sequential performance, but more importantly than this,
all using real test data.
Another very nice feature of Anvil’s SSD benchmark is the
fact that you can change the compression levels of the test data. The
compression levels of the data sets used for the tests can be varied from 0%
compression right up to 100% compressed data, and there are even a few data
profiles already included, such as database (8%) compression, and also an
application profile (46%) compression, which is designed to simulate real
application data being read and written to the SSD.
Anvil’s Storage Utilities is still in beta at the moment,
but the application is currently solid enough to use in this article, and I have
already verified the results obtained using an SATA analyser.
I will include a screenshot of the review drive, and all
comparison results will be presented in the form of graphs. If you would like
to see screenshots of the test results obtained on the other SSDs in this
article, you can do so by following the link here.
I will also be testing three different compression profiles,
which are as follows.
- 0 fill (100% compressible data)
- Application simulation profile (46% compressed)
- 100% (non compressible data)
So let’s begin the tests.
0 fill
Samsung 830 series 256GB (0 fill)
Total score
Writing score
Reading score
In the 0 fill test, the Samsung 830 is about middle of the
pack.
Application profile
Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD (application profile)
Total score
Writing score
Reading score
The application test pattern is much more realistic in terms
of the type of data that real users will use, and in this case the 830 series
is performing well, finishing the test in eighth place.
100% incompressible
Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD (100% incompressible)
Total score
Writing score
Reading score
With test data that can't be compressed at all, the Samsung 830
series 256GB SSD is once again doing well in this test, but can't quite keep
pace with the newer SSDs.
Summary
One should keep in mind that although Anvil’s Storage
Utilities SSD benchmark is a very good benchmark, and tests many aspects of SSD
performance, ultimately it is demonstrating which SSD is technically the
fastest, and this may not be showing (for example) which drive will be fastest
in the real world with a home user's work pattern.
The Samsung 830 series has performed well in these tests,
but is up against some very stiff competition which ultimately has more grunt.
Now let's head to the next page for some real world tests....
It has become clear that simply conducting endless
benchmarks on SSD drives is pointless. Real users may run a few benchmarks when
they first fit their SSD drive, but most users just want a drive that performs
well in the real world. They want their drive to work "out of the
box" and work fast and smoothly.
Most of the latest SSD drives can deliver very fast
sustained reading and writing speeds, but these alone tell you very little
about how the drive will perform in the real world.
If you intend to use your SSD as your primary system drive,
with an operating system and applications installed and running from the drive,
real world performance becomes much more important than just fast sequential
read and write speeds.
Real world copy
tests
I will now conduct a few real world copy tests. These tests
simulate what real people do with their drives. I will be conducting writing
tests, using a large single file and a multiple file copy of various file
sizes. Then I will round off the tests by copying a folder of MP3 audio files,
and also a folder of JPG pictures.
I should point out that this is not a scientific way of
measuring performance. These timings were taken with a stop watch; I have
however ensured that the reading drive is well able to supply a data stream to
our writing drive, which is high enough not to be slowing down the performance
of the writing drive.
I will once again be comparing the obtained results with our
comparison drives, and will present the results in the form of graphs.
Multiple file copy writing test
For this test I copied the Nero Burning Rom install folder
from our review PC to the OCZ RevoDrive X2 240GB SSD, and then copied the
contents from the RevoDrive X2 to the Samsung 830 series SSD and our other
comparison drives.
Our test copy contained 1,772 files of various sizes with a
combined capacity of 307MB.
The Samsung 830 series is showing excellent performance, and
is in third place in this test.
Single large file writing test (7.95GB)
For this test I used a single DVD9 ISO file which had been
copied to the OCZ RevoDrive X2 240GB SSD. The file was then copied to the Samsung
830 series SSD and our comparison drives.
The large ISO file contains quite a lot of incompressible
data which is quite a handicap to the SF-2281 based SSDs. Incompressible data
is no problem for the Samsung controller, and the 830 series is showing
excellent performance.
Write a folder of JPG picture files.
For this test I copied a folder of JPG picture files from
our OCZ Vertex 3 SSD to the Samsung 830 series SSD, and our other comparison
drives. The folder contained 3,714 JPG pictures, with a total capacity of
5.16GB.
Once again, the Samsung 830 series is showing excellent
performance, and finishes this test in third place.
Write a folder of MP3 audio files.
For this test I copied a folder of MP3 audio files from our
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD to the Samsung 830 series SSD and our other comparison drives.
The folder contained 851 MP3 audio files, with a total capacity of 3.85GB.
This time the Samsung 830 series is in fourth place,
although it's still showing excellent performance.
Summary
We already know the Samsung 830 series has very good writing
performance, and basically these tests are based on writing performance. What
these tests do show is that even in the real world the Samsung 830 series maintains
this very good writing performance.
Single drive copy tests
These tests are to simulate a single drive in a PC or
laptop. In other words, I will copy a series of files from one folder on the
tested drive to another folder on the same drive. This means the drive is simultaneously
reading and writing during the tests. I also want to make this a realistic test,
so I have used a folder of MP3 music files, and then repeated the test with a
folder of JPG picture files.
Single drive copy tests – 851 MP3 song files (3.85GB total)
With this test that SSD has to read and write data, and what
this test does show is that the Samsung 830 series has excellent performance,
finishing the test in second place.
Single drive copy tests – 3,714 JPEG picture files (5.16GB total)
Once again, the Samsung 830 is showing excellent
performance, and finishes this test in third place.
Windows start-up and closedown
For these tests, I simply used a stop watch and tested the
amount of time taken for a full installation of Windows 7 to boot to the
desktop, and then timed how long it took for Windows 7 to close down by the normal
start menu method.
The timing was started once the BIOS had initialised and
reached the “loading OS message”.
Windows 7 boot time
Windows 7 closedown
There is very little difference in the time taken to boot
Windows 7 between the modern SATA 6Gbps SSDs, and the same applies to the time
taken to shut the PC down.
Installing applications
Installing applications is possibly something you don't do
that often. But should you replace your system disk, then you will most likely
have to re-install your applications. Most of the SSD drives I have tested up
until now are quite slow at installing applications, most likely because their
I/O performance was quite limited.
For these tests, we picked some popular applications and
copied the entire contents of the CD or DVD media to an OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD.
We did this to make sure that the reading speed of our CD/DVD reader would not
hamper the performance of the target drive.
We then installed these applications onto our comparison HDD
drives, which were all running mirror image installations of our Windows 7 Home
Premium 64-bit installation, and timed the amount of time taken to install the
application with a stopwatch on each of the drives.
MS Office 2007 Professional (full install)
MS Office is one of those applications that make you cringe
at the thought of re-installing it.
Let's find out how our drives coped with the MS Office 2007
full install.
The Samsung 830 series showed a very good turn of speed when
installing this large office suite, and finished the test in fifth place.
Adobe Fireworks CS3
Adobe Fireworks CS3 is another popular package. Let's find
out how our drives coped with installing this application.
There isn’t a huge margin in the amount of time taken to
install this application with our modern SSDs. However, the Samsung 830 series
finishes in third place in this test.
Summary
Our real world tests, though not scientific in nature, I
feel are more realistic than simply running benchmarks. What is clear from these
tests is that the Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD has very good performance in the
real world.
Let’s check out application and game loading performance
on the next page of this article.....
These tests are very simple tests, but very important to some
users of SSD drives.
We simply started an application or game, and measured the
time taken for the application or game to fully load and start.
Application loading times
Adobe Fireworks CS3
These types of tests are becoming pretty pointless, as there
is so little difference in tangible performance between the modern SSDs.
However, the Samsung 830 loads this large application the fastest.
Corel PaintShop Pro 12
Again, I doubt anyone could tell difference from the fastest
to the slowest modern SATA 6Gbps SSD, as they are all very close, but for
posterity the Samsung 830 series is marginally the fastest.
Games loading times
FAR CRY 2
Again the Samsung 830 is marginally the fastest.
F.E.A.R. 2
This time the Samsung 830 series is equalled by the Corsair
Neutron and the OCZ Vertex 4.
Summary
By now it's is becoming very clear that the Samsung 830
series has excellent performance, and its excellent low queue depth sequential
reading speed is paying a handsome dividend.
Now let’s round off this article with the MyCE Reality
Suite tests on the next page.....
MyCE Reality Suite (storage).
So what is the MyCE Reality storage test?
The MyCE Reality Suite of tests is made from real everyday
applications and real data, there are no simulated tests, and everything is in
the real world. The only thing that's synthetic is that everything is automated
to make the tests fair, no matter which drive the tests are run on.
Recorded user sessions, by means of a script, are used to launch
the applications, load data, edit data, and then finally write that data back
to the target drive. The scripts do load the system much more than a human
could with these tests, as the scripts do not make mistakes, or pause to think
about what has to be done next.
Measurement system (revision 2)
The measuring system is part hardware and part software. The
hardware is proprietary and under an NDA, but what I can tell you is: The
measuring system can now accommodate SATA2, SATA3, and USB3.
Testing method.
Once all the test data files were complete, they were then
copied to a single folder. I then fitted an old 80GB HDD into the PC and did a
clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium x64. The latest hardware drivers were
installed and Windows update was run to install any new updates that were
available up to 08/01/2012. At this point the applications that were to be used
in the tests were installed and updated with the latest patches.
The folder containing the application test data files was
then copied over to our fresh Windows 7 HDD. The drive was cleaned up and then
the four test scenarios were recorded, with the scenario playback data file
which will run each test scenario saved to the desktop. A drive snapshot was
then taken of the complete HDD and the drive snapshot image copied to a second
HDD for safe keeping.
The image is then simply restored to each of the drives on
test. In the case of SSDs the partition is then realigned “on the fly” and for
SSDs that support TRIM, the free space is filled and then deleted to force
TRIM. All other HDDs and SSDs in the system are then disconnected to make sure
the complete test can only run on the drive I am testing.
A 20 minute settling time is allowed before the tests are run,
then each of the 4 tests is run and the results gathered. This process is
repeated for each of the drives I am testing.
The test scenarios are as follows.
- Graphics content
- Video editing
- Audio import and compression
- Application multitasking
Let’s begin the tests.
MyCE Reality Suite – Graphics content.
Using ACDSee Pro 3, 100 JPG pictures with an average size of
10MB are imported into the ACDSee library, and then 12 of these JPG files are
then selected for a batch process, of resize, compress the quality to 80%, and
finally write the edited pictures back to the drive. The test is approximately
78% read and 22% write.
The Samsung 830 series has done extremely well in this test,
and finishes the test in third place.
MyCE Reality Suite – Video editing.
Using Vegas Pro, a 14GB HD MPEG2 video stream is loaded into
the editor, from which 2 segments are then cut and pasted into new segments. There
is a lot of disc caching going on in this test, and the test is approximately
55% read and 45% write.
Once again the Samsung 830 series is showing excellent
performance.
MyCE Reality Suite – Audio import and compression.
Using Sony Sound Forge 10, a batch process is run consisting
of 30 24bit (192000 Hz sample rate) .wav files, and 100 16bit (44100 Hz sample
rate) .wav files are imported and then converted to MP3 audio files with a bit rate
of 128kbps, and the converted files are written back to the drive. The test is
approximately 72% read and 28% write.
Yet again the Samsung 830 is performing extremely well, and
finished this test in third place.
MyCE Reality Suite – Application multitasking.
For this test I used several popular applications, Microsoft
Word 2007, Microsoft Access 2007, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft Outlook 2007,
Adobe reader, Adobe Photoshop CS3, uTorrent, Windows media player, and Internet
Explorer 9.
This session runs for approximately 12 minutes. The test is
started by downloading a Linux distribution via uTorrent, Windows media player
is then opened, and a 1080p video file is opened and played for the duration of
the test. Microsoft Outlook is opened and any new emails are received, read,
then replied too, a document in Adobe reader is opened and scrolled from start
to finish, 3 Microsoft Word documents with graphics content are opened, browsed
and some sections of the documents are copied and pasted into a forth document
and then saved back to the drive. The same applies to Microsoft Access and
Excel. 100 MP3 files are imported into Windows media library. Six JPG images
are loaded into Adobe Photoshop and some minor editing is done and the files
saved back to the drive.
Finally, Internet Explorer 9 is opened with 10 tabs, and the
contents of the 10 tabs refreshed, and browsed while the other applications are
busy in the background.
I would describe the multitasking pattern as moderate to
heavy.
During this test there is approximately 85% reading and 15%
writing.
With queue depths higher in this test the Samsung 830 series
is doing very well, but is ultimately outgunned by the newer SSDs in this test.
Summary
I firmly believe that the MyCE Reality Suite gives a very
good overall picture of how a drive can perform in the real world, and in this
case, the Samsung 830 series is clearly an extremely fast SSD in the real world.
What is even more remarkable is, the Samsung 830 at least according to the
synthetic benchmarks, should not able to live with the real heavy weights in
the shape of the Corsair Neutron and the OCZ Vertex 4, but in the real world it
most certainly does.
Now let’s head to the next page, and see how well the
drive performs after heavy use....
Speed degradation after heavy testing
On this page I will test how the SSD performs after heavy
testing and usage, and also how the SSDs perform when the amount of data stored
on the SSD increases.
I now have a new policy as to how I go about testing an SSD.
In the past I would deliberately try and get an SSD into a “used state”, by
filling the drive several times before starting the tests. This seemed to work
quite well up until the SandForce based SSDs appeared, but because of the way
the SandForce controller works, it was near impossible to tell if deliberately
trying to get a SandForce based SSD into a “used state” had actually worked or
not.
A new strategy was required. So now I begin the tests with
the SSD in a clean state and allow it to look after itself during the testing
period. I start off the tests by running AS SSD benchmark. This gives me the
“as new” reading and writing performance of the SSD.
Once all the tests have been completed, the drive is then
tested as a system drive, and just used normally for many days which will also
includes idle time (which is something I have always done with a review
sample). At the end of the period, the drive is filled to capacity and then all
files are deleted from the drive and then a “quick format” is performed.
The last test is a rerun of AS SSD benchmark, and the result
from the final test is compared with the first run when the SSD was in an “as
new” state.
Let's find out.
New state 20/09/2012
Used state 24/09/2012
With 1.98 Terabytes of data already written to the drive
during a testing period of just four days, one would have expected the
performance to have dropped off slightly, but this was not the case. Admittedly
the testing period and the amount of data written to the SSD was not as high as
normal, but nevertheless the Samsung 830 has not slowed down at all, which
would suggest that the 830 is very good at maintaining performance.
Filling up the SSD with data
For obvious reasons, when an SSD is tested, the drive is
always tested as a spare drive, and is generally always empty (no data on the
drive) during the synthetic benchmarks. There is no other way of having a level
playing field for all the SSDs under test. This of course changes during the
real world tests we conduct here at MyCE.com.
Real users of course don't buy an SSD for it to remain
empty, and how full the SSD will eventually become varies from one user to the
next. What I thought would be useful is to run tests on the SSDs with real data
on the drives, and at different levels regarding how full the drive is.
For these tests the SSD is connected as a spare, and I test
at three different levels.
- Level 1: There an operating system installed on the
SSD, and all the applications that I use are also installed. In my case
that amounts to approximately 53GB of data on the SSD. - Level 2: The SSD is filled to 60% of its formatted
capacity. - Level 3: The SSD is filled to 80% of its formatted
capacity.
For the 60% and 80% tests, the type of data varies from
compressible to incompressible data, and file sizes range from a few Kilobytes
to very large files of several Gigabytes, then a single run of Anvil's SSD
Benchmark is run (100% incompressible).
It is also worth noting that the larger capacity SSDs will
tend to slowdown less than their smaller counterparts, as the larger SSDs will
have more free NAND available to work with.
Level 1: Operating system and applications installed.
Samsung 830 series 256GB - Operating system and applications installed.
Level 2: SSD filled to 60% of its formatted capacity.
Samsung 830 series 256GB - Filled to 60% of the drive's formatted capacity.
Level 3: SSD filled to 80% of its formatted capacity.
Samsung 830 series 256GB - Filled to 80% of the drive's formatted capacity
In the graph below, I present the results.
As we can see, as the SSD fills with data the drive slows
down slightly. The slowdown is not a large one by any means, but the drives do
slow down a little when filled with data.
This concludes our review. To read the final thoughts and
conclusion, click the link below....
Final thoughts and the conclusion
User experience
A modern operating system such as Windows 7 rarely does one
thing at time; it processes hundreds of threads at once. Just take a look at
the processes and services that are running in task manager for an idea of how
much is going on, even with the PC idling at the desktop. When you start
running applications on top of this, the workload increases in line with the number
and type of applications you are running. It’s also fair to say that many of
these processes are already loaded into system RAM, but many are also loaded into
and unloaded from RAM from the system drive as and when they are required.
The fact of the matter is this. If you are running a mainstream
or high end modern PC with a powerful CPU and graphics card, and are still
running a traditional HDD as a system drive, regardless of how fast that HDD
is, it is still bogging the system down substantially. It has long since passed
the stage where one can meaningfully debate if an SSD is really faster than a
traditional HDD. The fact is they are, and not just by a little bit: they are
much faster.
If we look at the 4 basic requirements for a really fast
SSD, they are as follows.
- Small file threaded performance needs to be high.
- Small random file performance needs to be high.
- Sequential read and write speeds needs to be high.
- Fast access times.
The Samsung 830 series SSD has all of the above attributes,
and feels as snappy as any other SSD I have tested this year.
Stability
I have only had the Samsung 830 series SSD for a few days,
so it’s not possible to comment on the drive's long term reliability. However,
the Samsung 830 series of SSDs has been around for about a year, and already has
a proven reliability record.
The Samsung 830 series is as “plug n play” as it gets. There
are no special tweaks needed other than simply making sure that AHCI SATA mode
is enabled in the system UEFI (BIOS), and installing the latest Intel RST SATA
drivers if you want to get the best performance and compatibility out of this
SSD.
Long term testing on the Samsung 830 series begins now, and
I will report back if I should encounter any reliability issues with the SSD.
Conclusion:
Let us summarise the most important positive and negative
points below:
Positive:
- Silky smooth operation as a system drive.
- Outstanding sequential reading performance.
- Excellent 4K random writing performance at low queue depths.
- Excellent 4K random reading performance at low and high queue
depths. - Excellent SSD Magician software.
- SATA 6Gbps support.
- TRIM support under Windows 7.
- Ultra fast access times.
- Excellent price.
- Completely silent operation.
- Fast operating system start-up and shutdown times.
- 3 year warranty.
Negative:
- Nothing to mention.
To sum up, this is what I
would say:
Throughout this review, the Samsung 830 series has gone head
to head with the best and the fastest SATA SSDs currently available. The Samsung
830 series is getting a little bit long in the tooth, yet it still gives the
newer SSDs a good run for their money.
I feel the key to the Samsung 830 series real world
performance is the 830 performance profile, which is undoubtedly optimised for
desktop use, and in this usage scenario the Samsung 830 performs extremely
well. Its excellent low queue depth sequential reading performance ensures the
Samsung 830 is one of the fastest SSDs at launching applications and games.
Writing performance is also of a very high standard, both
small file random performance, and sequential is more than enough to make sure
the 830 never feels sluggish, and as I already stated, its performance profile
is spot on for a desktop PC.
Price
As I write this article, I found the Samsung 830 series 256GB
SSD available for £153.90
including VAT, making the Samsung 830 excellent value.
For our USA readers, I found the Samsung 830 series 256GB
SSD at Newegg
for $219.99
The prices in Euro are derived from the current UK pound to
Euro exchange rate.
|
Model |
User capacity |
Price |
Cost per GB |
|
|
|
£153.90 |
£0.65 |
The parting sentence is
“The Samsung 830 series 256GB is an excellent performer,
with a proven reliability record, and also superb value for money”.
You may comment on this review below.
Thanks to:
|
|
EFD Software for |
|
|
Alex |
|
|
