Corsair P256 256GB SSD Review

Written by Harry Butler

June 5, 2009 | 10:13

Tags: #128mb-cache #256gb #load-times #p #p256 #performance #review #ssd #tested

Companies: #arm #corsair

HDTach results

Website: HD Tach 3.0

HD Tach

Burst Speed

  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD v8820
  • Intel X25-E 32GB SSD
  • Corsair P256 256GB SSD
  • Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB
  • Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11
  • Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.12
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • OCZ Vertex 120GB v.1.1
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Patriot Warp V.2 128GB SSD
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
    • 262.0
    • 259.3
    • 250.0
    • 249.9
    • 248.8
    • 234.6
    • 234.0
    • 232.8
    • 224.3
    • 224.0
    • 195.5
    • 176.0
    • 175.0
    • 134.0
    • 131.0
0
50
100
150
200
250
MB/s (higher is better)
  • Speed (MB/s)

The Corsair's 1GB DRAM cache gives it a serious advantage here and the drive's burst speed is enough to humble the competing Vertex. In fact it's only the Intel based X25 drives that are able to best the P256 when it comes to burst speed, although the Intel drives pack a diminutive 16MB of cache.

HD Tach

Average Read

  • Intel X25-E 32GB SSD
  • OCZ Vertex 120GB v.1.1
  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD v8820
  • Corsair P256 256GB SSD
  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Patriot Warp V.2 128GB SSD
  • Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.12
  • Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11
  • Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
    • 230.0
    • 221.0
    • 218.4
    • 209.0
    • 165.5
    • 161.5
    • 142.5
    • 140.0
    • 108.5
    • 107.3
    • 106.5
    • 92.8
    • 91.1
    • 89.6
    • 82.1
0
50
100
150
200
250
MB/s (higher is better)
  • Speed (MB/s

Average read is extremely good at 209MB/s, and while admittedly not as quick as the Vertex or X25-M, is still a great deal faster than the previous generation's JMicron based drives.

HD Tach

Average Write

  • Corsair P256 256GB SSD
  • OCZ Vertex 120GB v.1.1
  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB
  • Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.12
  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD v8820
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
    • 164.3
    • 138.9
    • 137.3
    • 134.5
    • 87.7
    • 81.4
    • 81.2
    • 76.8
    • 74.0
    • 62.2
    • 61.2
    • 51.3
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
MB/s (higher is better)
  • Speed (MB/s

The Corsair P256 really shows its abilities when it comes to average write speeds though, HD-Tach reporting a monstrous average write speed of 164.3MB/s. In reality the drive is likely even faster than this, with HD-Tach reporting the P256 to have several deep troughs in its write speed which drag the average down. With such a high average write speed we'll be expecting the Corsair P256 to dominate in our file write and copy tests.

HD Tach

Random Access Time

  • Corsair P256 256GB SSD
  • OCZ Vertex 120GB v.1.1
  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD v8820
  • Intel X25-E 32GB SSD
  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Patriot Warp V.2 128GB SSD
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
  • Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.12
  • Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
    • 0.1
    • 0.1
    • 0.1
    • 0.1
    • 0.2
    • 0.2
    • 0.2
    • 0.2
    • 7.0
    • 7.8
    • 12.5
    • 13.5
    • 14.1
    • 15.0
    • 15.1
0
3
5.5
8
10.5
13
15.5
m/s - less is better
  • Time (milliseconds)

As is to be expected from a high end SSD, the Corsair P256's response time is sub 0.1ms, right up there with the Vertex and Intel X25 drives.
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU