Patriot Pyro SE 240GB & Wildfire 240GB SSD Review

1. Introduction2. Patriot Wildfire SSD 240GB3. Patriot Wildfire SSD 240GB (Super High Res Gallery)4. Patriot Pyro SE 240GB5. Patriot Pyro SE 240GB (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology7. CrystalDiskMark8. ATTO Disk Benchmark9. AS SSD10. PCMark 711. IOMeter12. Real World Testing13. Closing Thoughts14. View All Pages

The Solid State sector has been thriving in 2011, with a plethora of low cost models available to suit the mainstream audience. The high end enthusiast sector is significantly more demanding, with manufacturers working around the clock to get the maximum performance from their latest drives. Today we are looking at two of the latest high density drives from Patriot – the Wildfire 240GB and the Pyro SE 240GB. If maximum throughput is your top priority then you won't want to skip this review.

Kitguru has looked at the 120GB Wildfire and 120GB Pyro in the past, and we already have high hopes that these 240GB models will provide a similar experience.

The Pyro ‘SE' (Special Edition) is the latest release from Patriot to attract the high end enthusiast audience. This Special Edition features high quality synchronous NAND flash memory which will further enhance overall levels of performance. It has full support for TRIM and features DuraClass and DuraWrite technologies. Patriot are keen to focus on attracting as many people as possible, so they are offering the new range at very competitive pricing. The recommended cost in the United Kingdom will be £99.99 for the 60GB, £155.00 for the 120GB and £355.00 for the 240GB.

The Wildfire has been the flagship product for Patriot since it was released and is still for sale in the United Kingdom. Initially this drive cost in excess of £400, but stores such as Amazon have reduced the price to £365 inc vat.

Today we will be looking at both drives and analysing how they slot into our long term performance charts.

The Patriot Wildfire 240GB Solid State drive ships in a menacing black box with the capacity clearly seen in red bottom right of the box.

The Wildfire 240GB drive ships with a 3.5 inch drive adapter and some mounting screws, which can be useful for installation into some chassis.

The drive is housed in an attractive black chassis with red accenting.

The Patriot Wildfire 240GB uses MLC NAND (32nm) flash memory – which are Toshiba TH58TAG7D2FBA89 branded – both sides of the PCB are populated. We know that Patriot have used Toshiba TH58TAG802FBA89 memory before in the same drive. 16GB of the total memory is reserved for data parity (8GB for RAISE), block replacement and garbage collection.

The Sandforce 2281 controller can access eight separate NAND channels, and two NAND modules are placed on each channel. The controller is marked as ‘SF-2281VB1-SDC’.

The Wildfire uses the DuraWrite algorithm which delivers on the fly compression for improved overall performance. Patriot rate this particular drive as capable of delivering sequential read & write transfer speeds of 555MB/s read | 520MB/s Write.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

The Pyro SE 240GB drive is shipped in a bright orange and black box, a contrast to the black and red colour scheme of the Wildfire drive.

No 3.5 inch drive adapter with the 240GB Pyro drive, but you get a thin product overview.

The Patriot chassis designs are bright, colourful and very stylish.

The Patriot Pyro SE 240GB uses MLC NAND (32nm) flash memory, both sides of the PCB are populated. Patriot have opted for Micron 29F128G08CFAAB flash which we have seen used on the Crucial M4 256GB drive in the past.

The Sandforce 2281 controller can access eight separate NAND channels, and two NAND modules are placed on each channel. The controller is marked as ‘SF-2281VB1-SDC’.

The Pyro SE uses the DuraWrite algorithm which delivers on the fly compression for improved overall performance. Patriot rate this particular 240GB drive capable of delivering sequential read & write transfer speeds of 550MB/s read | 520MB/s Write (The 60GB model is rated @ 550MB/s Read | 500 MB/s write).

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

For testing, the drives are all wiped and reset to factory settings by HDDerase V4. We try to use free or easily available programs and some real world testing so you can compare our findings against your own system.

This is a good way to measure potential upgrade benefits.

Main system:

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k
Cooler: Thermaltake Frio OCK
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Memory: ADATA DDR3 2000mhz 9-11-9-24
PSU: ADATA 1200W
Graphics: Sapphire HD6950 Flex Edition
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit Enterprise
Monitor: Dell U2410

Other Drives (used in Core i7 2600k system above):
MemoRight FTM Plus 240GB SSD
Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD
OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 480GB
Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSD OCZ Agility 3 240GB
OCZ Vertex 3 240GB
OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS 240GB
ADATA S511 240GB
Intel 510 120GB
Corsair F100 100GB
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
Crucial Real SSD C300 64GB
MemoRight FTM.25 115GB SSD
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB

PCIe drives test system:

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB HDD/SSD &
OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 480GB Test System:
CPU: Intel Core i7 990x @ 4.8ghz
Cooler: Corsair H100 Performance Liquid Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Black Edition
Memory: 12GB Kingston DDR3 @ 1600mhz 9-9-9-24
PSU: ADATA 1200W
Graphics: Nvidia GTX580
Chassis: Lian Li X2000F
Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit Enterprise
Monitor: Dell U2410

Software:
Atto Disk Benchmark
CrystalMark
IOMeter
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call Of Pripyat

All our results were achieved by running each test five times with every configuration this ensures that any glitches are removed from the results. Trim is confirmed as running by typing fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify into the command line. A response of disabledeletenotify =0 confirms TRIM is active.

Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0.1 x64.

Both drives are closely matched with incompressible data, although the Pyro 240GB SE slightly edges overall performance.

The drives slot in right at the top of the chart, close in performance with the OCZ Vertex 3 and Vertex 3 MAX IOPS drives.

When we enable the alternative ‘compressible’ setting called ‘0×00 fill', the performance results increase dramatically, especially write performance.

Above, some compares with other leading Solid State Drives released this year. You will notice the Patriot Pyro 120GB drive in the images, 4K QD32 read performance is significantly lower than the new Pyro 240GB SE model.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

Very strong performance results, and very closely matched with the top 4 or 5 drives we have tested this year. Without factoring in the high end OCZ RevoDrive/Hybrid products, the ADATA S511 240GB still holds the performance balance, but in the real world you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between any of the top rated units.

Above, some leading Solid State drives from other manufacturers to compare against.

AS SSD is a great free tool designed just for benching Solid State Drives. It performs an array of sequential read and write tests, as well as random read and write tests with sequential access times over a portion of the drive. AS SSD includes a sub suite of benchmarks with various file pattern algorithms but this is difficult in trying to judge accurate performance figures.

Fantastic overall results, placing both drives at the top of the performance chart as shown above. The WildFire 240GB drive has the overall performance edge thanks to the 4k-64Thrd read test result (242.32 MB/s), but other areas (seq write, 4k read) show the Pyro SE 240GB winning.

Above, some comparison results from other leading solid state drives.

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

Both drives deliver very high performance results in all the tests. The Pyro SE has a very minor performance advantage when the software takes all the results into the overall score.

IOMeter is another open source synthetic benchmarking tool which is able to simulate the various loads placed on hard drive and solid state drive technology.

We use a custom Kitguru configuration for 4k random write to measure performance.

Clearly Patriot have optimised the new Pyro SE 240GB for random write performance as indicated by IOMeter above. In reality, both results are fantastic. Patriot claim the new 240GB Pyro SE drive can deliver a score of 85,000 IOPS with a 4k aligned test.

It doesn’t matter how good any of the synthetic suites are, the real meat of the testing has to be under absolute real world conditions. This proves difficult as to record results we have to narrow down fluctuation. Therefore while we would say these are the most useful results to get from this review, there is always going to be a slight margin for error – its not absolutely scientific.

Firstly we installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Edition onto each of the drives and performed a clean update from Microsoft with all patches and security fixes. We then install a basic suite of software, such as Office, Firefox and Adobe Design, then we install AVG free antivirus. We used a digital watch for this startup and repeated the test five times for each drive – once we had these five results we averaged the results and took that for the final figure.

Both drives are right up with the class leaders, scoring 22 seconds.

No performance concerns with this test, keeping up with the ADATA S511 and MemoRight FTM Plus 240GB.

Patriot have proven that they can really compete in the solid state market … all the drives we have tested in recent months have been able to hold their own against the market leading OCZ products. Today we have analysed both Wildfire 240GB and Pyro SE 240GB drives, comparing them against each other and leading products from competitors.

The Wildfire SSD is Patriot's Flagship product and I use a 120GB model in my own system at home. It has been flawless for the last 3 months and performance hasn't degraded at all, even under heavy use. It can deal exceptionally well with compressible, or incompressible data … never dragging down system responsiveness.

When it was initially released it was very expensive, retailing in the United Kingdom at around £420 inc vat. Thanks to the competitive market several months later many stores have dropped their prices and one of the finest deals is at Amazon, for only £364.99 inc delivery.

I have had plenty of experience with this drive and feel today that it offers greater value for money, thanks to the aforementioned price reductions. The 240GB model offers similar performance when compared directly to the 120GB unit, which is class leading. If you have a requirement for incompressible data throughput then this is a fine first choice.

Other drives we would consider would be the OCZ Vertex 3 240GB MAX IOPS and the ADATA S511, depending on online prices at time of purchase.

Pros:

• Class leading performance.
• Price has dropped in recent months.
• highest quality Toshiba NAND flash.
• Very good with both incompressible and compressible data.

Cons:

• None.

Kitguru says: Should be right at the top of your shortlist, especially after recent price drops.

The Pyro SE 240GB is an interesting product. Patriot have taken the older Pyro drive and have re-engineered it with Micron 29F128G08CFAAB synchronous NAND flash. This has helped to improve overall performance and to bring it almost right up to the performance level of the flagship Wildfire 240GB drive.

We have tested the new Pyro Special Edition solid state drive in a variety of synthetic applications and under intensive real world situations. Patriot have clearly tweaked the controller for improved IOPS performance as the results are much better than the previous model. With our custom 4k random write test it managed to outperform the Wildfire 240GB model, by a small, but noticeable margin.

It would be difficult to find fault with the drive, especially with a competitive retail price of £350 inc vat. The product has yet to go on sale in the United Kingdom, but after speaking with DABS it should be listed within the next week.

Our only minor concern is that the price of the 240GB Wildfire drive has dropped by £60 in recent months so both Pyro SE 240GB and WildFire 240GB may end up in a head to head battle for sales.

Pros:

• Much improved over the previous model.
• Quality Micron memory.
• Very good with both incompressible and compressible data.

Cons:

• Might end up in a price battle against the WildFire 240GB model.

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