OCZ Technology Launches the RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS Edition

What could possibly be better than 1.5GB/s throughput from a PCIe-based solid-state drive? How about 1.9GB/s and even more IOPS? OCZ Technology is announcing the expansion of its Max IOPS branding to its already compelling RevoDrive 3 family. As with the Vertex lineup of SSDs, the Max IOPS editions will utilize premium NAND flash to boost overall performance of the drives – and boost, it does.

In tandem with OCZ’s in-house Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0 and premium NAND, 4KB random write performance is capable of attaining 245,000 IOPS, with sequential reads and writes clocking in at 1,900 MB/s and 1,725MB/s respectively. For those curious, the RevoDrive 3 utilizes a PCIe 2.0 4x interface, which means the theoretical maximum for the RevoDrive 3 is 2GB/s. Given the mentioned sequential numbers, OCZ has pretty much maxed out the current interface; thankfully PCIe 8x cards are always an option. Still, at the current pace it won’t be very long before GPUs no longer dominate the top spot in GB/s throughput in the average desktop computer!

For those not familiar with the third generation of RevoDrives, a few important details have changed. Instead of a daisy chain of controller chips (SSD Controller->RAID controller->PCIx-to-PCIe bridge), the RevoDrive 3 utilizes a single 4-port SAS controller with a built in PCIe x4 bridge. Furthermore, instead of the typical RAID setup seen on most PCIe SSDs, the SAS controller runs a customized firmware that distributes IOs to any available SSD controllers.

That has some notable perks over RAID 0 alternatives, such as if one controller/SSD fails the rest of the PCIe SSD will continue to function normally and no other data would be lost. Secondly, SATA commands such as TRIM and SMART attributes can now be passed from the host OS to the individual SF-2281 controllers. Linux already supports TRIM on the RevoDrive 3, but for the time being a patch from Microsoft appears to be required before Windows 7 users get the same treatment.

The RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS will ship in 120GB to 480GB capacities, while the RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS will start from 240GB to 960GB capacities. The former utilizes two SF-2281 controllers, while the X2 denotes an additional daughter card to bring the total to four SF-2281 controllers. OCZ indicates these new drives should be available globally soon and will include a full three year warranty.