OCZ RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD (480 GB) Review – Incredible Performance Reaching 1800 MB/s

Today, Technology X has the opportunity to check out a different style of solid state drive, the OCZ RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD. Last week we played with the Samsung XP941, a slightly different form factor from the RevoDrive 350, but much the same concept in terms of performance and function. While the XP941 is designed with the smaller form factor in mind, as well as being a native PCIe SSD for your system, the RevoDrive 350 is geared towards an essential storage device for your workstation computer that requires greater and more consistent performance.

It has been a busy few months for OCZ, but the release of the RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD marks the completion of the Toshiba transition. All OCZ products now use Toshiba premium NAND memory modules, which really emphasizes the fact that they are a “Toshiba Group Company”. Let’s take a closer look at the newest PCIe SSD!

WHAT IS A SOLID STATE DRIVE?

If you have never heard of a solid state drive before, or an SSD, then you may be in for shock as to how much time you have wasted waiting on your computer’s hard drive. To briefly explain, a solid state drive is a storage device that is found within your computer and will hold all of your data, including your operating system, pictures, videos and documents. The largest difference between your hard drive and a SSD is the fact that SSD’s increase your system’s speed immensely, never mind that they also come with a bunch of other features that make them far superior to that of a hard drive. If you are interested in learning more, then we encourage you to head over to our big-sister site, The SSD Review, and take a look at our ‘Learning To Run With Flash’ series.

OCZ REVODRIVE 350 PCIE SSD SPECIFICATIONS

The OCZ RevoDrive 350 will be available in 240, 480 and 960GB capacities, while read speeds have been listed to reach up to 1800 MB/s and write speeds can reach up to 1700 MB/s for the two larger capacities. The 240 GB capacity has been listed to reach up to 1000 MB/s read and up to 950 MB/s write. What is really amazing about this drive, which also speaks to OCZ’s reliability as a manufacture, is the warranty. OCZ has listed the endurance for the RevoDrive 350 at 50GB/day of host writes for 3 years, under typical workloads.

Check Out another independent Revo 350 PCIe Review at The SSD Review!

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

OCZ has listed the RevoDrive 350 to have a MSRP of $529.99 (240GB), $829.99 (480GB) and $1299.99 (960GB). Of course, with the extreme increase in performance, the increase in pricing is understandable. Check out Revo 350 Pricing!

OCZ REVODRIVE 350 PCIE SSD COMPONENTS

The RevoDrive 350 comes in a larger package, similar to which you find a motherboard packaged in. The PCIe SSD itself is stored in a plastic housing to protect the drive.

The PCIe SSD features four LSI SandForce 2282VB1 controllers that utilizes VCA 2.0 Technology. VCA 2.0 technology allows for the controllers to essentially work as one unit rather than four. It also enables TRIM, firmware updates, secure erase and SMART to function more effectively, while delivering more efficient performance.

The RevoDrive 350 features 32 Toshiba MLC NAND modules (TH58TEG7DDJBA4C), with 16 modules found on either side of the PCB. With the 480 GB capacity featuring 32 NAND modules, each module can store up TO 16GB. Check any SSD specs at the complete SSD Database.

Also found on the PCB is OCZ’s integrated internal storage controller, which has seen success with OCZ for a few years now. This is also the main component that is attached to the large heat sink, that helps dissipate heat more efficiently.