Storage

Review: Corsair Force F40 CSSD-F40GB2

When it comes to solid state drives, it's all about the controller chipset. Granted, the quality of the flash memory used is important, too, but it's the controller chip that makes the biggest difference to both out-of-the box performance and longevity.For SSD buyers on a budget, that's a problem. Smaller, more affordable SSDs tend to have cheapo controllers. That's probably a false economy given that the cost of any SSD is largely swallowed up by the flash memory itself.Enter, therefore, Corsair's latest affordable SSD, the Force F40 CSSD-F40GB2. At just 40GB, the new Force F40 is at the very limit of we would class acceptable and usable in terms of raw capacity. As its name suggests, however, it packs arguably the finest SSD controller currently available in the SandForce SF-1200. Of course, the Sandforce controller does push the price up a little compared to competing 40GB drives. Both Intel's X25-V and Patriot's PS-100 are cheaper. What's more, at 64GB, the Patriot is larger, too. Mimicking real-world SSD workloads in benchmarks is tricky. Certainly, performance metrics such as sequential read and write tests only tell part of the story. Arguably, the most interesting synthetic test is the 4k random write part of the AS SSD benchmark. While you wouldn't expect day-to-day performance to precisely mirror the 4k random write results shown here, they do provide an insight into how an SSD stands up to the sort of choppy data traffic that makes up the bulk of disk activity.SizeFormatted capacity: Bytes, bigger is betterCorsair Force F40 40GB: 37.1GBIntel X25-V 40GB: 37.1GBCorsair Force F100 100GB: 93GBSynthetic drive performanceATTO Sequential read: MBps, bigger is betterCorsair Force F40 40GB: 285MBpsIntel X25-V 40GB: 196MBpsCorsair Force F100 100GB: 281MBpsSynthetic drive performanceATTO Sequential write: MBps, bigger is betterCorsair Force F40 40GB: 265MBpsIntel X25-V 40GB: 46MBpsCorsair Force F100 100GB: 250MBpsSynthetic drive performanceHDTach Burst rate: MBps, bigger is betterCorsair Force F40 40GB: 261MBpsIntel X25-V 40GB: 246MBpsCorsair Force F100 100GB: 220MBpsSynthetic drive performanceAS SSD 4K random writes: MBps, bigger is betterCorsair Force F40 40GB: 45MBpsIntel X25-V 40GB: 28MBpsCorsair Force F100 100GB: 42MBpsApplication performanceFile decompression: Time taken, lower is betterCorsair Force F40: 38sIntel X25-V 40GB: 50sCorsair Force F100 100GB: 37s Pint-sized SSDs with puny performance is a familiar refrain. Can Corsair's SandForce-powered F40 break the mould? In a word, yes. Starting with ATTO's sequential read benchmark, the Corsair Force F40 racks up a massive 285MBps. That's an epic figure and much faster than Intel's X25-V 40GB can manage.It's also marginally quicker than the Corsair Force F100 we tested recently. That's a 100GB drive based on the same SandForce controller. In fact, it's likely that the limiting factor in this test for the F40 is not the flash memory or controller chipset. Instead, it's probably the SATA 3Gbps interface. This drive – and probably all SandForce-based drives – deserves a SATA 6Gbps connection.Anyway, it's a similar story in the sequential write test. Meanwhile, things look a little better for the Intel competition in the HD Tach burst rate bench where it manages a creditable 246MBps. But it's not enough to beat the pluck little Force F40, which spits out 261MBps.Of course, such peak performance metrics don't tell the whole story. Arguably more revealing is a look at random access performance. Before the SandForce controller came along, Intel owned this test. No longer. The Corsair Force F40 blows Intel's X25-V away with an impressive result of 45MBps.As for our real-world file decompression benchmarks, it's pretty much in line with the synthetics. The caveat to all this is that F40 is running a slightly newer firmware than the F100 when we tested the latter.We likedThe bottom line is that this fun-sized SandForce offering delivers the same real-world experience as its bigger brothers. Whether in peak throughput, random access or actual application performance, it's a real scorcher. Even better, thanks to support for the Windows 7 TRIM command, there's a good chance it'll stay that way in the long run.We disliked The list of things we don't like about this drive is extremely short. However, there's no doubting the Force F40 is seriously small. With a formatted capacity of just 37.1GB, it's debatable whether it's big enough to merely serve as a boot. If you're a gaming enthusiast with a large library it almost definitely won't be. The F40 would also benefit from a SATA 6Gbps controller. Related LinksRead more PC storage reviewsTechRadar's Reviews GuaranteeRelated StoriesReview: Freecom Mobile Drive CLSReview: Crucial realSSD C300 64GB

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