Early on in their debut, Solid State Drives were planned as included equipment on new computers coming from tier one manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Apple. In one way or another they made good on their word, but the inflated price for these premium options made SSDs a distant reality. This situation created the perfect condition for a enthusiastic upgrade market. Not surprisingly, manufacturers went after the individual consumer after losing traction with mass system builders, and upgrade kits became the obvious solution for many enthusiasts. Kingston is well known for manufacturing their own memory products, but when it came to the new SSD technology they turned to proven sources such as Samsung. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 64GB SATA-II MLC SSD SNV225-S2/64GB.

Benchmark Reviews recently reviewed the SilverStone SUGO SST-SG06B Case, and supplied with that product was the SST-SOD01 kit. As was mentioned in that review, the case supports only slim optical drives. The SST-SOD01 slim drive kit we received is actually the Panasonic UJ-875A Slim Optical Drive manufactured for SilverStone. Since many of you will undoubtedly be looking to purchase the SUGO SG06 case or another small form factor case, you will need a slim optical drive. Benchmark Reviews offers for your consideration the Panasonic UJ-875A 8X DVD +/- RW Slot Loading Slim Optical Drive with SATA interface and DVD-Burner capabilities.

Until 2009, Solid State Drive (SSD) popularity was only growing in the elite enthusiast circles. Then along comes the Indilinx Barefoot chip, which quickly became the backbone SSD controller for over a dozen different products. Crucial, being The Memory Experts that they are, have returned to the market with their second SSD product. By most accounts, this isn't par for the course when you consider how often the competition reveals a new product line. Equipped with the test-proven Indilinx Barefoot controller and 64MB of DRAM buffer, Crucial is insured that the M225-series will deliver outstanding performance. Benchmark Reviews tests the bandwidth speed and IOPS performance for the Crucial M225 128GB SATA-II SSD CT128M225 against a large contingent of desktop storage products in this article.

With generation 3 guidelines for the 6.0 GBps SATA interface already being used in prototype motherboards for show at the not-so-distant 2010 CES in January, it's understandable to see the speeds of Solid State Drive products increase so quickly with each new model. The Indilinx Barefoot controller has become the backbone chip for over a dozen different SSD models, first introduced in the OCZ Vertex SSD, and now make a return appearance in the OCZ Vertex Turbo SSD series.

Identical to the popular OCZ Vertex SSD in every aspect except NAND selection, the Vertex Turbo SSD series offers the same Indilinx 'Barefoot' controller and 64MB of DRAM buffer, but now boasts ultra-fast 270/200 MBps read and write speeds. Benchmark Reviews tests the reaction time and bandwidth performance for the 120GB OCZ Vertex Turbo SSD OCZSSD2-1VTXT120G model against over two dozen other storage products in this article.

Considering the state of the global economy, along with local recession and unemployment, performance computer builders have had to make some difficult decisions. It's not easy to convince enthusiasts that they should invest their money in mechanical hard disk products in the age of Solid State Drives, especially when performance favors SSD's almost two-fold. But the cost of high-performance HDDs has remained very affordable, and the capacity is ever-expanding. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 10,000 RPM SATA Hard Disk Drive against a large field of high-performance storage solutions.

Benchmark Reviews has seen Solid State Drive products from every angle, and while SSDs have overtaken hard drive products in terms of speed, there still remains the giant task of beating HDDs in price. That's exactly why OCZ has created the Agility Solid State Drive. Identical to the popular OCZ Vertex SSD in every aspect except NAND selection, the Agility SSD series offers the same Indilinx 'Barefoot' controller and 64MB of DRAM buffer allowing a fast 230 MBps read speed. Benchmark Reviews tests the reaction time and bandwidth performance for the 120GB Agility OCZSSD2-1AGT120G model against over two dozen other storage products in this article.

Samsung makes the DRAM modules found in nearly all popular SSD products today, with Elpida and Qimonda also adding their name to cache buffer parts. JMicron, Indilinx, and Samsung engineer many of the most well-known SSDs on the market, with OEM companies adding their own branding, custom-tuned firmware, and warranty. The OCZ Summit SATA-II MLC SSD is another such OEM product, built from the PB22-J model that Samsung decided not to ODM and sell themselves. Equipped with the Samsung S3C29RBB01 SSD controller and a 128MB cache buffer, OCZ intends to keep their crown as the King of SSD product offerings with the Summit OCZSSD2-1SUM120G.

Indilinx has been tapped to add their 'Barefoot' controller into the design, and a new generation of Solid State Drives has delivered top-level speed and performance. The Patriot (Fusion) Torqx 128GB MLC SSD is one such product, built from a proven architecture that has done well for others of the same controller family. The Patriot Torqx Solid State Drive adds 64MB of Elpida DRAM to the buffer has permanently solved stuttering problems, making raw performance the last bottleneck. An Indilinx 'Barefoot' internal controller commands the bank of Samsung K9HCG08U1M DRAM modules, allowing the Torqx SSD to offer an impressive capacity with top-speed performance. Benchmark Reviews tests the reaction time and bandwidth performance for the PE000143-PFZ128GS25SSDR 128GB model against over two dozen other products in this article.