Internals, Testing Methodology and System Setup
Internals:
These are significantly lighter weight than previous OCZ SSDs, which is a welcome change as SSDs don't function any differently with a bulky, heavy housing.
At the rear of the PCBs we see, well, not much. Even the 960GB model does not need flash packages installed at the rear, which is impressive once you look at the front:
At the PCB fronts we see just four flash packages on all three capacities. In the case of these, the capacity difference lies in how many dies are stacked within those packages. The Toshiba TC58 controller sits in the center, adjacent to its attached DRAM. The controller sits at a 45 degree rotatio… wait a minute, where have I seen that before?
Yup, that Phison S10 PCB looks just like this one. What an odd coincidence. To better compare, I busted out the Patriot Ignite from our roundup piece:
Yeah, that's looking awfully close indeed. Let's get a better look:
Well that settles that I guess. It is a safe bet that Toshiba is using the Phison S10 controller silicon here, presumably with a custom firmware to implement their QSBC error correction technology. This might mean they had to implement it purely in the firmware / software, which may see a performance hit to write speeds. We'll know for sure once we hit the benches.
Testing Methodology
Our tests are a mix of synthetic and real-world benchmarks. IOMeter, HDTach, HDTune, Yapt and our custom File Copy test round out the selection to cover just about all bases. If you have any questions about our tests just drop into the Storage Forum and we'll help you out!
Test System Setup
We have several storage testbeds. A newer ASUS P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt and an ASUS Z87-PRO. Variance between both boards has been deemed negligible when testing SATA devices. Future PCIe and SATA device testing, including this review, take place on a new ASUS Sabertooth X99, which comes equipped with USB 3.1, M.2, and can also handle SFF-8639 devices with the proper adapter.
PC Perspective would like to thank Intel, ASUS, Corsair, Kingston, and EVGA for supplying some of the components of our test rigs.
Hard Drive Test System Setup | |
CPU | Intel Core i7 5820K @ 4.125 GHz |
Motherboard | ASUS Sabertooth X99 |
Memory | 16GB Micron DDR4 @ 3333 |
Hard Drive | G.Skill 32GB SLC SSD |
Sound Card | N/A |
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 750 |
Video Drivers | GeForce Game Ready Driver 347.88 |
Power Supply | Corsair CMPSU-650TX |
DirectX Version | N/A |
Operating System | Windows 8.1 Pro X64 (update) |
- PCPer File Copy Test
- HDTach
- HDTune
- IOMeter
- YAPT
OCZ….Meh!
OCZ….Meh!
Not even Toshiba could save
Not even Toshiba could save them from the very bad habit of making crappy SSDs, lol.
Maybe they will come out with
Maybe they will come out with a NVME version!!!!?
OCZ in the name is deal
OCZ in the name is deal breaker for me. Lot of hype and nothing at the business end. 2nd deal breaker is TLC flash. Not a fan of it by long shot. I would be more optimistic if they come with pure TLC drive and like 4-5TB capacity for 400-500$.
If they want to take a stab at something, stab the region where no competition reached before. And that’s beefy SSDs for the masses intended as storage. You don’t need 500MB/s+ transfers here. Also random access/write/read is not major factor. I said as long as SSDs are around. Storage of rarely accessed data that’s the only good place for SSDs.
$.10 per GB I like that
$.10 per GB I like that idea
BackBlaze StoragePod made of only SSD
Only like $20k
Thanks for the solid write
Thanks for the solid write up, Allyn.
As I see it, OCZ continues to struggle. I thought with Toshiba acquiring them, allowing the access to Toshiba’s inventory “at cost,” they would provide some solid SSDs at affordable prices. Think Crucial. Instead we have prices higher than Samsung with subpar performance.
I’d love to support OCZ but they make it so darn hard! Unless they have some huge OEM contracts, I don’t see how they can stay relevant.
Perhaps Toshiba should ask
Perhaps Toshiba should ask their manufacturing partner Sandisk
for a little help here,as it’s possible the flash they are using
is exactly the same………………..
Haven’t seen write speeds that low since the 120GB-840……
Uphill battle-even if OCZ reduces prices by 30% they still have
the-“Friends don’t let friends OCZ” to contend with…………
It makes you wonder why OCZ
It makes you wonder why OCZ released this product when they could clearly see in their testing/validation that it couldn’t compete with the 850 Evo? Releasing a product after the competition that costs more that offers worse performance? *sigh*
My spoon is too big…
My spoon is too big…
*Sings in David Bowie’s
*Sings in David Bowie’s voice*
G-g-g-g-GAR-BAGE, G-g-GARBAGE. G-g-g-g-GAR-BAGE, Ga-ga-GARBAGE!
One major plus for me is that
One major plus for me is that OCZ offers a linux version of their “SSD Guru” utility. I’m wondering if some of the short comings in this review might be mitigated by an update.