Diving into the PCMark Vantage HDD test suite reveals actual MB/s figures that have more bearing than dimensionless values. Across the board Intel SRT improves responsiveness roughly four-fold. What's interesting about this benchmark is we can compare Intel SRT in Enhanced mode to Intel SRT in Maximized mode (slightly more risky where potential data loss is concerned).

Futuremark PCMark Vantage - HDD Suite Windows Defender: (MB/s) Points Ranking SSD 153.465 HDD 20.466 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 1 20.237 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 2 120.669 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 3 114.189 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 1 20.677 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 2 123.118 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 3 118.959

As we saw previously, the ceiling is held by the SSD system (153.465MB/s) and the floor by the HDD system (20.466MB/s).

In both Intel SRT Enhanced and Maximized modes, the first benchmark run comes in at the same level as the HDD system result. Makes sense, right? Windows 7 is installed on the same Western Digital WD740 Raptor hard drive for both the HDD + Cache SSD system and HDD system.

Once that data is cached on the Intel 311 SSD the results improve 6x!

The Enhanced mode yields 120MB/s out of the gate while the Maximized mode is slightly quicker at 123MB/s. Both scenarios drop a bit by the third benchmark iteration.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage - HDD Suite Gaming: (MB/s) Points Ranking SSD 145.101 HDD 14.064 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 1 14.693 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 2 123.917 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 3 124.048 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 1 14.82 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 2 118.525 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 3 118.916

Again, Intel SRT improves the speed to that of near SSD levels. In this test, Enhanced mode offers somewhat better results than Maximized....

Futuremark PCMark Vantage - HDD Suite Importing Pictures: (MB/s) Points Ranking SSD 188.798 HDD 37.987 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 1 32.818 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 2 145.343 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 3 145.431 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 1 32.188 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 2 141.487 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 3 133.684

Dito. Better overall improvement to 145MB/s this time around.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage - HDD Suite Windows Vista Startup: (MB/s) Points Ranking SSD 176.547 HDD 19.14 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 1 25.073 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 2 118.636 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 3 118.152 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 1 25.911 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 2 119.452 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 3 123.474

Windows Vista start up improves by 6.2x!

Futuremark PCMark Vantage - HDD Suite Editing Videos: (MB/s) Points Ranking SSD 196.339 HDD 47.515 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 1 45.346 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 2 91.016 HDD + Cache SSD (Enhanced) RUN 3 92.651 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 1 53.319 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 2 136.343 HDD + Cache SSD (Maximized) RUN 3 137.193

Finally a significant difference between Enhanced and Maximized modes. Intel SRT Enhanced mode bumps the native HDD system from 47MB/s to 92MB/s, quite good overall. The more aggressive Intel SRT Maximized mode triples the native HDD system result from 47MB/s to 137MB/s in this test.

If you do a lot of work editing video content, Intel Smart Response Technology tuned to the Maximized mode may be the best path to follow ( if your system is data constrained ). Well, installing the operating system onto a SSD would be the best path, but adding an SSD cache via Intel SRT certainly speeds things up too.