OCZ Octane 1.13 Firmware Update: Improving 4KB Random Write Performance
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 9, 2012 11:21 PM ESTPerformance Over Time
I was curious to see if the latest firmware improved the Octane's worst case scenario. Although write amplification is definitely down, it's still a problem as the drive can get into a pretty nasty performance state when subjected to constant random writes. I suspect we'll need to see a more significant effort on the firmware side to get this addressed. Perhaps that's something we'll need Everest 2 for.
Final Words
I asked OCZ if the 1.13 firmware update offered any bug fixes or if it was purely for performance, the answer was the latter - it's a performance upgrade, nothing else. If you've got a 128GB or 256GB drive the upgrade is worthwhile. If you've got a 512GB drive however, you may want to hold off as there's no real benefit. The only exception would be if you've deployed your Octane in a server that's subjected to tons of random writes. I suspect even the bravest enterprise customers aren't too keen on adopting a fairly new consumer drive for use in their servers though.
The bigger news is that OCZ is clearly addressing one of the performance issues with Octane and the Everest platform. There's still more room to improve but this is an important step forward to hardening Everest. Reducing write amplification and improving random write performance will make Everest more feasible for use in enterprise workloads, although it may ultimately be Everest 2 that gets OCZ all the way there.
As far as Octane goes, I'm still in the wait and see mode with this drive. I have one Octane deployed in a system here that's used daily. The drive has been problem-free thus far but we've still got several months of testing before I'm totally comfortable. The competition is tough for sure (particulary after this last round of Intel and Samsung launches), but the market is growing quickly enough where there's still room for multiple controller vendors.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
23 Comments
View All Comments
darckhart - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
hm i thought the octane's used intel's 25nm synchronous mlc nand. the samsung uses some special concoction cooked up by themselves and toshiba.ckryan - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Yes. Samsung and Toshiba both make Toggle NAND, but I don't think they're all that similar. Samsung and Toshiba both have their own fabs (Toshiba in Japan, Samsung in Korea) and I would assume they put better NAND in their own drives (at least, this is what Intel supposedly does). Therefore, arguably, you could get better NAND in the 830.I don't know why so few drives utilize Samsung NAND today. Toshiba NAND must be much cheaper or something. I have a couple older drives with Samsung MLC and SLC, but I can't recall any modern drive using their stuff (beside Samsung of course).
landion - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Are they going to release a similar firmware update for the Octane S2?Does the S2 have the same problem that prompted the update for the octane?
MrSpadge - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
It was not a problem, it was rebalancing performance. If the S2 performs the same as the regular one, it would benefit & loose the same way.celestialgrave - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Was there any difference in the power usage since the performance changed?SlyNine - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
So quick quetsion (and I know this isn't the best place to ask) But Intels new toolbox is telling me to upgrade my G2's. But I'm currently running Windows off of them and have them in a RIAD 0. Anyone know if thats ok to upgrade the firmware while operating the OS from them?sanguy - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
OCZ has lost it's unique (and some say unfair) advantage with SandForce so it is zero surprise they are working on Everest as the go-forward platform.Intel's recent 520 release is a perfect example of this - the only thing keeping it from completely making OCZ SF drives irrelevant in the market is price. And this is Intel's way - why give it away when you have customers lining up to pay the premium for quality? When that line up gets short, the price will be adjusted and Intel will dominate the SF drive market.
So the question is - can OCZ compete on performance, features, and price? I'd say in the long run it can't.
RU482 - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
more OCZ beta testing...I mean updates for the customer to performCoup27 - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
But only if it is not your boot drive. As there is inexplicably no linux update method, you have to dig out a second ssd/hdd and install your OS onto that and then connect the Octane as a secondary drive, obviously making sure your SATA port numbers are all rosey and you haven't installed Intel RST.And if you own a laptop you're f****d.
Seriously, WTF??!!
Jokeshop.
sanguy - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Will be interesting to see OCZ's blame game tactics now.They used to be very quick to blame the 3rd party controller manufacture, but that excuse train has dried up.
If firmware, tools, etc, are buggy it's one throat to choke -- and that's OCZ's throat. Nobody else.
God help the OCZ customers.