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REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
Speaking to the new OCZ Vector 150 enthusiast SSD just wouldn’t seem right without considering OCZ’s background as well. From day one, they have been the dark horse of the SSD arena and many employees still with the company today have weathered the good and the bad. That’s the price paid for pushing forward and being an innovator in a new technology that many believed wouldn’t succeed. How did they do? I wish I had a penny for every time someone said they were closing their doors, being sold or, as with the most recent rumors, were considering sale of their consumer SSD division. If that information were reliable, anyone not grabbing that sale, just for the Barefoot 3 controller alone, would have to be nuts!
Like just about every introduction before it, OCZ is introducing a dynamite SSD to the consumer that will push things forward once again; enter the OCZ Vector 150 enthusiast SSD. Not only does it have the industry leading performance that has become the OCZ trademark, but also, it pushes that much further with a promise of great steady state and mixed workload performance. As reviewers, OCZ pretty much dared us to push the Vector 150 well past what many might consider the norm for a consumer SSD, and they are better for it. Displaying sustained IOPS in excess of 21K through 12 hours of 4K random write testing, and living to tell about it, pretty much guarantees that this SSD is a workhorse.
OCZ seems to have upped the ante on the vector 150 from all angles. Not only have they covered typical and sustained performance, but also OCZ once again went with a five-year warranty that speaks to 50GB host writes per day with typical consumer use. They have added 256-bit AES encryption, built the Vector 150 in a slim 7mm form factor, and even included migration instructions and a copy of Acronis True Image HD cloning software in the package. Pricing seems to be the only factor left for consideration.
MSRP is listed at $130 (120GB), $240 (240GB) and $500 (480GB) which is a tad high when we look at SSD pricing lately. Then again, I don’t think OCZ has ever had a release where demand didn’t exceed supply and retailers bumped pricing up just a bit. Checking the internet even now for those retailers trying for that early sale, we found a price tag on the 480GB capacity just over 6 bills. Yikes! Retailers will have the Vector SSD for sale at the time of this report and perhaps the price will surprise us just a bit.
Check Out OCZ Vector 150 SSD Pricing at Amazon.
/ FORUM DISCUSSION
Also, check out the OCZ Vector 120GB SSD Report at Technology X!
Nice, I LOVE OCZ! (since I have 2 x Vertex3MI 120GB, and they rock! 🙂 )…
Hi,
It was interesting to read ” One can easily identify the result of our 12 hour test pattern by the 7.73TB Total NAND Writes in 13 hours of use.” In fact perhaps it isn’t that easy because the Vector series come with up to 5 TB written to them in testing. As OCZ fail to mention this in the user manual it has led to a good deal of angst among users who have read the SMART data and have then assumed that they have been sold a used drive whilst paying for a new one. It also causes a lot of confusion regarding the warranty. When I questioned OCZ about the write limit I was informed that an allowance of an extra 5TB is made on top of the 20GB per day for five years. Again no mention of this in the user manual or the warranty conditions. OCZ may make top class drives (I have two) but their communications stink.
Hi Alan…. If I could be honest, it sounds like another typical thread coming from one who does not think much of OCZ and, IMHO, that has gotten very old. It is VERY common these days to find exactly the same burn-in and validation of new products and nobody mentions it whatsoever. With OCZ though it seems its a lose lose, they lose if they don’t burn in and something goes wrong, then again, they lose for burning in and not telling you it required up to 5TB written. Quite frankly, I believe the Barefoot 3 is the hottest controller available right now and OCZ firmware expertise is taking it in all new directions. We are long past the days of learning the hard way and my views are still the same.
Would I rather an innovator who has learned the hard way and, as a result, pushed SSD technology forward leaps and bounds, or would I rather the safe bet who came to the show late relying on the bumps that others have suffered along the way?
Hi Les,
Your assessment of me and my post couldn’t be more wrong. I own two SSD’s, a 128 GB Vector and a 256 GB Vector . I chose the drives after considering as many options as I could and over and above the Samsung Pro, which a lot of the smart money was on.I am very happy with both of the drives, with the smaller one in particular impressing me with it’s speed.
When I fitted the 256 it had the best part of 5TB written to it and I honestly thought I had been conned because I could not find any reference to it in the manual.This led to an ugly scene with the retailer. Others have had similar issues. That is not good, don’t you agree?
Also I was aware of the 20GB per day for 5 years limit but only via website reviews and I was not aware of the extra 5TB allowed for the test writes and so would have assumed that my warranty ran out 5TB sooner than it actually would.
No Les , I happen to be a big fan of OCZ and I love my Vectors but I do honestly feel that some info re the test writes and the extra 5TB allowed in the warranty would be useful to us mere mortal consumers , who do not always understand all that there is to know about SSD’s. That’s why I read your reviews.
Please Les, reassess where it is you think I am coming from because I ma not the Anti OCZ ranter that you think.
Yes and my apologies from below. I was out of line and do see some valid points but they are not limited to just OCZ in my opinion. Have a good one!
Hi Les,
Thanks for your revision, it is very much appreciated.
Yes, I am getting old and cranky at times.
Hmm, another alan here LOL, I for one, have a lot of respect for OCZ, without them bringing us many SSDs back in day when no one had SSDs, we would have struggled to get a fair price on anything SSD related, yes they had some problems in the beginning, but that was all cleared up many years ago, now they have the best Consumer Grade controller in the business, and yes they are asking a premium for it, and I am willing to pay that premium for a product I believe is worth every dime. JMHO.
Toshiba Q Series Pro with unknown contoller … Vector 150 with Toshiba Memory …
Seems that something is going on there no ?? 🙂
Coincidence eh…. So far…no denials and the typical silence… Who knows?
Isnt toshiba using marvell silicon with their firmware on these drivers ?
Also no DRAM cache, which is a first for marvell aswell.
I am a bit confused… the controller is Marvell. Are you speaking of the Toshiba?
Yeah i’m talking about the toshiba Q series..
Yes…witth the new controller on the Q, it is a diff prod number…let’s carry that to that review though shall we?