{"video_id":"mXesFGM5kCs","title":"OCZ RevoDrive PCIe 4x RAID SSD Solid State Drive Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2011-05-08T14:53:29Z","duration_s":297,"segments":[{"start_s":0.48,"end_s":8.48,"text":"but then I wouldn't have anywhere to put stuff. Okay, today we're going to be unboxing the OCZ Revo drive. This is a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.839,"end_s":12.24,"text":"bootable PCI Express solid state drive. It offers unmatched performance. It is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":10.24,"end_s":17.199,"text":"sandforce driven. It runs off PCI Express Gen 2 X4 and it has internal","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":15.36,"end_s":20.56,"text":"RAID zero. So that's all the stuff off the front of the box, which is pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.8,"end_s":25.68,"text":"much all they needed to say about it. It's what they didn't say surprisingly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":23.439,"end_s":30.64,"text":"is that this is actually the first PCI Expressbased SSD that brings the price","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":28.4,"end_s":36.719,"text":"point down to something that would make it actually a reasonable replacement for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":33.84,"end_s":42.48,"text":"a SATA based SSD. So, the Revo drive uses an onboard RAID zero uh PCI Express","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.879,"end_s":45.92,"text":"just basically it's just a little RAID controller chip. I'll uh I'll show it to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.399,"end_s":50.84,"text":"you once we've actually got this open and I can show you the drive itself. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.16,"end_s":57.52,"text":"all it's really doing is it's taking more flash chips and it's running them","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":54.399,"end_s":59.92,"text":"with two controllers and just running it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":57.52,"end_s":65.92,"text":"in RAID zero. And then instead of having to deal with the bottleneck of the SATA","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":62.719,"end_s":68.6,"text":"2 interface, OCZ hooks you up with a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":65.92,"end_s":72.0,"text":"little RAID controller and a PCI Express interface, and that's how you get all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":70.72,"end_s":76.08,"text":"that performance out of it. So, here I'll uh here, hold on. Let's see what's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.84,"end_s":81.2,"text":"included with it first. Uh under here is nothing. comes in nice little package","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.479,"end_s":84.68,"text":"here. Okay, they got a little my SSD is faster than your hard drive, which is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.28,"end_s":89.2,"text":"true. In 99.99999% of cases, SSDs are much faster","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.92,"end_s":97.119,"text":"than hard drives. Here's a quick installation guide. Locate a slot, put it in, how to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":95.04,"end_s":100.56,"text":"boot to the Revo Drive, okay, and installing Windows on your Revo Drive.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.88,"end_s":104.799,"text":"Fairly straightforward. So, the only extra steps you really need to do with a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":102.32,"end_s":108.64,"text":"Revo drive are to configure it to be bootable, which is basically like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":106.64,"end_s":113.6,"text":"configuring any RAID controller to be bootable, and then you just need to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":110.88,"end_s":117.68,"text":"install the RAID controller driver when you're installing Windows, which is uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":115.92,"end_s":122.799,"text":"actually with Windows Vista and Windows 7, dead easy. So, pretty much anyone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.799,"end_s":127.68,"text":"should be able to use one of these for their boot drive. This is a full height","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":124.96,"end_s":133.76,"text":"card, okay? And I'm just going to show you all the main components here. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.52,"end_s":135.2,"text":"first of all, this is Oh, wow. Look at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":133.76,"end_s":140.16,"text":"that. They've actually got a wire soldered on here. So, I guess they made","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":137.28,"end_s":143.84,"text":"a last minute PCB revision. And looks like they actually had to do some custom","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":141.68,"end_s":148.959,"text":"wiring. Now, something to be aware of is that this will not cause any long-term","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":146.4,"end_s":154.08,"text":"effects because really a wire running on the outside of the PCB is exactly the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.44,"end_s":157.68,"text":"same as any other trace or wire running on the inside of the PCB. But I was just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.4,"end_s":163.2,"text":"I was a little bit surprised to see that. Very cool. Okay. So, here we have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.72,"end_s":168.4,"text":"You know what? This may actually be the uh I believe it's a silicon image uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.319,"end_s":175.56,"text":"RAID controller chip. Let me see if it actually says on their box. I hope it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.2,"end_s":178.0,"text":"does because I hate to uh I hate to not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":175.56,"end_s":182.56,"text":"know. Oh well, not a whole lot I can do about it, but I believe this is actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":179.519,"end_s":185.84,"text":"a PCI RAID chip. I believe this chip is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":182.56,"end_s":189.519,"text":"actually a PCI Express to PCI bridge","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":185.84,"end_s":192.56,"text":"chip. And then these are two SanForce","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.519,"end_s":195.28,"text":"SSD controllers. So what happens is the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":192.56,"end_s":200.48,"text":"PCI Express interface here is converted into a PCI compatible signal, but you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.0,"end_s":205.92,"text":"still get all of that bandwidth. Okay, this this one is running RAID between","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":203.44,"end_s":211.2,"text":"the two sandforce controllers. So basically, you see this, okay, we've got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":207.92,"end_s":213.44,"text":"eight here and then eight chips on the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":211.2,"end_s":218.08,"text":"back. So 16 chips. Those ones are running off this sandforce controller.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":215.28,"end_s":221.12,"text":"And then the other 16 chips on the PCB are running off the other SanForce","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.68,"end_s":225.2,"text":"controller. So that means that you get effectively double the total","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.36,"end_s":229.599,"text":"performance, double the total bandwidth out of a Revo drive that you do out of a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.44,"end_s":235.599,"text":"single Sandforce SSD. So basically, if you if you cut this up like this and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":232.64,"end_s":240.319,"text":"then stuck a SATA 2 controller on there, then that that would be it. That would","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":237.36,"end_s":243.599,"text":"be one forcebased SSD. So OCZ with a little bit of extra cost, a little bit","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":241.68,"end_s":248.64,"text":"of engineering knowhow, has turned it into something that you can just plug in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":245.36,"end_s":251.599,"text":"and you're running RAID zero with just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.64,"end_s":254.72,"text":"one thing. Pretty cool. It's not really that different from what they've done in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.799,"end_s":257.919,"text":"the past with the Z drive. The biggest difference is that now it's affordable.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.4,"end_s":263.56,"text":"Anyway, I wouldn't be really doing my job unless I told you what the performance numbers are like. So with 4K","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":261.04,"end_s":270.639,"text":"random rights, they're promising up to 75,000 IOPS. And with uh sustained reads","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.16,"end_s":276.16,"text":"and sustained rights up to 540 megabytes per second read and 480 megabytes per","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.44,"end_s":280.639,"text":"second right peak and then 400 megabytes per second sustained right. So these are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.8,"end_s":284.88,"text":"huge performance numbers and I think we've had a pretty good look at the Revo","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":282.8,"end_s":288.24,"text":"drive. And one thing that OCZ has figured out that it seems like a lot of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.4,"end_s":294.68,"text":"other companies don't is performance parts should have a black PCB. Thank you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.52,"end_s":294.68,"text":"for that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"but then I wouldn't have anywhere to put stuff. Okay, today we're going to be unboxing the OCZ Revo drive. This is a bootable PCI Express solid state drive. It offers unmatched performance. It is sandforce driven. It runs off PCI Express Gen 2 X4 and it has internal RAID zero. So that's all the stuff off the front of the box, which is pretty much all they needed to say about it. It's what they didn't say surprisingly is that this is actually the first PCI Expressbased SSD that brings the price point down to something that would make it actually a reasonable replacement for a SATA based SSD. So, the Revo drive uses an onboard RAID zero uh PCI Express just basically it's just a little RAID controller chip. I'll uh I'll show it to you once we've actually got this open and I can show you the drive itself. So, all it's really doing is it's taking more flash chips and it's running them with two controllers and just running it in RAID zero. And then instead of having to deal with the bottleneck of the SATA 2 interface, OCZ hooks you up with a little RAID controller and a PCI Express interface, and that's how you get all that performance out of it. So, here I'll uh here, hold on. Let's see what's included with it first. Uh under here is nothing. comes in nice little package here. Okay, they got a little my SSD is faster than your hard drive, which is true. In 99.99999% of cases, SSDs are much faster than hard drives. Here's a quick installation guide. Locate a slot, put it in, how to boot to the Revo Drive, okay, and installing Windows on your Revo Drive. Fairly straightforward. So, the only extra steps you really need to do with a Revo drive are to configure it to be bootable, which is basically like configuring any RAID controller to be bootable, and then you just need to install the RAID controller driver when you're installing Windows, which is uh actually with Windows Vista and Windows 7, dead easy. So, pretty much anyone should be able to use one of these for their boot drive. This is a full height card, okay? And I'm just going to show you all the main components here. So, first of all, this is Oh, wow. Look at that. They've actually got a wire soldered on here. So, I guess they made a last minute PCB revision. And looks like they actually had to do some custom wiring. Now, something to be aware of is that this will not cause any long-term effects because really a wire running on the outside of the PCB is exactly the same as any other trace or wire running on the inside of the PCB. But I was just I was a little bit surprised to see that. Very cool. Okay. So, here we have You know what? This may actually be the uh I believe it's a silicon image uh RAID controller chip. Let me see if it actually says on their box. I hope it does because I hate to uh I hate to not know. Oh well, not a whole lot I can do about it, but I believe this is actually a PCI RAID chip. I believe this chip is actually a PCI Express to PCI bridge chip. And then these are two SanForce SSD controllers. So what happens is the PCI Express interface here is converted into a PCI compatible signal, but you still get all of that bandwidth. Okay, this this one is running RAID between the two sandforce controllers. So basically, you see this, okay, we've got eight here and then eight chips on the back. So 16 chips. Those ones are running off this sandforce controller. And then the other 16 chips on the PCB are running off the other SanForce controller. So that means that you get effectively double the total performance, double the total bandwidth out of a Revo drive that you do out of a single Sandforce SSD. So basically, if you if you cut this up like this and then stuck a SATA 2 controller on there, then that that would be it. That would be one forcebased SSD. So OCZ with a little bit of extra cost, a little bit of engineering knowhow, has turned it into something that you can just plug in and you're running RAID zero with just one thing. Pretty cool. It's not really that different from what they've done in the past with the Z drive. The biggest difference is that now it's affordable. Anyway, I wouldn't be really doing my job unless I told you what the performance numbers are like. So with 4K random rights, they're promising up to 75,000 IOPS. And with uh sustained reads and sustained rights up to 540 megabytes per second read and 480 megabytes per second right peak and then 400 megabytes per second sustained right. So these are huge performance numbers and I think we've had a pretty good look at the Revo drive. And one thing that OCZ has figured out that it seems like a lot of other companies don't is performance parts should have a black PCB. Thank you for that."}