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The SSD market is so flooded right now that it is very hard to pick a ‘must have' drive from the masses available. The results today show that the Patriot Wildfire 120GB is right at the top of the performance pile, thanks to the use of 32nm Toshiba MLC NAND flash, similar to the class leading OCZ MAX IOPS Vertex 3.
In regards to performance alone, this drive easily deserves to be shortlisted with a few others. There is a slight premium to pay for this NAND flash, as the Wildfire 120GB costs £230 inc vat. Looking at our test results, the boost in performance is noticeable, but perhaps not such a big deal in the real world.
If you are in the market for a new Solid State Drive we recommend you shop around online, as there is a little movement on pricing between stores in the United Kingdom. Overclockers for instance are selling the excellent OCZ Agility 3 120gb for £154.99 inc vat. Yoyotech are selling the Corsair Force Series 3 120GB for £154 inc vat. Neither of these are as fast as the Patriot drive, but both utilise the excellent Sandforce 2281 controller. When you compare this to £230 on Dabs for the Patriot 120GB drive, the Wildfire becomes a slightly less tempting proposition.
Giving the Wildfire a final score based solely on price is difficult, especially as this market seems to fluctuate weekly. Retail giant Amazon for instance are selling the Wildfire 120GB drive via one of their partners for £240, yet last week it was £272. There is a good possibility the Patriot drive will drop in price again soon.
We advise you keep an eye on leading retail stores and if the Wildfire 120GB drops in price to around £200 then make sure you give it some serious consideration. There really is no faster 120GB drive on the market right now.
Pros:
- class leading performance.
- build quality and packaging is great.
- 32nm Toshiba MLC NAND flash.
Cons:
- Pricing is currently a little high.
Kitguru says: It is around £70 more expensive than other 120gb Sandforce 2281 powered drives, which makes the slight performance increase difficult to justify.
