The OCZ Vector 180 (240GB, 480GB & 960GB) SSD Review
by Kristian Vättö on March 24, 2015 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- SSDs
- OCZ
- Barefoot 3
- Vector 180
Mixed Random Read/Write Performance
Mixed read/write tests are also a new addition to our test suite. In real world applications a significant portion of workloads are mixed, meaning that there are both read and write IOs. Our Storage Bench benchmarks already illustrate mixed workloads by being based on actual real world IO traces, but until now we haven't had a proper synthetic way to measure mixed performance.
The benchmark is divided into two tests. The first one tests mixed performance with 4KB random IOs at six different read/write distributions starting at 100% reads and adding 20% of writes in each phase. Because we are dealing with a mixed workload that contains reads, the drive is first filled with 128KB sequential data to ensure valid results. Similarly, because the IO pattern is random, I've limited the LBA span to 16GB to ensure that the results aren't affected by IO consistency. The queue depth of the 4KB random test is three.
Again, for the sake of readability, I provide both an average based bar graph as well as a line graph with the full data on it. The bar graph represents an average of all six read/write distribution data rates for quick comparison, whereas the line graph includes a separate data point for each tested distribution.
The Vector 180 does better in mixed 4KB random IO than the 850 Pro, but it's a bit slower than the rest of the drives.
Fortunately the power consumption is still excellent.
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Vector 180's problem is its low random read performance because the performance gets better as more writes are thrown into the mix.
Mixed Sequential Read/Write Performance
The sequential mixed workload tests are also tested with a full drive, but I've not limited the LBA range as that's not needed with sequential data patterns. The queue depth for the tests is one.
In mixed sequential tests the Vector 180 does slightly better in the sense that the difference between drives in the order of 10% when excluding the 850 Pro.
Similar to what we saw in the sequential tests, the write power consumption is fairly high, which also increases the average power consumption and the Vector 180 no longer enjoys an advantage over the other drives.
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Vector 180's "bathtub" curve is pretty average, but as we can see here the power scales as soon as the portion of writes is increased, which isn't unique but for instance the 850 Pro and Extreme Pro don't exhibit such behavior.
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sfc - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Fool me once, shame on, shame on me. A fool me can't get fooled again.I *KNEW* OCZ was a garbage company after all the havoc they caused in the late 90s/early 00s with their crap memory products. It sounded alarm bells in my head that reminded me of their fake address that was literally an empty storefront.
But I read all the press, heard how it was just the same name but a different backing company. So I bought one of their SSDs like a fool, only to send it back multiple times and everytime have it die again. I still have an 80GB intel SSD I bought several years before the OCZ that's still kicking.
After all that, I find out the same crook selling crap memory was behind the "new" OCZ. Pulling his same parlor tricks giving review sites hand-picked models and sending bottom barrel reject flash to customers. You should just refuse to review any more of their hardware, they're crooks and their wares are trash.
Jahzah_1 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Just picked up a Samsung 850 Evo for $204 at Microcenter (price matched to Newegg), last Saturday. Don't understand the justification by OCZ to price the 480GB version at $275.Jahzah_1 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
That is $204 for the 500GB Evo.mapesdhs - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
As I understand the intent of this product, it's aimed at the likes of the Extreme Proand 850 Pro. The Arc 100 is the mainstream competitor to the EVO, which is $196
on newegg for the 480GB.
Ian.
Jahzah_1 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
oh, I see. What I didn't take into account was the fairly inexpensive nature of 3D-Nand production. So Samsung has an edge it seems, to set their mid-range drives at that price.rocketman122 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Ive had nothing but bad experience with OCZ. I had mem go bad, rma and sold them. I had the core 64 SSD that the company knew were problematic and still didnt have integrity to not sell them. that core SSD cost me quite chunk of money and I suffered with that. I never forI hope they go out of business and stop selling their gear to the public. we need companies with reliable gear.
ocztosh - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
Hello rocketman122, thank you for your comments and sorry to hear that you had issues with the Core Series. The old company no longer exists and the IP was purchased by Toshiba. As OCZ Storage Solutions - A Toshiba Group Company we have completely redone our products and processes and there has been a great focus on quality throughout the organization. Everything from the product design cycle through manufacturing has been updated. By implementing our own in-house controller and firmware technology and having access to premium Toshiba NAND we are now able to impact this better than ever. We believe we have a very competitive offering today when it comes to reliability and product quality and hope that we will have the opportunity to prove it to you in the future. Thank you again for your previous business.loimlo - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Good SSD review as usual. Kudos to Kristian's efforts.Btw, I wonder the M-I-A BX100 review. Can we expect it ?
Kristian Vättö - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
It's coming. This month has been full of NDAs, which have postponed the BX100 review, but once I'm done with next week's NDAs the BX100 will be getting my full attention :)loimlo - Saturday, March 28, 2015 - link
Thanks for clarification. Take your time to do it ~~