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BUILD AND COMPONENTS
The OCZ RevoDrive PCIe x8 SSD is constructed of a single printed circuit board that is covered with an attractive brushed aluminum shell. The shell also serves as a heat sink that is contact with the OCZ RAID controller and dissipates heat from the OCZ RAID controller.
On the front of the PCB, there are 16 modules of 19nm Toshiba Toggle Mode NAND flash memory with a product number of TH58TEG7DDJBA4C. Each has a capacity of 16GB for a total RAW capacity of 512GB on our 480GB sample drive. This memory is also present on the OCZ Vertex 460 notebook SSD that we reviewed a short time ago.
Located on the face of the drive is the is the OCZ SAS RAID controller (ICT-0262) that we previously saw on both the RevoDrive 3×2 and Z-Drive PCIe SSDs.
Lattice In-System programmable power supply (ispPAC-POWR1220AT8), along with 3 Enpirion EN6300 PowerSoC chips are also visible on the face.
Our first glimpse at the back of the RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD left us (as well as many others we’re sure) speechless. Not only did we find 16 more modules of Toshiba 19nm NAND flash but also, right there front and center were four LSI SandForce SF-2282VB1 flash memory controllers. Check any SSD specs at our own complete SSD Database.
While this, at one time, might not appear that unusual, one has to wonder whatever became of OCZ’s own Indilinx Barefoot 3 Controller that so many would agree would be an amazing component here. Nonetheless, this certainly lays to rest any thoughts of ruffled feathers blood between OCZ and LSI. Perhaps that could even open the door to a serious look at the SF-3700 controller that LSI has remained so quiet about.
In any case, OCZ has always been able to keep us guessing and the OCZ RevoDrive 350 appears to be no different. Choice of the tried and true LSI SandForce flash controller is an easy decision if one wants to get a product out today, and it is also business smart opening the door for a new Barefoot 3 version in the future.
Sandforce needs to die already.
2011 controller on a highend ssd in 2014 is just plain laughable, especially when 3rd gen sandforce with native pci-e is just around the corner.
But it does deliver performance, but at a hefty price.
Don’t agree with this at all. New innovations aren’t ready yet so they once again stepped outside the line and created something that many are looking for. Price per MB/s….it is unbeatable. I believe this is the cheapest available for this performance. Actually wait…is this the cheapest available?
Well to be fair, you can get 4x128GB 840PRO (or any other highperformance ssd) and with raid0, they would probobly destroy 350.
But yeah, as far as PCI-e solutions goes and price/performace, its probobly unbeatable (but thats just the nature of pci-e drives anyway at this point).
I just wish they hadn’t used sandforce. There are so many other controllers to chose from (heck they even have an inhouse controller) chosing sandforce really makes little sense at this point. Especially if you cosider all the problems sandforce had (and still has to some degree), not to mention OCZ lost pretty much all it reputation because of that (vertex2/3 anyone?).
Choosing controllers can be a funny thing. For instance, this choice now opens the door for an amazing upgrade or new release with their own controller. As far as reliability goes, the Revo famly has always been SF based and had a great deal of success. In fact, the majority of PCIe SSDs have all been SF based.
On the controller note…. I personally have always believed that LAMD controller had amazing potential….that is until they were bought out . Now it has all but disappeared from the landscape.
Yeah, i guess you’re right 🙂 OCZ though ahead and for now went with slower and possibly cheaper sandforce just to upgrade in the future with something faster based on their own controller IP. Sneaky move 🙂
As far as LAMD is concerned; yeah hynix really ruined it.. i really wish that hadn’t happed or maybe if someone else bought them (LSI ?)
HELLO TO ALL,
I HAVE OWNED TWO OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 MAX IOPS, AND ANY AND TWO WERE REPLACED IN RMA
NOW I HAVE TO BUY ONE OF THESE TWO PRODUCTS:
-OCZ RevoDrive 480GB-350
-Deluxe Mushkin Scorpion’s 480 GB
Please help me…
Sorry for my caploks enabled
Come to think of it, outside of the Neutron GTX, did anything else get produced by LAMD?
Seagate consumer and enterprise SSDs.
LSI did die… they were just acquired by AVAGO.
Any idea on expected availability? Can’t seem to find it anywhere online.
Checking on this…
Just an update: Newegg has “May 12” as the “Release Date” for this product. Lets see then. I am not located in this US however (over in Asia here) so I might end up waiting a month at minimum before my local distributor decides to get their act in order. Thanks for the reply though!
> there is a 5 second delay in the boot sequence prior to system BIOS that
accommodates for this SSDs ability to work as a boot drive.
ouch, thats alot.
Thats like half of the boottime on sata based systems >:)
OCZ is dead soon.. I been reading on internet..
Can you please elaborate further, regarding the Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe’s “incompatibility concerns”?
“End performance displays stronger write transfer throughput for the Scorpion, however, ‘incompatibility concerns’ are evident when we run AS SSD, Anvil Storage utilities and PCMark Vantage.”
The only incompatibility relates to the synthetic benchmark software and nothing else.
Hi Les,
My Aussie supplier just informed me (..today) of this new RevoDrive 350 (…after my 2nd RevoDrive 2×3 failed in 48hrs of deployment and OS configuration back in January).
…Everyone (Umart Online, OCZ Tiawan …and most of all, me) were concerned over the possibility of it happening (failure) a 3rd time. …So …we’ve all stood back to see what the Toshiba influence might yield, …and it appears I may have been correct to hold off.
Yep …it’s time to get back on the horse for me Les. Everything you say about the Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe 1920GB rings true to those of my experience. …And, the fact Muschkin have yet to address the SMART and TRIM as standard features with the OCZ (…and I remain uncertain why I’m rank that feature so highly), held me back. ….However, those combined anxieties are the reasons I has remained / stayed on the fence this long.
(…My many thanks go out to Umart On-Line, …their Australian supply chain …to OCZ Tech Support Tiawan ….and yourself for all the advice and warranty support extended to me in this testing period of disappointments.)
Thanks for your review Les.
Why does this need drivers if its presents to the host as a single drive ?
Why does this need a driver if it presents to the host system as a single drive ? Im interested but dont want to install Windows at all.
Without the driver, PCIe is not recognized prior to, or in the system BIOS, as a bootable device.
OCZ Support is very poor. I just replaced my dead Revodrive with an Intel DC P3700. OCZ support is still going back and forth with me on the warranty and claiming it was lack of airflow in my case (I have a D-Frame open air case with 3 fans at the bottom, and the RevoDrive had two open slots next to it… but their support just keeps insisting inadequate airflow killed the controller after only a year of use…)
When the card works, it’s great. It’s just not worth dealing with their support when things go wrong (and they probably will go wrong at some point.)
can u tell me how to install it? im stuck here since 5 days, as this worked before for me, now i cant figure out what to do 🙁 ihave asus rampage iv extreme