With the arrival of the Mercury Accelsior PCI Express SSD , OWC claims to have the only Mac bootable PCIe solid state drivecurrently on the market. The Mercury Accelsior comes in fourdifferent size configurations, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB, andwill set you back $360, $530, $950, or $2080, respectively. Despiteits relatively high price point, the Accelsior's performance isamong the best SSDs we've seen, and its ability to upgrade capacityas needed is definitely a plus. On the Accelsior, you will find two "blades" (as OWC has dubbedthem), each with their own SandForce SF-228X controller and 24nmToshiba Toggle NAND. The benefit of this configuration is that itallows you to upgrade capacity as needed, whenever OWC makesupgraded "blades" available for purchase. Out of the box, this SSDis configured as RAID 0, but can also be used in RAID 1, ifdesired. To test this drive (we tested the 480GB version), we inserted itinto an available PCI slot in a Mac Pro, and booted off an Intel520 Series SSD, using the Accelsior as an secondary drive. To get afeel of the 520's performance, we ran it through the AJA SystemTest, and it yielded an average 226.9 MBps write and 264.5 MBpsread time. After testing the boot drive, we put the Accelsior through ourseries of standard hard drive tests, and its results wereimpressive, to say the least. While our AJA System Test Scoresweren't quite as high as OWC's reported scores, it did register anaverage write speed of 682.5 MBps and read speed of 642 MBps, whichis still incredibly fast. When copying a 10GB file, the Accelsiorposted a write time of 237.3 MBps and a read speed of 202.8MBps,while it wrote a 10GB folder at 210.1MBps, and read the same folderat 167.8MBps. When comparing the Mercury Accelsior to the similarly-priced OWCMercury Extreme Pro 6G Serial-ATA SSD ($930), the Mercury Accelsioryielded comparable file and folder write and read times for bothour 10GB file and 10GB folder. The only major difference came fromthe AJA System Test, in which the Extreme Pro only posted a 257.1MBps write, and 264.4 MBps read speed, while the Accelsior recordedspeeds of 682.5 MBps and 642 MBps to write/read, respectively. Init's own right, the Mercury Extreme Pro is an impressive drive, andit tested much faster than most of the other SSDs we've seen. Itoutperformed a 256GB Crucial SSD, as well as our 520 Series IntelSSD. Macworld's buying advice The Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD is an impressive piece of hardware.The combination of different configuration options, upgradablecapacity, and high-speed transfer rates make for an attractiveaddition to your Mac Pro. The only real drawback is the price,which is noticeably higher than all but the highest-end internalSATA-connected SSDs. Ultimately, if you are able or willing to buythe Mercury Accelsior, it will certainly boost the performance ofyour Mac Pro, especially when it comes to booting, and processessuch as rendering audio/video files. James Galbraith is Macworld's lab director. I am an expert from watersoluble-fertilizer.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Cotton Meal Fertilizer Manufacturer , Grape Vine Fertilizer, Vegetable Garden Fertilizer,and more.
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