OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III SSD 199 AC + FS @NEWEGG (YMMV)

http://www.kitguru.net/components...ew-fw-1-4/

Quote from sklar : Amen. I've looked at reviews of the vertex 4 and I'm seeing the same stuff I saw with the vertex 3 and the vertex 2 plus. Lots of blue-screens, lots of data corruption, still doing the firmware update shuffle.

It's been the same song and dance with OCZ every SSD generation, and extends beyond to other product lines prior to that. No question they make high performance drives but their QC needs work. As one of those tech sites put it, "history counts for something."

They've got 145 products listed on NewEgg right now. Of those with 10 or more reviews, they have exactly one product with a 5-egg average review, and it's a 4GB USB drive. Any company can have hiccups and a bad run but it's par for the course with OCZ. There are too many options out there.

I've had this drive since the day it came out (beginning of May) and it's been great in my early 13'' MacBook Pro. This is the best performing drive on the market because it performs well with compressible AND incompressible files (Sandforce-based drives don't).

As for OCZ's previous reliability problems, I personally never had an issue (owned a Vertex 3 on first FW) but their reputation was tarnished because Sandforce shipped FW that had a SATA bug. You need to realize that ALL Sandforce manufacturers had this problem but OCZ was selling 70% of all the drives so many put the blame on them. The issues have been fixed (since October) and the Vertex 4 uses a different controller anyway. It's a non-issue.

It's rock solid, consistently fast because it handles all data the same and I'd 100% recommend it at this price. Heck, I paid almost double this price a few months ago and still don't regret it.

Quote from DirkBergurk : I wouldn't bother. Samsung 830 is an excellent drive and you won't be disappointed.

The Vertex 4 crushes the 830. Don't get caught up in max performance numbers. It's all about sustained performance and access times. My MBP cold boots in under 10 seconds because of the low latency.

Quote from josephjpeters : I've had this drive since the day it came out (beginning of May) and it's been great in my early 13'' MacBook Pro. This is the best performing drive on the market because it performs well with compressible AND incompressible files (Sandforce-based drives don't). As for OCZ's previous reliability problems, I personally never had an issue (owned a Vertex 3 on first FW) but their reputation was tarnished because Sandforce shipped FW that had a SATA bug. You need to realize that ALL Sandforce manufacturers had this problem but OCZ was selling 70% of all the drives so many put the blame on them. The issues have been fixed (since October) and the Vertex 4 uses a different controller anyway. It's a non-issue. It's rock solid, consistently fast because it handles all data the same and I'd 100% recommend it at this price. Heck, I paid almost double this price a few months ago and still don't regret it.

OCZ has had many problems with other products as well ( power supplies, ram ).


Personally I wouldn't buy any SSD unless it's proven to be reliable. Few months from now should tell whether this is reliable or not. Personally, I went from Intel 80GB G2 to Crucial 512GB M4. Last thing I want to do, is waste my time re-installing OS and stuff.

Also the famous OCZ rebates doesn't help them establish a trusted brand either.

Quote from jay4321 : It's been the same song and dance with OCZ every SSD generation, and extends beyond to other product lines prior to that. No question they make high performance drives but their QC needs work. As one of those tech sites put it, "history counts for something." They've got 145 products listed on NewEgg right now. Of those with 10 or more reviews, they have exactly one product with a 5-egg average review, and it's a 4GB USB drive. Any company can have hiccups and a bad run but it's par for the course with OCZ. There are too many options out there.

Agreed. My favorite OCZ story is putting a support question on their company forum site. Nobody answered it. When I asked why, they said they worked from home and none of them had that model product, so they couldn't answer it. Apparently some sort of escalation along with customer communication wasn't in the equation.

The other one that just killed me was calling them about my vertex 2 plus data corruption issues and while their engineering was working on a new firmware and the entire universe knew the drives had a firmware issue...their customer service was assuring me that I just had a DOA drive and to pay to mail it into them for replacement. I just put it on the shelf for 3 months until three more firmwares came out and then it was good after that.

I understand that new products have problems, especially when you're on the performance cutting edge. What I don't understand is horrid customer communications and support.

Look at Intel, testing the sandforce stuff on hundreds of machines in thousands of configurations for over a year and delaying the release until they had it stable, while OCZ had their products shipping for almost six months.

Quote from jjp112685 : The Vertex 4 crushes the 830.

You must have a defective 830.

Quote from jjp112685 : The Vertex 4 crushes the 830. Don't get caught up in max performance numbers. It's all about sustained performance and access times. My MBP cold boots in under 10 seconds because of the low latency.

Can you link to a review that shows how the Vertex 4 crushes the 830? Every review I have seen (including the one linked in this thread) states that this is not the case.

Quote from DirkBergurk : Can you link to a review that shows how the Vertex 4 crushes the 830? Every review I have seen (including the one linked in this thread) states that this is not the case.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img82...080512.jpg

Under real-world conditions, containing conpressible and incompressible data, this is the fastest SSD out right now due to high random read and writes, and ultra low latency.

Quote from Xception2ThRule : http://img824.imageshack.us/img82...080512.jpg Under real-world conditions, containing conpressible and incompressible data, this is the fastest SSD out right now due to high random read and writes, and ultra low latency.

Interesting. Do you have a chart comparing 256 GB versions? I think that would be more telling.

Quote from DirkBergurk : Interesting. Do you have a chart comparing 256 GB versions? I think that would be more telling.

Check this out: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/...b-review/1

In a nutshell, this SSD is a beast. Comparable sequential speeds to the best SSDs out there, much better RANDOM speeds (which for most consumer usage scenarios is what really matters), fast access latency with use of 512MB cache compared to half that on a Samsung 830, and even 1024MB cache on the 512GB version. Excellent garbage collection. 5-year warranty.

Unless you have some beef with OCZ, or despise the fact that they are continually working around the clock to get you the max performance out of their firmware, I see no reason at a comparable price to other SSDs why a person would not choose the Vertex 4.

Quote from Xception2ThRule : Unless you have some beef with OCZ, or despise the fact that they are continually working around the clock to get you the max performance out of their firmware, I see no reason at a comparable price to other SSDs why a person would not choose the Vertex 4.

If the firmware updates were just because of performance increases and not bug fixes, then you'd have a stronger point.

Personally, I'd trade speed for reliability. I doubt I'd notice the speed difference in real life, but I'd certainly notice a failure.

The Vertex 4's track record is still pretty short.

http://m.techspot.com/review/543-ocz-vertex-4/