Seagate Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Preview

Our next series of Vantage tests will stress the write performance. Applications like video editing, streaming and recording are not what we would call a strong suit for the average SSD, due to their high mix of random write transactions.  We should also note that it's not so much a weakness of the memory itself, but rather the interface and control algorithms that deal with inherent erase block latency of MLC NAND flash.  SSD manufacturers are getting better at this, as is evidenced by our results below...

Futuremark's PCMark Vantage http://www.futuremark.com

The trend continued in the remainder of the PCMark Vantage tests. On the first run of the benchmark, the Seagate Momentus XT performed surprisingly well. By the third run though, performace had increased dramatically and approached the level of the true SSD.

We should also point out that we ran this test numerous times, and after the third run, the additional performance increases stopped, which is to say Run 4 performed like Run 3. The screenshots of the actual Vantage performance summaries are available in the image gallery at the bottom of the page for those that would like to see the progression from Run 1 through Run 4.