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Performance and verdict

Patriot claims transfer speeds up to 560 MB/s reads and 545 MB/s writes. I tested this drive on a SandyBridge Socket 2011 Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz, with 32 gb DDR3 RAM, on an Asus Rampage IV Formula motherboard, and a NVIDIA GTX 770 video card. I used three applications for benchmarking: CrystalDiskMark, PCMark 8, and ATTO Disk Benchmark.

In CrystalDiskMark, I found that I was unable to reach the 560 MB/s reads and 545 MB/s writes as the Patriot Ignite 480GB clocked in at only 357.7 MB/s reads and 284.5 MB/s writes. This is only about 60% of what was advertised for reads and 52% of what was advertised for writes. QD32 random read and writes were significantly lower, as reads were only 192.3 MB/s and writes were 32.36 MB/s. In regards to IOPs, I found that the Patriot Ignite read had about 4,707 IOPs and writes were higher at 8425 IOPs.

ATTO Disk Benchmark confirmed my results. Although I witnessed higher reads than on CrystalDiskMark, ATTO clocked the Patriot Ignite at only 386.2 MB/s and writes were more or less the same, clocking in at 291.2 MB/s.

On PCMark 8, the Ignite scored a 4814. To compare, the Crucial BX100 scored a 4960 which is marginally better, but the Samsung 850 Pro blew them both out of the water with a score of 5042.

We liked

Although the benchmarks are somewhat disconcerting, in real-life use I found that the Patriot Ignite was fast enough for moderate-to-heavy use. Even though it was unable to reach its advertised performance, the 480GB drive is a solid, budget option a mid-level consumer who wants some speed but cares more about capacity. Also, the drive supports AES 256-bit encryption, which is crucial for anyone who is focused on security.

We disliked

The inability to reach 560 MB/s read and 545 MB/s write speeds was disheartening. So much of what separates junk drives from useful tools is how quickly and easily data can be transferred. Although this drive isn't as fast as Patriot wants it to be, it isn't a total clunker. In fact, I found it easy to use and fast enough for its low price tag.

Verdict

The Patriot Ignite is not going the fastest drive but it's definitely not a dud. This is a decent SSD drive, with huge capacity, that is more affordable than its competitors. However, if you are someone who really cares about top-of-the-market performance, then you may want to look at the Samsung 850 Pro, but if you are someone who hasn't made the jump to SSD, and you'd like to do it without dropping a ton of cash, then the Patriot Ignite is a great option for you.