OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB PCIe SSD Review

[Apoptosis]

OCZ gave everyone a hint of things to come at Computex 2011 with a sneak peak of the third generation of the RevoDrive. We've been impressed with our previous encounters with this SSD line and this time is no different as we give the RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB PCI-E SSD a test drive. Is it fast? Well, how does 1500MB/s reads grab you? Oh yeah, there's TRIM support too!

I'll just start off here by saying the OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 is one very impressive drive. Not that we expected anything else. Reads of 1500MB/s and writes of 1250MB/s are numbers inconceivable for a single drive just a few years ago. However, the real highlights here are that OCZ has managed to boost performance to nearly double that of its predecessor and in the process, add support for TRIM - which is a welcome improvement. Changing the configuration by shedding the RAID controller and employing the SuperScale storage controller and VCA 2.0 (Virtualized Controller Architecture) technology is a substantial refinement to the drive design...

Article Title: OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB PCIe SSD Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1645/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $1699.99 MSRP

[gwolfman]

Sweet review, thanks!

Joe/Nate, what do you make of these statement with regards to Win7 TRIM support?

The other major problem with the RevoDrive 3, and unfortunately one that won't be solved in the near future is that although the drive supports TRIM - Windows 7 won't pass the command to the drive. Apparently this is a current limitation that impacts all SCSI/SAS controllers and it's something that only Microsoft can fix.

Unfortunately, although the RevoDrive 3 X2 does feature VCA 2.0, like its predecessor, it's still missing TRIM support. The SuperScale controller employs SCSI commands over PCIe, and TRIM is an ATA command. That helps explain why OCZ employs StorPort SCSI drivers. Alright, so what about the SCSI Unmap command? Unmap is to SCSI (or SAS, in this case) what TRIM is to the ATA command set. But Windows 7 doesn't include the Unmap command as part of its native driver stack.

[FZ1]

The literature passed to us from OCZ says the drive does support trim:

VCA 2.0 is the only virtualization layer in the industry with TRIM and SCSI Unmap Support to
enhance sustained performance by significantly reducing the overhead associated with garbage
collection.

Utilizes OCZ proprietary VCA 2.0 (Virtualized Controller Architecture) which provides features including TRIM and SMART data monitoring. This follow up to VCA presents as a complete storage subsystem, but with an improved and expanded feature-set allowing users unprecedented flexibility and industry-leading performance and reliability.

As far as Windows not supporting it for this drive...that's news to me and not info that was provided to us.

[gwolfman]

The literature passed to us from OCZ says the drive does support trim:

VCA 2.0 is the only virtualization layer in the industry with TRIM and SCSI Unmap Support to
enhance sustained performance by significantly reducing the overhead associated with garbage
collection.

Utilizes OCZ proprietary VCA 2.0 (Virtualized Controller Architecture) which provides features including TRIM and SMART data monitoring. This follow up to VCA presents as a complete storage subsystem, but with an improved and expanded feature-set allowing users unprecedented flexibility and industry-leading performance and reliability.

As far as Windows not supporting it for this drive...that's news to me and not info that was provided to us.

Hopefully they get it figured out quickly. Even though I can't afford this drive now I'd like the option of a PCIe drive in the future.

[Apoptosis]

I just talked to OCZ and they said that the RevoDrive 3 does support TRIM, but it only works in Linux.

Though the Revo3 card supports TRIM, because the architecture is based on SCSI, the Microsoft Windows StorPort architecture currently does not support either TRIM or SCSI UNMAP. As such, these commands are not generated by the OS, which of course prevents VCA from executing them. We are working with Microsoft to have this functionality enabled as soon as possible.

They also said that it was discovered after they sent the drives out and during the WHQL certification process...

[Tator Tot]

Considering the intended market for these drives; Linux is appropriate for the support (since most SAN/NAS solutions as well as HPC Machines use Linux or Unix as the OS and not Windows.)

[albatorsk]

I just talked to OCZ and they said that the RevoDrive 3 does support TRIM, but it only works in Linux.

Actually, the RevoDrive 3 doesn't work at all in Linux. They've fitted this board with a custom SAS controller, not like the older RevoDrives which used a SiL3124, I believe. This custom SAS controller does not have any driver for Linux. And what's worse is that they don't plan to make any, either.

[vbironchef]

That sounds like a wonder drug that can't pass the FDA. Why make the product if most people can't afford it and the drive does not support trim? We should wait for more info. and do a another review when it's really ready for mainstream.