OCZ Announces Vertex 4 SSD

[Rudboy]

Source

Wednesday, April 4th 2012


"OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today introduced the Vertex 4 SATA III SSD series featuring the company's advanced Indilinx Everest 2 controller platform.

The Vertex 4 delivers the industry's highest input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance for SATA-based drives across a wide variety of application workloads making this fourth generation flagship product line ideally suited for demanding computing and workstation environments. It consistently accomplishes superior real world performance over the long term regardless of whether the data streams are in compressed or uncompressed formats.

The Vertex 4 features sequential bandwidth up to 535 MB/s, maximum random performance up to 120,000 IOPS, and with hard to manage incompressible data, delivers 95,000 4K random read IOPS and 85,000 random write IOPS. In comparison to OCZ's previous generation Vertex 3 SSD, rated at 60,000 sustained 4K random write IOPS, the Vertex 4 doubles typical transactional performance. The Vertex 4 also generates best in class latency as low as 0.04 ms for read operations and 0.02ms for write operations, delivering an improvement of approximately 80 percent over the Vertex 3. In typical use case scenarios, the Vertex 4 outperforms the Vertex 3 by as much as 400 percent.

Powered by its new Indilinx Everest 2 controller platform, featuring a dual core architecture and 400 MHz clock speeds, the Vertex 4 eliminates the need for internal data compression, further enhancing drive reliability. This advanced controller architecture also includes key features such as an advanced error correction code (ECC) engine, dynamic wear-leveling, auto encryption, and Indilinx's next generation Ndurance 2.0 NAND flash management technology, enabling OCZ to support the Vertex 4 SSD line with a 5-year warranty.

Ndurance 2.0, embedded within the Everest 2 platform, overcomes NAND flash memory shortcomings to extend NAND flash life well beyond the manufacturer rated program and erase cycle specifications. It ensures that the Vertex 4 can be reliably used in a wide range of computing environments over an extended lifetime. This advanced NAND flash management suite not only radically extends NAND flash memory life, but provides enterprise-class endurance even when commodity-grade NAND flash is used.

"The Vertex 4 represents an evolution in SSD technology and is a milestone product, delivering maximum performance and the highest NAND flash durability to date while eliminating the tradeoffs typically associated with on-the-fly data compression in MLC-based SSDs," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "We have raised the bar with an SSD product that delivers the ultimate in performance, regardless of data type, and for the first time ever, provides high read and write IOPS performance all on the same SSD platform."

The Vertex 4 SSD will be available this month through OCZ's global channel in 128 GB to 512 GB capacities."

Still waiting to get my first SSD!

[Tomek]

Yep I'm still waiting too! Read about these Indilinx a bit ago.

5 year warranty makes this is definite candidate.

Just hope they start getting closer to the buck/gig margin! lol

I need a minimum of 256GB to be RAIDed w/ another down the road.

[Urbanfox]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5719/o...ew-256gb-512gb

[hostage67]

Unless they bring the prices down the drive while better, doesn't seem like a huge jump up to me. It's just barely faster than the Vertex3 in most cases.

[DC]

Wonder if this drives perform faster - do they fail faster too?

lol - sorry - obligatory OCZ SSD bashing.

[WordMasterRice]

Originally Posted by hostage67

Unless they bring the prices down the drive while better, doesn't seem like a huge jump up to me. It's just barely faster than the Vertex3 in most cases.

It isn't about faster, it's about IOPS.

[hostage67]

Originally Posted by WordMasterRice

It isn't about faster, it's about IOPS.

I get that, since the IOPS is the only thing that has really changed. But the question remains, how does that really impact performance, reliability, or price.

The Vertex3 was running 60k IOPs
The Vertex4 is expecting 95k IOPs

OCZ Vertex 4OCZ Vertex 3
Max Seq Read 535 MB/s 550 MB/s
Max Seq Write 475 MB/s 500 MB/s
Max Random Read 95K IOPS 60K IOPS
Max Random Write 85K IOPS 85K IOPS


We are only...
Max Seq Read = -15
Max Seq Write = -25
Max Random Read = +35k
Max Random Write = 0

So we're losing ground in read/write speeds, but gaining IOPS, so clearly the focus is the IOPS, but to what end?


The Vertex3 is still beating it in most scenarios except a very specific Random Read test which isn't very reflective of real world performance.

I'm all for being efficient, or going for goals other than the absolutely fastest at the cost of everything else. I guess my point is... I simply don't see what they are doing, the Vertex has become their "speed" line, they are introducing a brand new SSD, but it's numbers are actually worse than the previous version, yet I am somehow expected to get excited about the new drive?

If however, the drive can bring prices down significantly at very little cost to performance, then that would make sense, but I just don't see what the goal is with this new drive.

[Rudboy]

Originally Posted by hostage67

Unless they bring the prices down the drive while better, doesn't seem like a huge jump up to me. It's just barely faster than the Vertex3 in most cases.

According to the link Urbanfox posted from Anandtech prices for the Vertex 4 are lower than the Vertex 3, and performance in some areas is up 400%. /shrug....seems like a fairly large jump to me and my limited knowledge, even better when the price is less than the predecessor.

[Urbanfox]

Originally Posted by Rudboy

According to the link Urbanfox posted from Anandtech prices for the Vertex 4 are lower than the Vertex 3, and performance in some areas is up 400%. /shrug....seems like a fairly large jump to me and my limited knowledge, even better when the price is less than the predecessor.

As of today, V4 is higher. The egg has the V3 120 for $160 (140 after rebate) and the V4 128 for $180.

[DrGuns4Hands]

Have to say I'm a big OCZ fan personally, not because of their SSD's though I have some of their performance RAM to thank for my allegiance. What i'm hoping is now that they've gotten a hold of the whole enchilada as they start updating the firmware that this drive can gain even more ground. Although I'm not making a move from my M4 till next year, I've gotta see how this ReRAM thing turns out RAM speed storage device with more longevity than an SSD if the price is right the SSD market could disappear overnight.

Additional Comment:

OCZ Vertex 4 is using a Marvell controller and Indilinx firmware not an Everest 2 controller Like we first believed if you trust the m4 cause of its controller you can trust the Vertex 4.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Oct...ler,15304.html

[Cecil]

Im good with my Corsair Performance Pro, Samsung 830, and Crucial M4. I got an Agility 3, but only cause it was $35 and for benching use only. I try not to support OCZ, but if the price cant be beat, then oh well.

[DrGuns4Hands]

5 Eggs on Newegg and the 2 non 5 star reviews have nothing to do with the drive that's a really good start for the Vertex 4's performance, though still to early to tell at least not as many DOA's