APC - September 2015 AU.pdf

SSD
$480 | WWW.OCZ.COM
OCZ Trion 100
960GB
Does OCZ’s affordable new SSD
stack up in a cut-throat market?
OCZ’s new budgetoriented
SSD comes
in 120GB, 240GB,
480GB and 960GB
flavours, with the latter in
our Labs this month for
testing. Notably, its OCZ’s
first fully Toshiba-based
SSD since it was acquired
by the Japanese company
last year. While Toshiba
does the building, OCZ
performs the testing and
validation. The Trion uses
second-gen 128Gbit A19
TLC NAND flash, coupled to
a Toshiba TC58 controller.
The drive uses the
standard 7mm thick/2.5-
inch form factor, as well as
the SATA 6Gbps interface.
We tested read and write
speeds with AS SSD and
CrystalDiskMark.
Sequential read and writes
are fast at 539/516MB/s, but
essentially capped by the
SATA interface, like most
modern SSDs. The Trion is
rated for 90,000/54,0000
(read/write) IOPS, but
random 4K performance
isn’t quite as good as you see
on MLC-based SSDs. Still, it’s
real-world performance is
solid overall for a budget
SSD. As is typical, read and
write speeds are slightly
slower on the low-capacity
drives. Endurance on the
960GB Trion over the
three-year warranty period
is excellent at 240TB total,
or 219GB a day, though the
smaller drives offer less.
The Trion 100 does support
low power state idle, but no
hardware encryption.
While it offers acceptable
bang for buck, there’s
nothing here that really
stands out from the crowd.
Hopefully prices will drop
a little to make it more
competitive. The 960GB
model will set you back
around $480, the 480GB is
$249, the 240GB $129 and
the 120GB just $79.
Lindsay Handmer
Verdict
A solid SSD that faces stiff
competition from other affordable
drives.
MOUSE
$180 | WWW.RAZERZONE.COM/AU
Razer Mamba
Tournament
Edition
Setting a new bar for sensitivity.
This latest Mamba
proves, there’s more
to customisation
than how big a
mouse is. It’s not too
different from the original,
albeit with a slightly less
flared design and it’s wired,
with a 2.1m USB cable.
The Philips laser sensor
boasts precision up to a
stunning 16,000dpi, which
can be adjusted in 1dpi
increments. You can also
configure from three to five
different precision levels
and flick between them
using the two buttons that
sit behind the mouse wheel.
The Synapse software
enables you to change the
polling rate as well — to
either 125,500 or 1,000
times a second — as well as
configuring separate X and
Y sensitivities.
There are 11 buttons that
can be assigned to various
actions using Synapse. The
mouse wheel is home to five
of these, as it rocks left and
right, scrolls up and down
— and you can click it.
The Mamba TE’s sports
RGB illumination on the left
and right sides of the main
body, on the Razer logo and
on the scroll wheel. You can
independently set any of
these to the colour of your
choice, set up animated
waves or have it flash when
you click a button.
We found the Mamba TE
to be an impressive gaming
mouse. It’s a little lighter
than we usually prefer (and
there’s no way of adding
bulk), but we soon got used
to it. It’s smooth and precise,
and we found it comfortable
after long gaming sessions.
Which is all very glowing,
apart from the price. Yes,
$180 is a lot for a mouse, but
the Mamba TE is well worth
considering.
Alan Dexter
Verdict
Despite cheesy lighting and a high
price, this is a fantastic-performing
gaming mouse.
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