OCZ RD400 SSD review: This lightning-fast drive is OCZ’s redemption - schroederront1998

At a Glimpse

Expert's Rating

Pros

Blazingly fast
Works with M.2/PCIe or PCIe slots via adapter

Cons

Expensive compared to SATA drives

Our Verdict

If you have an M.2 slot that supports PCIe and a motherboard that will boot from an NVMe drive, the RD400 is unrivaled of the quickest storage options presently available.

Extolment, OCZ. You hindquarters ejaculate out of concealment now—no longer are you defined away the bargain-basement Trion line and Toshiba TLC NAND. The RD400 signals that every last is again as it should be in OCZ-land. This M.2 PCIe-NVMe SSD reaches a read f number of 2.1GBps, meaning the company is once again shipping products that pursue the limits of carrying out. Thank goodness.

M.2 SSD variations

M.2 SSDs span three distinct types: SATA, PCIe-AHCI, and PCIe-NVMe. The first uses the SATA bus that some M.2 sockets implement, and is no quicker than 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. The advantages are minute size and convenience. The some other two types use M.2's PCIe channels (not all M.2 slots have them) and vary only in the transport protocol: the older AHCI, operating theater the newer NVMe. (The RD400, arsenic mentioned earlier, uses NVMe.) In just about designs up to now, AHCI can knack with NVMe when written material, at around 1.2GBps, only NVMe is far faster at reading. You'll usually get 2GBps or more with NVMe compared to AHCI's range of 1.1GBps to 1.4GBps.

rd400 aic front — The RD400 along its x4 PCIe adapter.

Take note that even if your M.2 slot supports PCIe, your motherboard's BIOS must sustenanc NVMe to reboot from an M.2 PCIe-NVMe driving force. Most execution motherboards have been upgraded for this, but many mainstream models have not. Older PCIe-AHCI M.2 drives are far many likely to be hassle-free boot drives.

Testing and carrying out

The RD400 tested just a tad slower than its rival, the Samsung 950 Pro, in AS SSD's sequential tests. It say at about the same 2.1GBps, merely was just about 200MBps off the pace writing. That may sound like a lot, because the dip from 1.4GBps to 1.2GBps is about a 15 pct drop-off. But at those speeds, the conflict is subjectively unnoticeable.

In the 4K threaded tests, the RD400's results were the inverse of the 950 Pro's. OCZ's new drive nearly doubled the 950 Pro's writing, but fell wellspring short of its contende's read speed. If you're running an application that scattershots small writes, then the RD400 power be the improved prize. For applications that read from doubled files at the same time, then the 950 Pro volition be what you want. However, threaded file writing is sol new to the game that few applications are designed to take advantage of it.

Note too that this review's results were obtained using a beta number one wood, as we did our testing anterior to the product's launch.

The RD400 is quite bit faster than M.2 PCIe drives from previous generations, like the PCIe-NVMe Samsung SM951, as well A PCIe-AHCI drives like the Samsung XP941 and Kingston's HyperX Predator.

We tested the RD400 along both the bundled x4 PCIe adapter and the M.2 PCIe slot integrated on our test motherboard. Performance was precise consistent in AS SSD's 10GB mental testing, simply there were variances of several one C MBps in the 1GB test from lead to run. We'ray guessing that the cause is the beta driver ill-used for examination, but it could live caching techniques. Regardless of the conclude, it's still a very fast parkway.

AS SSD Benchmark Chart (4K Read / 4K Write)

Performance caveats

Part of the carrying out magic of SSDs is being healthy to write via multiple paths to three-fold chips. We tested the 512GB version of the RD400, which can reach 2.1GBps for show upper and 1.3GBps for indite stop number. The 1TB version is rated for the same. However, the 128GB version of the RD400 is rated for half of that write speed, and the 256GB reading approximately iii-quarters. They read at roughly the same speeds as their larger siblings.

Toshiba is notoriously reticent about providing information on the controller and NAND—but my surmisal is the NAND is either MLC, OR TLC being treated in and of itself.

Warranty and price

All flavors of the RD400 carry a warranty of five years and 74TBW (terabytes written) for every 128GB of capacity. Hearsay has IT that this drive should exceed that estimate, only even if IT doesn't, that rating's calm down on equality with competing drives.

rd400 front — The RD400 itself is an M.2 PCIe SSD that can personify used in any information processing system with an M.2 slot, or a PCIe time slot when used with an adapter.

NVMe drives still cost quite a bit to a higher degree SATA models, but given the tripled speed, it's a relatively small price to pay. The 128GB variation of the RD400 is $110 (86 cents per GB), the 256GB version is $170 (66 cents per UK), the 512GB version $310 (61 cents per GB), and the 1TB rendering $740 (77 cents per GB). Add $20 to those prices if you want the version of the drive that comes with the PCIe adapter we used during examination.

Final thoughts

If your system supports NVMe, spend the money. Yes, if you opt for a normal SATA SSD, you'll be pleased. Just if you opt for an NVMe SSD, you'll be amazed. It really is the unsurpassable performance upgrade you can buy, bar none.

As farthermost as the RD400 is afraid, puzzle out with 256GB mental ability or better, unless you're truly strapped for cash. The 512GB version is the odoriferous spot in price-per-gigabyte and as wel offers the best operation.