We really like PCMark 7's Secondary Storage benchmark module for its pseudo real-world application measurement approach to testing. PCMark 7 offers a trace-based measurement of system response times under various scripted workloads of traditional client / desktop system operation. From simple application start-up performance, to data streaming from a drive in a game engine, and video editing with Windows Movie Maker, we feel more comfortable that these tests reasonably illustrate the performance profile of SSDs in an end-user / consumer PC usage model, more so than a purely synthetic transfer test.
Intel's drives led the pack in the Futuremark PCMark 7 secondary storage benchmark, but the Micron M500DC series drives still performed well here. The largest delta (separating the 800GB M500DC and the Intel DC SD3700) was only 6. And that delta is cut in half with the 480GB drive.
