OCZ Technology is one of the many companies to use their expertise in system memory to make the transition to solid state drives. While they offer plenty of traditionally designed solid state drives, their history as an innovator in enthusiast grade system memory makes their move to offer uniquely designed, high performance SSDs somewhat unsurprising.



The image above shows one of OCZ Technology's more interesting solid state drive products. The RevoDrive is a single expansion card that is effectively two SSDs (each with its own controller) coupled to an onboard RAID controller (configured in RAID 0) that uses a PCI Express interface to provide blazing fast transfer rates. The sample provided for review is a 50GB unit rated for quite impressive read speeds of up to 540MB/s and write speeds of up to 450MB/s.

Before taking a closer look at the RevoDrive 50GB PCI Express SSD, let's take a look at the key features and specifications taken from the official product page on the OCZ Technology website.

Features and Specifications:

» Part Number: OCZSSDPX-1RVD0050
» Read: Up to 540 MB/s
» Write: Up to 450 MB/s
» Sustained Write: Up to 350 MB/s
» Random Write 4KB (Aligned): 70,000 IOPS

» PCI-Express interface (x4)
» For use as primary boot drive or data storage
» Internal RAID 0
» 181.07 (L) x 21.59 (W) x 125.08mm (H)
» Shock Resistance: 1500g
» Seek Time: 0.1 ms
» Operating Temp: 0°C ~ +70°C
» Storage Temp: -45°C ~ +85°C
» Power Consumption: 3W Idle, 8W active
» MTBF: 2,000,000 hours
» 3-Year Warranty
» Compatible with Windows XP 32/64, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64

Worth emphasizing from the list above is that this device is bootable! When configured with the proper driver (available from OCZ Technology), Windows can be installed to the RevoDrive and it can be used as the primary (or only) drive in a system.

Packaging and Accessories:

The RevoDrive is sold in the slick black box shown in the images below. The front doesn't tell you anything specific about the product, while the back provides a look at the drive, as well as listing some of its performance information.



Inside the retail box we find another box that looks familiar, but just a bit smaller. Inside this box is where we find the drive sealed in an anti-static bag and nestled in some form fitting foam. The only other items included with the drive include an installation / quick start guide and a sticker that reads "My SSD is faster than your HDD".