OCZ Vector 256GB Solid State Drive Review

Up to the point where I got the Vector on our test bench, the Vertex 4 was one of the yard sticks so to say that we marked all other drives on the market against, based on its performance all round and no matter what we threw at it. The Vector though has now re-written the rule book and it looks like we’ve got ourselves a brand new yard stick to measure against.

The Barefoot 3 controller as mentioned is an all OCZ design and with its first deployment in the Vector line of drives proving to be so successful, I wouldn’t be too surprised if we see this controller pop up in the Vertex 5 if it comes to light or any other future drives.

Until now, IOPs is not something that we have measured on SSDs purely because we didn’t feel they were a highly important factor in the choice the end user was making when choosing a drive over say read and write performance.  As times are changing and the speeds that drives are achieving are starting to hit the upper limits of what is possible under current SATA standards with regards to bandwidth, we find the focus being shifted to other aspects of drive features and specifications to find the cream of the crop. Depending on the end users needs, IOPs can be highly important and for example when rendering video can make a huge difference in render times.

Another thing that I would point out that puts the Barefoot 3 controller over any other SandForce drive is the need to not lose any capacity as part of preventing a dip in performance when the drive gets to a fully used state. The BF3 controller handles and prevents the dip in performance in a completely new way and this is totally handled on the controller itself. Any of you that have worries over this, should need not worry, but even still OCZ still include a massive 5 year warranty as well.

The Vectors ability to push out not only a high level of bandwidth but also some of the highest IOPs levels that we have seen mentioned in the drive specifications, ticks two of the biggest boxes going and even the price is remarkable at around £0.80/GB considering this is a high performance drive. OCZ though didn’t want this to be a drive focussed on price. Quality comes first and that has been made clear, with price and performance coming next to offer a top drive with a fair price point.

Bottom line, OCZ have pushed the bar up once again and the first new controller to come from Indilinx following their acquisition by OCZ and its integration into the Vector is proving so far to be a big success, giving us the all new yard-stick to play with.