Patriot Wildfire 120GB review

Performance Analysis

AS-SSD’s incompressible data is the worst-case scenario for SandForce-based SSDs, so it’s good to see the Patriot Wildfire account so well for itself in this test. The sequential read speed of 519MB/sec matched that of the OCZ Vertex 3 240GB, as did the sequential write speed of 246MB/sec.

The sequential write speed is still a long way off the 550MB/sec sequential write speed claimed by Patriot, and is also less than the 294MB/sec we saw from the Vertex 3 with its old firmware. With the new firmware applied, the Vertex 3 was even slower than the Wildfire. This seems to be a trend of the 'fixed' firmware (see our note on page 1 for more details).

The Wildfire’s performance does differ, and quite substantially, from the Vertex 3 240GB when it came to random 4KB incompressible performance though. With its v2.09 firmware, the Vertex 3 has dropped random write performance in preference of random read speed, particularly under heavy multi-threaded load.

With 4KB single-threaded random reads, the Wildfire managed a speed of 20MB/sec, which is a little slower than the Vertex 3. The 4KB single-threaded random write speed of 106MB/sec was much better, proving the Wildfire’s claims of improved random performance. In the same test the Vertex 3 with its latest firmware produced just 100MB/sec.


In the 64-threaded 4KB random read and write tests, performance was very different between the two drives too. The difference between the old and new versions of Vertex 3 firmware was interesting, as it dropped a wedge of 64-threaded 4KB random write speed performance in favour extra read speed.

Meanwhile, the Wildfire bears more in common with the Vertex 3 as it first shipped, with a 64-threaded 4KB random read speed of 189MB/sec and a write speed of 200MB/sec.

In the ATTO benchmark, which uses compressible data, making it a best-case scenario for a SandForce based SSD, the WildFire displayed much the same performance as the Vertex 3. With a 1,024KB sequential read speed of 545MB/sec and a 1,024KB sequential write speed of 505MB/sec, the Wildfire performed exactly as we’d expect a SandForce SF-2281 SSD to in this test: crazy fast.

However, the updated Vertex 3 edged the Wildfire out in these headline benchmarks. Its read speed was 2MB/sec faster while its write speed was 8MB/sec faster.

TRIM Performance

The new Vertex 3 firmware has also improved TRIM support. The Vertex 3 initially suffered a decrease in sequential write speed after use, from 290MB/sec to 240MB/sec. However, this latter speed seems to be a SandForce drive’s nominal sequential write speed now, with the Wildfire reporting much the same performance after heavy use as it did fresh out of the box.

Conclusion

It’s tough for SSD partners to differentiate their products from those of their rivals. Apart from the branding and shiny casing, each SandForce SF-2281 drive is going to be inherently similar. The job is nowhere near as straightforward as making a GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB graphics card unique, for example

Patriot should be given credit then for aiming for the top of the market, looking to match OCZ’s Vertex 3 MAX IOPS drive thanks to its 32nm Toshiba NAND. However, this switch of NAND raises the price £30, and we saw little extra performance for this price premium.

Perhaps the Wildfire’s greatest challenge is how active Patriot will be regarding firmware updates. In the past, Patriot has released firmware updates for its drives, but as OCZ is SandForce’s preferred partner, its drives will typically receive updates before the rest of SandForce’s partners. While we’ve found SandForce SF-2281 based drives to be perfectly stable regardless of firmware version, we’d imagine those willing to spend £230 on 120GB of storage will also be the sort of person that wants their new purchase to be its best.

Regardless of its firmware update schedule though, we’re not convinced by the Patriot Wildfire. A Vertex 3 120GB can be had for £30 less, with similar hardware and performance, that's the drive we'd opt for.