The Patriot Warp V2 64gb SSD has proven an impressive drive for its sheer performance and budget conscious pricing. While it doesn’t perform at its boasted speeds (as drives rarely do) of 175 mb/s read and 100 mb/s read, it outperforms Western Digital’s Velociraptor for a good amount less change. The lightning fast boot time will be a big plus for overclockers and benchmark junkies who won’t mind the reduced capacity. On the other hand, the drive will pull off even better performance at doubled capacity in a RAID 0 configuration with any good old HDD you may have laying around, and with that kind of performance 128gb is nothing to scoff at. Unfortunately, our file benchmark indicates that this drive’s write speeds will be as slow as many other SSD’s unless aided by a RAID 0 configuration. All this in mind, this drive remains among the best for the price, now clocking in at $89, $179, and $319 after rebate for 32gb, 64gb, and 128gb.
Pros:
* Fast transfer rates, snappy access time
* Faster boot times for overclockers
* (well, duh, it’s an SSD)
* Just enough room for Vista + benchmarks + a few games or XP/Vista dual boot with full benchmark suites each.
* Great RAID 0 performance with HDD for a cheap and FAST array
* Price
Cons:
* Does in fact suffer from SSD slow write syndrome (uses SLC to keep the price down, look up SLC vs MLC for more info on this distinction)
* Capacity
Verdict:
This drive is perfect for benchers and overclockers who want a cheap and fast drive that performs well and who don’t necessarily need a lot of storage space. However, for the average user the price/gb is not favorable, and the dragging write speeds may become noticeable. However, a RAID 0 array can remedy these problems and makes this drive more viable as a high performance solution for the masses.
