We like PCMark's Storage 2.0 benchmark module for its real-world application measurement approach to testing.
PCMark 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 and photo editing with
Adobe applications, we are 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.
In the trace-based PCMark tests, the Samsung SSD 970 Pro offers the best overall performance – it leads in all of the sub-tests and offers the highest transfer speeds of the bunch. The new SSD 970 EVO Plus drives, however, drop right in behind it and outpace the other drives we tested, and at lower price points that we'll discuss next.
