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OCZ Agility 120GB
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Capacity | 120 GB | ||
| Cache | 64 MB | ||
| Rotation Speed | Contrôleur Indilinx Barefoot | ||
| Size | 2.5 inches | ||
| Standard | SATA-2 | ||
Vincent Lheur
Test date: May 19, 2010
Test date: May 19, 2010
OCZ: making performance a priority
Those who take an interest in read and write speeds know OCZ well. Since inception, the company has prioritised performance optimisation, in particular for its memory modules. It therefore made sense for OCZ to move into the SSD market, which it has done with aplomb. While this drive isn't cheap, it gives excellent results.
O.C.Z... three letters which send a shiver down the spines of performance enthusiasts. And to give us even more of a thrill, this US company is bringing us an SSD in four sizes: 30, 60, 120 and 250 GB. Note that on the 30 GB version, OCZ has announced lower performance levels than for the other capacities. Thankfully, we were able to get our hands on the 120 GB version to test that.
Like the other versions, it uses MLC flash memory coupled with an Indilinx Barefoot controller. It links up to your computer via an SATA-2 connector. There's support for TRIM, which is automatically supported by Windows 7 and gives stable performance over time.
Pure performance 
First we use CrystalDiskMark to give us an idea of the drive's performance:
CrystalDiskMark
The results are quite simply excellent. They surpass those for entry and mid-level models by some distance.
The basic IOmeter tests support the first set of results:
IOmeter
With some very small differences, the results are the same as those for CrystalDiskMark.
The average and maximum access times measured for random reads and writes of small 4 KB files in IOmeter:
Access times for 4 KB files
Once again the results are excellent. Only the maximum access time in writes is a little high. This type of difference is sufficiently rare not to damage the overall average, which remains excellent.
We also use IOmeter to simulate use in four different working environments: database, file server, web server and workstation. We add to these a read and write test of small 4 KB files. The results are given in IO/s (inputs-outputs per second):
Profile simulations
No surprises here, performances are very good, near the top-end.
Performance in practice
These performances were measured with PCMark Vantage. They have been evaluated with an overall score and scores for each usage (Windows, Defender, gaming, Windows Vista startup and so on) :
PCMark Vantage
You might think we were on automatic repeat: "performance is excellent...". The results are up to four times better than those for good platter hard drives and twice as fast as mid-range SSDs.
Performance consistency
After 15 minutes of intensive writing of small random files, we took a reading of write performance levels once again, using the same protocol as in the "pure performance" section. The idea is to see if there's a drop in speed, and in what proportion:
Performance consistency before (refreshed) and after (used) intensive use.
Surprise, performance levels are identical, even a bit better and our wear protocol didn't allow us to alter how the drive was running. We should perhaps look into the question further, but speeds for many other SSDs drop right off after this sort of treatment. Once again the OCZ Agility 120 GB does very well.
Pluses
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Excellent performance
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Sustains performance levels well after multiple writes
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Numerous capacities available
Minuses
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Pricey
The OCZ Agility is quite simply an excellent product and constitutes a very good choice.
