SandForce SSD Group Test

Patriot Inferno 100GB SSD Review

Manufacturer: Patriot Memory
UK Price (as reviewed): £284.26 (Inc. VAT)
US Price(as reviewed): $368.28 (ex tax)

Patriot has been making SSDs for a few years now, first producing drives based on JMicron’s JMF 602 controller, Patriot then moved to Indilinx for its TorqX series of drives.

The new Inferno 100Gb is based on the SF-1200 SandForce controller and is loaded with the newest 305A13F0 firmware. The Inferno is near-identical to G.Skill’s Phoenix, sharing the same PCB layout as well as controller and firmware. However, Patriot has chosen Intel NAND to G.Skill’s Samsung.


One thing that does distance the Inferno from the competition is its snazzy red aluminium casing, making it by far the looker of the drives on test. It’s almost a shame to hide it away in your PC, although for that purpose Patriot also provides a 2.5in to 3.5in drive bay adapter.

The stated sequential performance of 285MB/sec read and 275MB/sec write was close to that achieved in ATTO, with the Inferno clocking in at 278MB/sec read and 268MB/sec write. Once again, the uncompressible data of AS-SSD’s sequential benchmark was more of a challenge for SandForce’s controller though, with a 209MB/sec read and 123MB/sec write some way below the stated peak. The latter is even short of the speed of an Indilinx-based SSD.

Random performance was as fast as we expected, with the drive delivering a random read speed of 49MB/sec and a random write speed of 45MB/sec. This performance is in line with the rest of the SF-1200 drives running the standard firmware (unlike OCZ’s Vertex 2 and Corsair’s F100), but still a little behind the Intel X25-M. Random read and write latencies were excellent too, with an average read latency of just 0.23ms and an average random write latency of 0.25ms.

As with all the SandForce SSDs, we saw no performance drop-off after heavy use and TRIMing when the drive was tasked with compressible data, but some when dealing with uncompressible data. However, the Inferno was the best SandForce of those on test at hanging onto write performance with uncompressible data, with a final speed of 90MB/sec rather than 83-7MB/sec.

While the Inferno suffers from similar availability issues to the G.Skill Phoenix here in the UK, with none of the major e-tailers stocking it, availability in the USA is extensive. There’s certainly reason for Patriot to be pushing the Inferno though, especially because the five year warranty is the best of any SandForce SSD we’ve seen, helping to reassure those worried buyers. Considering the massive MTBF quoted by SandForce, we’re surprised that Patriot is the only drive partner offering such a lengthy warranty.

Conclusion

Pricing is a bit of a tougher area for the Inferno, with the £286 price tag £10 more expensive than the Vertex 2 and its faster firmware. The Vertex 2 also ships with a 2.5in to 3.5in drive bay adaptor, and the three year warranty of the OCZ drive is hardly stingy.

To make matters worse, there’s the imminent arrival of 120GB SandForce drives which should offer better value for money, being larger and roughly the same price and speed as these 100GB drives. Patriot should be commended for offering such a lengthy warranty on its drives, and it’s arguable that the extra £10 is worth it if you value that extra two years of peace of mind. Combined with the same excellent performance as the rest of the SF-1200 drives on test and the handy 2.5in to 3.5in adapter, the Inferno is a tidy bundle. If Patriot were to release a 120GB version for the same price, we’d be onto a winner.

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Score Guide

Specifications

• Max Read: up to 285MB/sec
  
• Max Write: up to 275MB/sec
  
• Sustained Write: Not stated
  
• MTBF: 1,500,000+ Hours
  
• Warranty: 5 Years
  
• Formatted Capacity: 93.16GB
  
• Extras 2.5in to 3.5in drive bay adapter
  
• Part Number: PI100GS25SSDR