The SST-TS07B is an aluminum HDD enclosure that utilizes the speed and compatibility of the USB bus to make external 3.5” SATA 6G storage solutions blazing fast, yet simple to use with almost any system.

The full-color packaging includes a picture of the actual product as well as information about it. Heavy duty cardboard helps protect the unit during shipping, and certainly is capable of supporting the additional weight of a hard drive tossed in there as well.

Opening it up, we have the enclosure itself, AC adapter, USB 3.0 cable, and a clear plastic stand for those that wish to perch the drive upright to maximize surface area for better heat dissipation or to conserve desktop space.

The enclosure opens easily with just a flip of the latch on back and a small shake. The covers slide off and the tool-free mounting mechanism becomes visible. Pop open the orange mounts, insert the drive and slide it down into the SATA points, then simply lock the orange holders in place. There is a slight angle to the SATA data and power connectors, this appears to be designed in to prevent damage when sliding the drive into place. The mounting holds very well.

A Look Inside

Today, we look one of their peripheral offerings – a PCI Express expansion card that provides a internal 19 pin USB 3.0 header. The SST-EC03, or simply EC03, is a small PCI Express 1x lane device that adds USB 3.0 connectivity to an older PC, or expands the number of USB 3.0 ports for newer systems that have it already. It also includes a mounting panel that will fit in a 3.5” external front bay.

The Product

The EC03 uses the new Renesas D720200AF1 controller. Similar in most ways to the D720200F controller found on many motherboards with NEC USB 3.0, the new version of the chip provides improved idle mode power saving features, and consumes only 20% of the power required by the older chip.

Unlike many other PCI-E devices, the EC03 uses a 4 pin peripheral connector for power. This allows the elimination of power rectifiers, thus decreasing cost and increasing efficiency. However, it also means running one more wire across the interior of one’s case, something many enthusiasts may not be keen on doing.

Next: A Closer Look at the EC03

Patriot memory was established in 1985, and has manufacturing facilities in both Fremont California and Taipei. Over the last few years, Patriot have made themselves popular among PC enthusiasts with their DRAM memory modules, and more recently with Solid State Drives. The Convoy 425XL is a natural extension of this memory and storage background, as it provides more storage solutions for 2.5” drives. Compatible with both Mechanical and Solid State Drives, the 425XL allows a user to pack up to four 2.5” storage devices into a single 5.25” drive bay in a PC.

Convoy 425XL:

“The Patriot Convoy 425XL is a 2.5″ RAID Sub-System module for four 2.5″ Hard Disk Drives in a single 5.25″ bay. Featuring built in RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, Clone, Large, JBOD, Convoy 425XL is an excellent solution for maximizing storage and performance. New EZ RAID back plane dipswitch provides a simple, fast and complete hardware based RAID configuration tool allows a full setup in seconds! The rugged all aluminum housing combined with built in two 40mm fans provides superior cooling and heat dissipation. Completed with front loading individual hot swappable drive trays (up to 12.5mm height), the industrial designed RAID Sub-System module delivers up to 3Gbps throughput with supported 2.5″ SAS or SATA HDD/ SSD. Convoy 425XL is an ideal multi-drive RAID solution for small space while offering speed and redundancy.”

The Convoy 425XL brings enterprise level data security and expandability to even Small Form Factor PCs. Whether backing up digital memories, school or business documents, adding storage capacity for a HTPC or used as a laptop backup and data recovery tool, the Convoy 425XL brings many great features of an enterprise storage device to the mainstream user without the associated “enterprise tax.”

Important Reading: Native Command Queuing and Port Multipliers.

Packaging:

The Convoy 425XL comes in a glossy multi-colored cardboard shell over a heavier cardboard box, which contains the device suspended in much the same way that hard drives are shipped. Two plastic end caps support the device using air as a barrier against impact damage. Also included in the packaging are a handy easy to read manual, a CD containing the JMicron RAID software utility for those not using the driver-less RAID feature, and the mounting screws. A dip switch decal and black SATA II cable are also included.

Next: Features & Specs

ASUS comes from the last four letters of the word Pegasus. A mythical winged horse that they have chosen for their company name; it represents Strength, Creative Spirit and Purity. Flying Horse Experience is not something you will find in droves here at TechREACTION, but rigorous testing and evaluation of manufacturers PC related products is. Strength is definitely an attribute ASUS brings to the table, being the largest motherboard manufacturer in the world. Creative Spirit is epitomized both by being early to market with new exciting technologies as well as the aesthetics that they put into their product designs. Purity is exemplified by the total package experience. Products that go above and beyond what one expects, and a knowledgeable staff to help get you working and playing beyond your expectations.

The P8P67 Deluxe is a LGA1155 Socket motherboard supporting Crossfire and SLI in a x8/x8 configuration, or a single GPU with up to 16 Lanes of PCIE 2.0 bandwidth at its disposal. 16+2 phase power supplies more than enough clean power to the CPU to max out the capabilities of the Sandy Bridge architecture, and 4 additional phases will handle the DRAM slots for pushing modern 2000+ MHz DDR3. The board features a UEFI BIOS, Bluetooth, Power Over E-SATA, and an Intel Network IC. Two integrated USB 3.0 ports with 2 more added through the included front panel expansion device, and 4 SATA 3 (6 Gbps) ports provided by the PCH and Marvell controller.

Digi+ Power Dual Processor enhancements allow the motherboard to both overclock, and enhance low power capabilities of the architecture, through use of the EPU and TPU processors. ASUS again institutes the Mem Ok! feature to enhance memory compatibility. Firewire is included on the IO panel, as well as up to 10 channel audio by mixing the 7.1 rear connections with concurrent 2 channel front panel audio.

LEDs abound with post indicators for Memory, CPU, VGA, Boot devices and RAM. (Dubbed the QLED Diagnostic system).Decorative LEDs, a 2 digit post code display and lit on-board power and reset buttons round out the illumination fixtures.

In an effort not to put the cart before the horse, the full feature portion of the P8P67 Deluxe review will follow an introduction to the new Sandy Bridge CPUs and Cougar Point based motherboards.

Sandy Bridge In Brief:

Sandy Bridge is the newest “tock” architecture from Intel. Based on the popular Westmere chips of 2010, the CPU has been redesigned with multiple new features. Ring bus topology has replaced QPI with bandwidth up to 96GB/s, new 256 bit AVX instructions for improved FP operations, an improved GPU with turbo feature, and 32nm design for lower power usage. The Sandy Bridge CPU is more efficient than previous generation CPUs. Sandy Bridge will also include a Video Transcoder on-die, as well as a new cache for micro-ops.

Sandy Bridge uses an LGA1155 socket for mounting, and is not compatible with the previous generation LGA1156; neither CPU or Motherboard. The heatsink mounting pattern, however, is 1156 compatible. So a new HSF will not need to be purchased if you are upgrading from a P55 platform. While certain features remain the same, (IOH and ICH have been replaced with a singular PCH, like LGA1156) other improvements have been made. In lieu of using an MCM design of CPU and NB on silicon, the LGA1155 is a true on-die chip with IMC and GPU included as a single unit.

The GPU shares L3 cache with the CPU and will come in one of two styles, single or dual core (referred to as GT1 or GT2), which will have 6 or 12 Execution Units respectively. The 12 unit GPU is reported to be equal to or better than a Radeon HD 5450 Discrete GPU, and slightly more than twice as powerful as the old LGA1156 GPUs. The GPUs will also feature Turbo mode, much like the CPUs do today. A special motherboard (dubbed H67, with H61 available at a future date) will be needed to use the integrated graphics core.

With the abolition of QPI and UnCore, the L3 Cache will now run at CPU speed. When CPU turbo is initiated, L3 Cache speed will also increase. However, CPU and GPU Turbos are mutually exclusive, and only one item can use the Turbo feature at a time. The L3 Cache being tied to CPU means that when the GPU cores increase in speed, the memory speed does not. This may not be an issue at all as the amount of memory is very small to begin with, however on memory deprived discrete GPUs, memory speed often has a very limiting effect on performance.

DMI 2.0 will provide x8 PCIE 2.0 lanes operating at 5GT/s (full speed PCIE 2.0). This doubles the bandwidth of the the LGA1156 DMI bus and is a much needed change, as USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbs drives are becoming more common, it will be easier to saturate the old standard. Providing 4GBs in one direction provides future scalability for multiple drives in RAID arrays, USB 3.0 Ready Boost devices and Gigabit Ethernet.

The Sandy Bridge platform will have minimal Bus Clock adjustment capability in an effort to reduce overclocking. However, to offset this, Intel has also lowered their prices on the “K series” CPUs, which are multiplier unlocked. Unfortunately, at this time even the unlocked multiplier CPUs have an upper limit. Theoretically 57x, in practice however this number is often much lower.

Sandy Bridge Motherboards:

Not all “chipsets” are created equally. At launch time, manufacturers released P67 and H67 motherboards. The main difference according to Intel specification is access to the integrated GPU via the Flexible Display Interface (FDI). H67 also does not natively support dual 8/8 PCIE 2.0 slots, but only a single x16 Lane slot. However, Manufacturers will be free to make changes to these specifications based on 3rd party hardware as will be commented on in the following review.

H61 will be a low cost motherboard solution. Removed features will be RAID support, 2 less PCIE lanes for the DMI Bus, and 4 less USB 2.0 ports. None of the chipsets feature USB 3.0 support, so manufacturers will include them using chips from VIA or NEC (now called Renesas Electronics Corporation).

Another important note is that H67 and H61 at this time feature locked memory multipliers. The P67 does support unlocked memory multipliers. Combined with the poor BUS speed adjustments available on the Sandy Bridge platform, this could result in a lack of high-end memory sales for the H series chipsets.

Overclocking Limitations:

As mentioned previously, Intel has decided to limit overclocking on the Sandy Bridge platform. However, with the 2500K and 2600K bringing unlocked multiplier goodness to the masses at a reasonable price, the limitation to manipulate the BUS speeds will effect those purchasing the lower tier CPUs more than anyone. The flexibility to control memory speeds will also be hindered without the ability to control the BCLK beyond a few points, unless manufacturers offer greater control over memory multipliers than what is present on current gen motherboards.

The limitation of the overclocking ability is tied to the fact that Intel has one clock generator for every bus on the CPU. Be it USB, SATA, PCIE or CPU. It remains to be seen if motherboard manufacturers will be able to implement a work around as they have done in the past with PCI/AGP locks, or more recently with PCIE.

ASUS has been great with Intel BUS speeds in the past, root for their R&D team to figure out this dilemma.

Next: First Look…

Packaging:

Specifications and Features:

Next: Product and Installation

Advances in NAND storage technology have improved the speed at which solid state memory devices can transfer data, along with a new faster bus to handle the capabilities it brings to storage technology.  The ADATA Nobility N005 USB 3.0 (Or Super Speed USB) advertises a Sustained Read rate of 85MBps with writes of up to 55MBps.  This is nearly 3x the throughput of a standard “fast” USB 2.0 flash drive.  From ADATA’s website:

Lightning Speed Powered by USB 3.0
The ADATA N005 USB flash drive features USB 3.0, the next generation high-speed connection standard, which offers transfer speeds 4 times faster than USB 2.0. Boasting read and write speeds up to 85 MB/s and 55 MB/s, respectively, you’ll spend much less time waiting for the transfer of large video or audio files.

We will compare both the 16GB and 32GB models of the Nobility N005 series to a 120X USB 2.0 “Sport” drive.

Full Speed, High Speed and Super Speed USB

These are the names of the current three types of USB available on most electronic devices.  They represent USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 technologies respectively. Each successive technology is backwards compatible with its predecessor. Although USB 3.0 devices may have compatibility issues on USB 1.1 ports, the marketing for the ADATA USB 3.0 drive proclaims 1.1 compatibility. It should only take about 3 hours theoretically to read all 16GB of information through a 1.1 port. (This reviewer has no desire to test that out)  Aside from the names however, what makes them different?

• USB 1.1 or Full Speed USB – theoretical maximum bandwidth of 1.5 MBps. (12 Megabits per second)
• USB 2.0 or High Speed USB – theoretical maximum bandwidth of 60 MBps  (480 Megabits per second)
• USB 3.0 or Super Speed USB – theoretical maximum bandwidth of 625MBps (5 Gigabits per second).

In practice however, much like ethernet, effective speeds are often significantly lower.  This is due to a variety of reasons, the biggest of those being protocol overhead.  The whys and wherefores get very complicated and are far past the intent of this review.  A rough estimate of 35-40% is what one should expect when using any USB device.  This brings the maximum effective bandwidth of the technologies down to approximately 35MBps for USB 2.0 and 400MBps for USB 3.0.

Physical differences between 1.1/2.0 and 3.0 are in the number of signaling wires used to transmit data, as well as the difference between half and full duplex operation. USB 1.1 and 2.0 rely on one twisted pair signaling cable that is only capable of half-duplex speeds. This means that it only has full throughput in one direction at a time.  USB 3.0 offers full duplex speed as well as two additional pairs of signaling cables.  At first glance, it would appear that assuming identical memory properties, we can expect 3x the effective performance when connected to a USB 3.0 port as well as a smaller performance hit when reading and writing to the flash memory simultaneously.

The Test Subjects

The review samples 16GB and 32GB Nobility N005 (lovingly referred to by this reviewer as “noob drives”) are pictured below as well as the retail sample 8GB Sport.  Packaging is standard fare for small lightweight electronic devices that need no more than minimal protection. Blister packs to keep out moisture and keep merchandise and accessories bundled together.  Also pictured is a size comparison between the three drives.

All three USB sticks are large enough to make the paired USB ports on the backs (or fronts) of most PC’s useless.  The Nobility comes in slightly more slender than the Sport in the middle, but is about 30% longer as well. It has a brushed aluminum shell with slip-on cap and a dark brown exterior with black accents.  Round out the exterior touches is “A-DATA n005″ printed in white lettering on the top.  USB ports have not changed much in design over the last decade, but as demand increases for ever larger storage capacities, something must give.

Continue to page 2 for testing and conclusion.

Gigabyte has taken its great performing GA-790FXT-UD5P for the AMD platform and added USB3 & SATA3 ports in the GA-790FXTA-UD5 line. Even though USB3 & SATA3 products can be a bit hard to find right now, expect them to become more common place very soon. Today I will be looking at a Buffalo 1TB USB3 external HDD and see how it performs on the GA-790FXTA-UD5 motherboard.

The use of an external USB HDD is something that not a lot of people benchmark, nor would it be used as a benching platform. Users use these drives for mass storage pretty much and generally never pay them much thought after they plug them in. With the Buffalo 1TB USB3 drive we now have plenty of space to store a great deal of photos, movies, music or just about anything else that you would want to get off your main Hard drive. A USB drive is also nice in that it can be unplugged and moved to another machine for transferring large amounts of files.

One thing that becomes apparent though is the transfer speed of moving large files with these types of drives, they can be slow and take a fair amount of time to move large numbers of files around. The new USB3 spec is going to change that, for the better.

So let’s take a look at this and see just what we can expect from USB3 and the GA-790FXTA-UD5.

The setup I used for these tests is. Motherboard: GA-790FXTA-UD5, CPU: AMD 965 C3, RAM: 4gb Dominator 2000mhz, GPU: ATI 4890, Windows 7 64 bit, 32gb MTRON PRO SSD for OS, WD 74gb Raptor HDD, Buffalo USB3 1TB external HDD

Nothing major here except for the RAM, but I am not going to be over clocking this so that’s not a problem. The other two drives will be used for a comparison to the Buffalo drive. I do not have another USB drive to compare to so this one will have to be sufficient for these tests.

Picture of the Motherboard taken from Gigabytes website.

And a close up of the backside IO connections. The connections that are Blue are the USB3 ports,

USB 3.0 Support
The GIGABYTE AMD 700A series motherboards support the latest generation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology made possible through an onboard NEC uPD720200 host controller. With superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps, users are able to experience an almost a 10x improvement over USB 2.0. Additionally, backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 assures users of long term use of their legacy USB 2.0 devices. The onboard NEC SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology also provides new power management features that include increased maximum bus power and device current draw to better accommodate power-hungry devices.

For a full listing of the spec’s for the GA-790FXTA-UD5 please see Gigabytes website.

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3270

The Buffalo 1TB USB3 external drive can be seen here

http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/external-drives/drivestation/hd-hxu3-drivestation-usb-30/

It also has bundled software that I included with this test, the Turbo USB3 feature.

Ok let’s fire up some benches and see just how this USB3 external drive performs compared to the other two drives.

First up will be Crystaldisk

The order of screen shots is… 32gb MTRON PRO SSD, WD 74gb Raptor, Buffalo 1TB USB3 external HDD

As you can see the Buffalo drive is beating the other two in everything but the 4k file size bench and holding its own against a fast Raptor SATA drive. Its really moving large files very fast and doing pretty good with small files also.

Next up is HDTach with the same order for the screens

Now we are seeing that the Buffalo drive has very good bandwidth compared to a SATA Raptor drive and huge burst speed. The only thing really holding this drive back is access time at 13.5ms vs the Raptor 8.3ms. The MTRON PRO SSD clearly is a beast with 0.1ms access time.

Next up HDTune with the same order for pictures.

Pretty much the same results as HDtach. But you will notice the Buffalo picture, I will get into that in just a bit.

Now PCMark05 results, again the same order of pictures.

Compared to the Raptor the Buffalo holds up pretty well.

As you can see from these benches the USB3 drive holds up pretty well, its very fast, and moves larges files with ease. I did transfer over from my WHS a few movie ISO’s and copied them back and forth many times and transfers went very fast. Playing movies or music from the USB3 drive went completely stutter free.

As a test I installed Win 7 on the USB3 drive and booted from that, it actually performed very well. This would make it a great drive to have a OS installed on in case you ever needed to boot from a recovery drive to fix your main machine for what ever reason you needed to do that for, virus infection, corrupt HD.

The USB3 drive is fast enough that it could be used with back up programs such as Acronis to keep different images of OS’s on and image back to the main HD.

Now for the bad… as you saw in the HDTach test there was some rather large spikes in the bench which resulted in poor performance. When I first saw this the drive would make a clicking sound, spin down, then back up on each of the spikes. I am sure we all have heard the sound of a drive going out and this sounded just like that.

As this sounded and acted like a bad drive, I had it replaced with a new one. Right out of the box HDTach did the same thing with the new drive.

All other tests, file transfers etc did not show this behavior at all, only HDTach would do this. I went through different BIOS, from the BIOS that came with the motherboard to the latest on Gigabytes website, same for the USB3 drivers. No matter what config HDTach would do these strange spikes.

Other than that problem which was not noticed in any other test this drive is a solid performing external HDD.

As a side note. Another Tester/Bencher that I have a great amount of respect for named Miahallen, has done a very complete and fantastic job on his review, it can be seen here and is a very good article on this and worth while reading.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=239828

I have been asked what type of drive is inside the enclosure of the Buffalo drive, here is what Everest has to say.