The OCZ Octane Review (512GB)
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 23, 2011 12:00 PM ESTFinal Words
The Indilinx Everest is a surprisingly competent controller. When OCZ first mentioned its work on the controller to me I wrote it off as yet another low performing alternative that wasn't worth consideration. Based on its performance in our Storage Bench tests, I'd say the OCZ Octane is easily able to hold its own against SandForce based drives. The obvious benefit is you get solid performance regardless of the type of data you're moving around - everything from text to compressed movies can move at the same rate. The benefit is also a downside. SandForce drives tend to have very good average write amplification (0.60 - 0.70) thanks to their real time compression/dedupe of commonly used files. The result is relatively consistent performance over time, something that more traditional SSDs can't offer nearly as well. With TRIM enabled this should be a moot point, but it's still an advantage that no one else can duplicate without SandForce's technology.
Write amplification is a concern, although I suspect it'll only be a problem for enterprise workloads. The bigger issue is that to address these limitations, OCZ will likely have to do a significant redesign of the Octane's firmware architecture. OCZ did let me know that an even faster Octane H drive was due out in the not-too-distant future. It's possible that the Octane H may address my concerns here. I'll find out in due time.
It's clear that the Octane is a powerful competitor, what matters now is its reliability. In the past OCZ has been at the mercy of third party controller makers to fix bugs in their firmware, but now with Indilinx in house I wonder how things will change. I believe OCZ needs a good 12 months of an Intel or Samsung-like track record to really build confidence in its products. The brand definitely took a hit with all of the SandForce BSOD issues (and the wild goose chase interim "solutions" to the problem). OCZ has the opportunity to start fresh with Octane and there can be no finger pointing this time. The controller, firmware and drive are all produced in house. I don't expect the drive to be perfect in every system, but it had better be very close to it.
The good news is that if OCZ is able to deliver reliable and compatible firmware, the Octane is worth owning. It performs at the top of its class, and it's priced more aggressively than OCZ's SandForce based drives. My standard recommendation for any new SSD still applies: wait and see. Let others (myself included, the Octane will be going into a work machine starting today) be the beta testers. If the waters look safe, only then should you jump in.
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Beenthere - Sunday, November 27, 2011 - link
Hopefully a year from now SSDs will be reliable and trouble free. Right now they ain't worth the hassles IMO. Marvel and Samsung controller based SSDs hold a lot more interest for me than SandForce or Indilinx, so we'll see how their reliability turns out.renosablast - Sunday, November 27, 2011 - link
More great info on this drive available here:http://thessdreview.com/
adamdz - Monday, November 28, 2011 - link
"Go above and beyond the call of duty in taking care of his customers and our readers".I had good experience with other companies that would still honor warranty a month or two after its expiration. OCZ wouldn't.
RohitK - Sunday, December 4, 2011 - link
"Most of my suggestions were obvious, just to go above and beyond the call of duty in taking care of his customers and our readers. He agreed to do everything on the list, with one exception."I bought a $220 Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB a couple weeks or so ago. It is my first SSD. I had to save up for some time to have enough to get the drive without starving for a while (I'm a grad student), so you can understand that it was a big deal for me.
All I got for my trouble was a lemon out of the box. I couldn't return the drive to Newegg because I had applied for a rebate already, so I was left to deal with OCZ directly. They took two days to respond to my "Trouble Ticket", and replied with directions to update the firmware and secure erase the drive (both things I'd already done before contacting them). After my response, their next contact came another two days later, telling me my RMA request was accepted and that they'd pass my info on to the RMA department, who will issue me an RMA number and then I can send the drive back. It's been five days since then now and I still haven't heard anything.
Also, I have to pay for shipping now to send the drive back to them. To top things off, until they get the drive back, they won't ship me a new one, with the only alternative being that they charge me for a new drive on my credit card and then refund me later. This, however, does nothing for me, since I don't *have* a credit card.
/rant
All in all, if I were you, Anand, I'd check again on how the company deals with its regular customers who aren't Anand Lal Shimpi before commending their CEO on a job well done. :-)
First comment, by the way. I'd just like to say thanks, like the millions of other people, for being the only source worth coming to for reliable info on hardware. You're a legend.
gamoniac - Monday, December 5, 2011 - link
Anand and AT,Do you plan on reviewing the new Kingston SSDNow V200? There isn't any beachmark on this series that I can find. It would be interesting to compare that to the OCZ Octane. Thanks.