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We liked
The RevoDrive 350 delivers superb all-round performance. The sequential transfer rates blow away any 2.5-inch desktop SSD, and thanks to its RAID configuration, the overall figure for IOPS is also higher than any other desktop SSD.
As it's effectively four SSDs on a single PCI-Express card, the RevoDrive 350 is a far neater way to have SSDs in a RAID array than having to place four 2.5-inch desktop SSDs in a computer case, each requiring a SATA and power cable.
We disliked
The RevoDrive 350 isn't just expensive, it costs considerably more than a pair of desktop SSDs would if they were configured in RAID 0, while providing half the storage capacity. For me, the economics don't look favourable, unless you're really pushed for spare 2.5-inch bays inside your computer.
And while performance is undoubtedly superb, the results from a pair of 2.5-inch drives in RAID 0 aren't too far off.
I also noticed that the recorded access times seem suspiciously high, around 50% more than desktop SSDs. This can be partly attributed to the added overhead of running in RAID.
Final verdict
The RevoDrive 350 is a very powerful and very fast SSD, but it's also very expensive, priced to compete with SATA SSDs from two years ago, when they cost more than twice as much as they do now, and didn't perform as well.
OCZ could do with upping its game slightly, offering a better warranty, improving endurance and widening the performance gap even further with SATA SSDs. The published transfer rates clearly only apply in certain situations.
There's obviously a great future for PCI-Express storage but it seems the RevoDrive represents the final hurrah of old technology, before the nVME revolution truly begins.
