A Sandforce driven SATA 3 SSD from the popular Vertex Series – Will Max IOPS Edition shine?
Product on Review: Vertex 3 MAX IOPS SATA III 240GB
Manufacturer & Sponsor: OCZ Technology
Street Price: £395 inc. VAT (GBP)
Earlier in the year OCZ Technology decided to pull out of DDR memory production to focus primarily on storage solutions and power supplies. They are indeed a market leader with their SSD products – delivering blistering performance from the likes of their RevoDrive and respective SATAII/SATAIII drives. SSDs are slowly becoming mainstream , more and more users are investing in faster HDDs for their computer.
The Vertex Series is now in its 3rd generation and has world-wide renown, having won multiple awards. OCZ recently unveiled an alternative version of their Vertex 3 Series SSD called the Max IOPS Edition. OCZ claim that this drive can achieve up to 85,000 IOPS so let’s waste no further time and begin our analysis!
OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS Solid State Drives unleash the performance potential of the SATA 6Gbps interface, leading the speed revolution in this next-generation solution. Featuring the latest Sandforce controller design, OCZ designed the Vertex 3 Max IOPS to push the limits in read/write rates to blaze past the competition with up to 85,000 IOPS maximum 4k write performance. These latest drives take productivity, gaming, and multimedia applications to the next level to work in perfect symmetry with the latest enthusiast platforms.
Technical Specifications
Available in 120GB and 240GB Capacities
MLC NAND Flash
Interface: SATA 6Gbps / Backwards Compatible 3Gbps
Native TRIM support
Seek Time: .1ms
Slim 2.5″ Design
99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm
Lightweight: 77g
Operating Temp: 0°C ~ 70°C
Ambient Temp: 0°C ~ 55°C
Storage Temp: -45°C ~ 85°C
Low Power Consumption: 3W Active, 1.65W Idle
Shock Resistant up to 1500G
RAID Support
Included 3.5″ Desktop adapter bracket
Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP 32-bit/64-bit, Mac OSX
MTBF: 2 million hours
3-Year Warranty
120GB Max Performance
Max Read: up to 550MB/s
Max Write: up to 500MB/s
Random Read 4KB: 35,000 IOPS
Random Write 4KB: 75,000 IOPS
Maximum 4K Random Write: 85,000 IOPS
240GB Max Performance
Max Read: up to 550MB/s
Max Write: up to 500MB/s
Random Read 4KB: 55,000 IOPS
Random Write 4KB: 65,000 IOPS
Maximum 4K Random Write: 85,000 IOPS
Packaging & Closer Look
The Vertex 3 Max IOPS is presented in a small packet; packaging is similar to other SSDs – being from the Vertex family this is silver/grey/black. All key features are listed and some brief specifications can be found on the reverse of the packet.
Inside this packet there is a box that opens out to reveal a mounting bracket for attaching the drive within the case, some screws and the drive itself within an anti-static bag.
Vertex 3 Max IOPS packaging
Vertex 3 Max IOPS bundle
Removing the Vertex 3 Max IOPS from its packaging we can instantly recognise the way in which OCZ design their SSDs – across all series and ranges. Brand and model name is stamped on the front with the inscription 2.5” ‘Solid State Drive’. As with other Vertex SSDs in the family and indeed the packaging the styling is predominately grey/silver.
The front of Vertex 3 Max IOPS
Over on the back of Vertex 3 Max IOPS is the large white label with instructions on how to treat the drive and various standards involved. On the rear we also have the size specification, capacity and serial numbers should you need them for support. The SATA connectors can be seen at the bottom, being SATA 3 we have the same connector as SATA and SATA 2 for connectivity and power. Whilst the front of Vertex 3 Max IOPS has a plastic fascia, the rear has a metal plate to offer further robustness.
The back of Vertex 3 Max IOPS
Taking the cover off Vertex 3 Max IOPS we can reveal the controller – at the very heart of the SSD. As OCZ have marketed, Vertex 3 Max IOPS is SandForce driven – SF-2281VB1-SDC (the same controller found on Agility 3 and Vertex 3). OCZ have chosen to go with SandForce due to the fact the SSD interacts directly with the flash modules and without any buffer. This helps with energy efficiency, reduces the size of component layout and means RAM doesn’t take up any valuable space since this is 2.5” there isn’t a great deal of this.
Our Max IOPS drive uses Toggle flash. This means it can handle incompressible files much better and will show better stability in terms of performance when dealing with image files, video clips and audio files such as MP3s – tasks that the typical user would undertake on a daily basis. This results in better performance for all types of users.
Vertex 3’s PCB – SandForce driven
In the next stage of our review we will investigate the performance of the Vertex 3 Max IOPS.
Test Setup & Methodology
For the purpose of testing, we will be observing performance whilst comparing the Vertex 3 Max IOPS against previously reviewed drives using SATA 2, SATA 3 and PCI-E interface.
The system is formatted and a fresh version of Windows is installed with just drives in place – no additional applications. Windows is then updated to the latest release. Included in the list of benchmarks are the following applications:
ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46
AIDA64
CrystalDiskMark 3.0
Iometer
SiSoftware SANDRA
Windows 7 Boot Time Test
Test system
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K
Motherboard ASUS P8P67
Graphics ZOTAC GTX 480 AMP!
Memory 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis CL9 1600MHz
HDD
– OCZ Agility 3 240GB
– OCZ RevoDrive X2 240GB
– Kingston V+ 128GB
– Corsair F40 40GB
– Samsung Spinpoint 250GB SATA-II
PSU OCZ 750W Fatal1ty
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit
Synthetic Benchmarks: ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46
The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.
Synthetic Benchmarks: AIDA64
AIDA64 is an industry leading system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning AIDA64 Technology. During system optimizations and tweaking it provides essential system and overclock information, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to check the effects of the applied settings. CPU, FPU and memory benchmarks are available to measure the actual system performance and compare it to previous states or other systems.
Synthetic Benchmarks: CrystalDiskMark 3.0
CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software that analyses different types of hard drive. Giving sequential benchmark write and read statistics in MB/s. A simple program that is very useful.
Synthetic Benchmarks: Iometer
Iometer is based on a client–server model, where one instance of the Iometer graphical user interface is managing multiple ‘workers’ (each one representing a separate Dynamo.exe process) which are doing the I/O. Iometer performs Asynchronous I/O – accessing files or block devices (later one allowing to bypass the file system buffers).
Iometer allows the configuration of disk parameters such as the ‘Maximum Disk Size’, ‘Starting Disk Sector’ and ‘# of Outstanding I/Os’. This allows a user to configure a test file upon which the ‘Access Specifications’ configure the I/O types to the file.
Iometer allows the configuration of disk parameters such as the ‘Maximum Disk Size’, ‘Starting Disk Sector’ and ‘# of Outstanding I/Os’. This allows a user to configure a test file upon which the ‘Access Specifications’ configure the I/O types to the file.
For the purpose of this test. The 4K 50%/50% read/write file will be under the examination – reporting back on MBs per Second and Average Response Time.
Synthetic Benchmarks: SiSoftware SANDRA 2011
SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.
Sandra is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
Sandra is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
Real World Performance – Windows 7 Boot Time
Synthetic testing is valuable in the examination of Solid State Drives. But some of the tests may not mean all that much to some readers so the final test in this review is a real world test showing the Windows 7 boot time.
In order to perform this test (and indeed all other benchmarks), a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional was installed on the Vertex 3 – the image of this install with no additional applications or drivers was exported for importing onto each drive at the time of testing. This will provide a clean and fair environment for comparing the boot times on each of the drives. The times were monitored using a stopwatch.
In order to perform this test (and indeed all other benchmarks), a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional was installed on the Vertex 3 – the image of this install with no additional applications or drivers was exported for importing onto each drive at the time of testing. This will provide a clean and fair environment for comparing the boot times on each of the drives. The times were monitored using a stopwatch.
Conclusion
Since its introduction to the market the SATA 3 SSD has gathered plenty of momentum and thanks to lowering SATA 2 SSD prices the enthusiast has a much better opportunity to own such a device.
The Vertex 3 Max IOPS is a great example of what can be achieved by having a SATA 3 SSD. During the benchmark tests this drive showed solid performance, the only real cause for concern was the CrystalDiskMark write performance – but this test has previously shown anomalies with some drives. Overall though the Vertex 3 Max IOPS is a great performer.
Priced at just short of £400inc. VAT the Vertex 3 Max IOPS is a pricey drive indeed. There are cheaper alternatives out there with similar capacity and interface for approximately £280 so I think price is going to perhaps put some customers off purchasing.
Pros
+ Good overall performance
+ 3 year warranty
Cons
– Cost
– Similar real-world performance to cheaper alternatives
+ Good overall performance
+ 3 year warranty
Cons
– Cost
– Similar real-world performance to cheaper alternatives
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
