OCZ Apex 120GB SSD

Written by Harry Butler

February 9, 2009 | 06:48

Tags: #120gb #apex #benchmarks #mlc #nand #performance #review #ssd #testing

Companies: #ocz #samsung

HDTach results

Website: HD Tach 3.0

HD Tach

Average Read

  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD
  • Intel X25-E 32GB SSD
  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Patriot Warp V.2 128GB SSD
  • Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11
  • Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
    • 237.1
    • 230.0
    • 165.5
    • 161.5
    • 142.5
    • 140.0
    • 106.5
    • 92.8
    • 91.1
    • 89.6
    • 82.1
0
50
100
150
200
250
MB/s (higher is better)
  • Speed (MB/s

While some way off of the drive's peak performance the OCZ APex 120GB is clearly a very nippy contender, with average read speeds across the entire storage array of 165.5MB/s, just a little faster than the G.Skill Titan but still someway off the Intel X25-family of drives.

HD Tach

Average Write

  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
    • 137.3
    • 134.5
    • 87.7
    • 78.1
    • 62.2
    • 61.2
    • 51.3
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
MB/s (higher is better)
  • Speed (MB/s

We've only just started testing average write speed across the drive, and unfortunately don't still have every drive we've tested. It's clear however that the OCZ Apex 120GB is able to produce some seriously impressive write speeds, again slightly pipping the G.Skill Titan. It's worth noting just how much faster both the dual disk controller based drives are in comparison to the Intel X25-M though, with the mechanical drives also left in the dust. However, it's important to remember these are only theoretical tests and these speeds don't necessarily transfer directly into real world performance.

HD Tach

Burst Speed

  • Intel X25-M 80GB SSD
  • Intel X25-E 32GB SSD
  • Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11
  • Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
  • OCZ Apex 120GB SSD
  • Seagate 250GB 7200.10
  • G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD
  • G.Skill 128GB SSD
  • Patriot Warp V.2 128GB SSD
  • Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor
  • Seagate 1TB 7200.11
    • 259.9
    • 259.3
    • 248.8
    • 234.6
    • 234.0
    • 232.8
    • 224.0
    • 176.0
    • 175.0
    • 134.0
    • 131.0
0
50
100
150
200
250
MB/s (higher is better)
  • Speed (MB/s)

Rather impressively, the OCZ Apex 120GB's burst speed actually surpasses the drive's quoted maximum speed of 230MB/s and it's competitive burst speed is made all the more remarkable considering it's not fitted with any kind of cache, unlike all the drives placed ahead of it.

HD Tach

Random Access Time

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

Response times are, as per usual for SSDs, very good, with an average response time of just 0.2ms.
Discuss this in the forums

Posted by iwod - Mon Feb 09 2009 08:56

SSD has prove to be that much faster at all. This Number game of Transfer Rate is like Mhz War on CPU all over again.

We need Fusion IO speed at the cost of current SSD. Capacity isn't a problem. 80GB of Main SSD will do, we need HIGH IOPS and HIGHER Random Data transfer......... we need SPEED!!!!!!!

Posted by mclintox - Mon Feb 09 2009 09:19

Interesting but,overall still too expensive no matter how you look at them.If you have money to burn,go for it!

Posted by Darkedge - Mon Feb 09 2009 11:09

we also need lifespan iwod.. SSDs are based on flash which has a finite read write limit. I don't want to have to replace a drive or have it losing capacity the more I use it.

Posted by tank_rider - Mon Feb 09 2009 11:15

Nice review, I guess there is hope for the OCZ drive as a firmware update should allow it to compete with the g.skill one.
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