OCZ Vector SSD - True OCZ's (INDILINX Barefoot 3) Controller

[UranusFX]

- 7.0mm height
- 128, 256, 512GB Capacities
- Up to Read 550MB/s, Write 530MB/s
- Random read up to 100,000iops

- IMFT 25nm NAND of Synchronous
- Micron DDR3 512MB

There were many things past.
OCZ got a real self-made controller, Barefoot 3 (INDILINX infused).
EVEREST series has been made ​​in the IP of the Marvell.
That's no need to say, VERTEX series almost contains SandForce

Press - http://www.techpowerup.com/176198/OC...ontroller.html

Nice speed including real world performance.
But I worry about bugs.

Review - http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2082/1/

[Alex-Ro]

Waiting for some real world 50%,75% fill tests.Same with 840 pro,nobody did those tests yet...

[Highendtoys]

The NDA doesn't expire until Noon EST. Fill testing will be on TweakTown in two hours.

The 840 250GB gets fill tested in the same charts but not the 840 Pro.

[Highendtoys]

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/507...iew/index.html

[JR.]

Waiting for some real world 50%,75% fill tests.Same with 840 pro,nobody did those tests yet...

Hi Alex,

See Wendy's review over at myce.com http://www.myce.com/review/ocz-vecto...-heavy-use-10/

Regds, JR

[Highendtoys]

LOL, you can't use a benchmark that shows only the maximum speed from a short burst test to measure SSDs with data on the drive. Anyone who actually runs an SSD knows the performance drop off isn't just a small margin and that's what the data displays.

There's also serious issues running SWAT to play back traces on consumer drives since you are working with the actual data files and little things like TRIM aren't taking place. There's also that little queue depth issue. Yes, the software is called SWAT and not some mystery hardware covered by NDA.

[joelz]

I'll wait until the drive gets some mileage on it from customers who post about it while/after using it. Companies push out computer related products (a very big bucket here) and fix issues later all the time. The vertex 3 (and vertex 4?) were no different and show the companies track record.

I do like the Vertex 3's and own 9 of them, but I also suffered bugchecks and very low performance. Both issues are inexcusable. OCZ should have said the Vertex 3 would only perform at 50% of advertized rates when mated to Marvell xyz SATA 3 chip sets, or just provide a compatibility list from the start. Instead, they wanted to make more money (Marvell chips had a *huge* market share).

I do like quite a few OCZ products and would buy another Vertex 3, but corporations that do ch!t like this rub me the wrong way.

It would be great to see positive feedback from customers from this new product. It would certainly show they changed their ways.

[canthearu]

The Vector looks like it uses the same NAND tricks that the vertex 4 does to gain performance numbers using cheap ONFI NAND. Unless it is a 16 channel controller or something extreme.

So I'd probably avoid recommending it if it does use the same tricks.

[Highendtoys]

Barefoot 3 is an 8-channel controller and Indilinx's storage mode is back in the same manner it was on Vertex 4. http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/507...iew/index.html It's all there.

[Computurd]

I'm thinking barefoot looks pretty stanky, i must say that i am impressed with OCZ on this outing.

[Brahmzy]

Pretty darn close to the Sammy 840 Pros - trades blows every other metric.

[canthearu]

Pretty darn close to the Sammy 840 Pros - trades blows every other metric.

Yeah, but the Vector comes with bi-polar personality (storage mode), where as the samsung 840 pro doesn't.

[Computurd]

true, but from steady state testing at another site even in storage mode it is better than the rest. impressive!

[canthearu]

Storage mode is not generally when you have more then 50% full.

It occurs when you use more then 50% of the free space on a drive and don't let it idle to recover. Then write performance drops by about 3 quarters.

Additionally, it causes a penalty on write endurance, because during idle time, the drive must read everything written in the 1 bit per cell performance mode and re-write it as 2 bits per cell.

[Computurd]

Yup, they filled the drive to 70%, ran the workload until it reached steady state, then immediately logged performance. It still performed very well surprisingly.
The write endurance difference could bear some testing though, that could be very interesting.

[Tony]

Yeah, but the Vector comes with bi-polar personality (storage mode), where as the samsung 840 pro doesn't.

only a test that writes to the whole of the drive in 1 go will show it, so if you like running hdtach all day then get another brand drive, vector is so fast at recovering and moving data around to free up fast writes a normal end user who actually uses a drive for day to day data will never notice a slow down.

you guys seriously need to look past a hdtach graph...drives are being built now that excel with real world use.

Additionally, it causes a penalty on write endurance, because during idle time, the drive must read everything written in the 1 bit per cell performance mode and re-write it as 2 bits per cell

The warranty now covers physical writes and Anand clearly states what the warranty is in his review, we all know the drive will exceed this..but for peace of mind the end user now knows what they can expect from the product.

You guys may want to run anvil on this, you buy it you do what you want, the warranty is clear however, imo you would just be wasting your money doing the test...

OCZ are changing...very very different now than 12 months ago.

[Wendy]

LOL, you can't use a benchmark that shows only the maximum speed from a short burst test to measure SSDs with data on the drive. Anyone who actually runs an SSD knows the performance drop off isn't just a small margin and that's what the data displays.

There's also serious issues running SWAT to play back traces on consumer drives since you are working with the actual data files and little things like TRIM aren't taking place. There's also that little queue depth issue. Yes, the software is called SWAT and not some mystery hardware covered by NDA.

You would do far better if you concentrated on your own testing methods, and left other reviewers to conduct their tests in their own way, rather than trying to rubbish other reviewers like I've seen from you in another thread on here.
You don't know anything about my traces, or the hardware that measures them, so why not just leave it at that.

[canthearu]

only a test that writes to the whole of the drive in 1 go will show it, so if you like running hdtach all day then get another brand drive, vector is so fast at recovering and moving data around to free up fast writes a normal end user who actually uses a drive for day to day data will never notice a slow down.

But Tony, at the moment, I can get a Samsung 840 PRO which doesn't do this for exactly the same price. Not to mention that this recovery you talk about increases the write amplification of the drive (probably by a factor of 2)

What has the vector got going for it that the Samsung 840 pro doesn't already do?

The warranty now covers physical writes and Anand clearly states what the warranty is in his review, we all know the drive will exceed this..but for peace of mind the end user now knows what they can expect from the product.

Yeah, 35 TiB, which is pretty pathetic because the samsung 840 (and virtually all other SSDs) are guaranteed for it's entire NAND specification lifetime, which is generally far more then 35TiB. Even the 120Gig Samsung 840 non-pro is typically warranted for > 100TiB under desktop loads.

Now, admittedly I don't have any official warranty information to base my rant on, as none seems to be published on the OCZ webpages so far.

You guys may want to run anvil on this, you buy it you do what you want, the warranty is clear however, imo you would just be wasting your money doing the test...

OCZ are changing...very very different now than 12 months ago.

Nah, I'm going to skip running anvil on the drive. I'd be expecting results similar to the Vertex 4, based on the general quality and performance of 25nm ONFI NAND and the way the vector works. (being similar to the V4)

That is, unless you think I am wrong for some reason and think it is worth revisiting ... My mind can be changed

Edit: Although I am glad to hear that the culture at your company has been changing, maybe there is hope yet! I know I will be watching what happens with the Vector over the next few months. The Vertex 4 support and compatibility was definitely better handled then the Vertex 3, and there does seem to be a lot less outright failure problems in the spotlight.

[JR.]

Hi,

I thought folks would be interested to see how a Vector 256GB performs as a Windows 8 boot drive in my Dell XPS 17 laptop.

http://imageshack.us/a/img837/3633/a...vector2611.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img231/4606/201211262205x.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img5/2065/ocz...b1gb201211.png

Impressive for a laptop don't you think?

I just wanted to add that in my day to day, real world, hands-on experience of the Vertex 4 and now the Vector I have never experienced slipping out of performance mode. I can of course force it to happen by running a synthetic benchmark or by forcing extreme circumstances that are extremely unlikely to occur in real-world usage.

Regds, JR

[felix_w]

Is that performance with CPU Power-Saving features On or Off ?

[JR.]

Is that performance with CPU Power-Saving features On or Off ?

Hi felix,

It is with the High Performance Power Plan engaged in Windows but the XPS 17's BIOS gives me no opportunity to disable C States etc.

Regds, JR

[Tony]

Samsungs warranty:

840pro Warranty

5 years limited (client PC use only, 1 year data retention)* 5 years limited warranty assumes a workload of 40GB/day (host writes, 3-month data retention) for enterprise applications. Workloads in excess of 40GB/day are not covered under warranty.


840 3 Years Limited Warranty with recommended usage for desktop and laptop PCs...they don't say what that recommended usage is.

So....the pro has 2x what we are giving for host writes per day, ours will do way more than we quote BUT you have to be conservative when throwing a figure at it, BUT its NOT > 100TiB under desktop loads...its 73TB and no more.

The pro is an enterprise class drive, vector is not, the 840 has 3 yr warranty and no mention of recommended usage http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/m...-7TD120BW-spec that i can find.

The only thing many reviewers are pointing out is pricing BUT you have to start somewhere..prices go up and down depending on demand or lack of demand...our sales team manage that so its not for me to comment.

[Zaxx]

I'm fairly confident the Vector price will settle....launch prices in general are on the high side to capitalize on the early adopters and impatient enthusiasts. I'm guessing the Vector pricing will settle as will the 840 Pro. Ofc I could be totally off the mark...just an educated guess based on the past.

All the Ocz headlines put aside, I also think that Ocz has finally had enuff of the 'we'll launch it first for exclusivity and deal with the teething issues as they come'. As mentioned, the Vector launch was very delayed...looks like Ocz decided against going down the same path as they did with the SF1200 and SF2200. All the benching and endurance testing aside, only time will really tell the story...for the most part.
Now I'm waiting to see what a high-end Vector will consist of...24 or 19nm toggle with a generous increase of dram cache size/speed maybe? Can't wait til the time comes when fully functional PCI-E 2.0 and 3.0 is the norm. It should hold us over til sata express becomes a reality some time in 2014...lol

[Tony]

I'm fairly confident the Vector price will settle....launch prices in general are on the high side to capitalize on the early adopters and impatient enthusiasts. I'm guessing the Vector pricing will settle as will the 840 Pro. Ofc I could be totally off the mark...just an educated guess based on the past.

All the Ocz headlines put aside, I also think that Ocz has finally had enuff of the 'we'll launch it first for exclusivity and deal with the teething issues as they come'. As mentioned, the Vector launch was very delayed...looks like Ocz decided against going down the same path as they did with the SF1200 and SF2200. All the benching and endurance testing aside, only time will really tell the story...for the most part.
Now I'm waiting to see what a high-end Vector will consist of...24 or 19nm toggle with a generous increase of dram cache size/speed maybe? Can't wait til the time comes when fully functional PCI-E 2.0 and 3.0 is the norm. It should hold us over til sata express becomes a reality some time in 2014...lol

what vector is now will pretty much not change...

[Brahmzy]

What's in store for Vector 2? What is the projected life cycle of the Vector 1?