OCZ SSD 64GB ‘Core series’ Solid State Disk

Windows Bootup Time

Quite a simple and self explanatory test. We took each of the three disks, installed a fresh copy of Windows Vista SP1 on to them and measured the time each took to boot into the Windows desktop and display the Welcome page. To ensure that the tests were fair and that Windows has fully completed installing all devices, the results were recorded after three initial reboots.

 
 
 
Game Level Loading

With a fresh copy of Vista installed on each hard disk, the final test was to find out if the Windows loading times seen above would also be applicable to the map loading time of a popular PC game. Once again, the test procedure was quite simple: Install Unreal Tournament III, load the game, select a map to play (ONS-Torlan) and measure the time taken from pressing the “Begin” button to the time the map is fully loaded. This procedure was repeated a total of three times on each of the hard disks, with a reboot in between each test to clear system memory.

  
  
Here we see the OCZ Cores series comes into its own, running out joint quickest in the windows boot time and only just being beaten by its older brother and matched by the WD Velociraptor in the game level loading time. I must say at this point that not only was it nice to have a silent boot up and loading of games but the actual loading and boot up ‘seemed’ quicker than it actually was. Placebo effect ?-Who knows but it certainly impressed in this set of benchmarks. However, is this enough? Is the OCZ Core series all it’s hyped up to be? Is it really ready to compete with the best of the best? Read on…