SSD Guru, Conclusion, and Final Thoughts
SSD Guru:
In conjunction with the Vector 180 launch, OCZ also launched a replacement for their OCZ Toolbox. Out with the old, and in with the SSD Guru:
SSD Guru has everything you would expect from a SSD software package these days. Online download and application of firmware updates, secure erasures, monitoring, and SMART data retrieval are all present and accounted for.
Conclusion:
PROS:
- Excellent read performance.
- OCZ ShieldPlus Warranty offers advance RMA returns without a receipt.
CONS:
- Subpar TRIM performance.*
- Sustained writes are stalled every 20 seconds as the controller flushes metadata.*
*(stall duration and TRIM servicing is worse for higher capacity models)
Pricing and Availability:
- OCZ Vector 180 120GB – $89
- OCZ Vector 180 240GB – $149
- OCZ Vector 180 480GB – $269
- OCZ Vector 180 960GB – $499
Warranty:
The Vector 180 line carries a 5 year 'ShieldPlus' warranty, rated at 50GB/day.
Final Thoughts:
Even though the Vector 180 has some impressive raw throughput results, there is more to the performance of this SSD than reported averages. This is OCZ's flagship product, at flagship product pricing, and to cut straight to the chase, it does not perform to my expectations of an enthusiast SSD. With firmware 1.01 (current as of this writing), the Vector 180 halts every 20 seconds during sustained writes. TRIM operations also result in obvious stalls in subsequent host writes. The lower cost/GB at higher capacities is countered by the fact that the TRIM performance and periodic write stalls are amplified in those larger models. The primary function of an SSD is to service host IO requests as quickly as possible, and the OCZ Vector 180 unfortunately falters at this task too often for me to recommend it. We are standing by to retest should OCZ choose to correct these issues in a future firmware update.
Man, Allyn, you really
Man, Allyn, you really reestablished my faith in you. Historically, you have been very easy on OCZ SSD’s, often giving them the benefit of the doubt with respect to problems with them at review time that you assumed would be fixed eventually by firmware updates and lower pricing. Just saying, with the conclusions you reached, this is a drive I will definitely be steering clear of.
thanks
As the saying goes: “Fool me
As the saying goes: "Fool me once…"
“There’s an old saying in
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
There’s some genuine
There’s some genuine investigative reporting going on there in the fifth page of this review and it’s very refreshing. Nicely done Mr. Malventano.
In my view page 5 basically blows the lid off of OCZ and the reliability of their Barefoot controller. Despite reporting from most outlets, for years now drives based off of this technology have suffered massive failure rates due to sudden power loss. Here we have definitive evidence of those flaws and the lengths OCZ is going to in order to work around them (note, i didn’t say ‘fix’ them).
The fact that they were willing to go to the extra cost of adding the power loss module in addition to crippling the sustained performance of their flagship drive in order to flush the cache out of DRAM speaks VOLUMES about how bad their reliability was before. You don’t go to such extreme – potentially kiss of death measures – without a good boot up your ass pushing you headlong toward them. In this case said boot was constructed purely out of OCZ’s fear that releasing yet ANOTHER poorly constructed drive would finally put their reputation out of it’s misery for good and kill any chance a future sales.
OCZ has cornered themselves in a no win scenario:
1) They don’t bother making the drive reliable and in doing so save the cost of the power loss module and keep the sustained speed of the Vector 180 high. The drive reviews well with no craters in performance and the few customers OCZ has left buy another doomed Barefoot SSD that’s practically guaranteed to brick on them within a few months. As a result they loose those customers for good along with their company.
or
2) The go to the cost of adding the power loss module and cripple the drives performance to ensure that the drive is reliable. The drive reviews horribly and no one buys it.
This is their position. Kiss of death indeed.
Ultimately, i think it speaks to how complicated controller development is and that if you don’t have a huge company with millions of R&D funds at your disposal it’s probably best if you don’t throw your hat into that ring. It’s a shame but it seems to be the way high tech works. (Global oligopoly, here we come.)
All things considered, it’s nice that this is finally all out in the open. Thanks Allyn.
Somehow I’m not suprised.
Somehow I’m not suprised.
You tested the Vector 180
You tested the Vector 180 with the new 1.01 firmware, but was the Radeon R7 also updated to 1.01, as OCZ recommends? Does it show the same write hitching?
The R7 results in this piece
The R7 results in this piece were based on the initial firmware. We're going to take a closer look at all other M00 based drives (with updates applied) now that we've uncovered this behavior.
beta testing on consumers.
beta testing on consumers. fail products fail company fail fail fail! all computer parts should handle power fails the same way: not requiring a 2-3 week rma. ocz should not exist anymore.
>Blah-blah-blah
>Blah-blah-blah walloftextsomethingsomething blah-blah-somethingwalloftext-blah-somethingsomethingwalloftext >aaand…it’s crap.
You should have said so right away, d00ds.
“Write hitching”. I first saw
“Write hitching”. I first saw that and all I could think of was the the old stuttering jmicron controllers….on older OCZ drives no less. Bad memories.
Now you show compelling evidence on why you might want to flat out avoid drives with Barefoot controllers.
Love these in-depth articles. Awesome job as usual.
Even though JMicron was
Even though JMicron was always slow as hell (and still is even these days), AT LEAST IT DIDN’T FAIL RIGHT OUT OF IT’S ASS, like that SandForce trash does all the time. JMicron’s stuff slow, true, but also one of the more reliable controllers out there.
As a data point, no JMicron
As a data point, no JMicron controller we ever tested halted all writes for more than one second, and it certainly didn't do so every 20 seconds.
How long is it going to take
How long is it going to take to forget-
“Friends DON’T let friends OCZ”
Unless you’re buying their
Unless you’re buying their “extremely-rare-now-since-they’re-not-doing-them-anymore” PSUs, that is.