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
Idle Power Consumption
Since we truncuate idle times to 25µs in our Storage Bench traces, they don't give a fully accurate picture of real world power consumption as idle power consumption is not taken properly into account. Hence I'm still reporting idle power consumption as a separate benchmark because it's one of the most critical metrics when it comes evaluating an SSD for mobile use.
Unfortunately I still don't have a way to test DevSleep power consumption due to lack of platform support, but my testbed supports HIPM+DIPM power commands (also referred to as Slumber power), so the results give a rather accurate picture of real-world idle power consumption.
As we've known for quite some time, OCZ's Barefoot 3 platform doesn't support slumber power modes at all, which results in rather high idle power consumption at nearly one watt for the highest capacity 960GB model. The problem lies in the silicon itself, so instead of spending resources on another silicon iteration OCZ has decided to focus on its next generation JetExpress platform that will carry support for slumber power states as well as DevSleep.
TRIM Validation
The move from Windows 7 to 8.1 introduced some problems with the methodology we have previously used to test TRIM functionality, so I had to come up with a new way to test. I tested a couple of different methods, but ultimately I decided to go with the easiest one that can actually be used by anyone. The software is simply called trimcheck and it was made by a developer that goes by the name CyberShadow in GitHub.
Trimcheck tests TRIM by creating a small, unique file and then deleting it. Next the program will check whether the data is still accessible by reading the raw LBA locations. If the data that is returned by the drive is all zeros, it has received the TRIM command and TRIM is functional.
And as expected TRIM works like it should.
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Guspaz - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
Well, one person in particular had difficulty remembering the proper saying while in Tennessee...Minion4Hire - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
He's quoting George Bush.mapesdhs - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
And hence not exactly a viable rationale for concluding anything about anything.Ian.
CaedenV - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
Cant beat the Evo on price, performance, or support... so then what is the point?kmmatney - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
None of the benchmarks include the EVO, so it's hard to tell if it beats it or not. It is probably faster, but the MSRP is the same as the 850 Pro, which definitely beats it in most tests.ocztosh - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
Hi CaedenV, thank you for your feedback. The Vector 180 is designed for the high performance/workstation market and is not positioned versus the TLC based EVO. When it comes to best balance of performance/value our ARC series (based on MLC). We will be coming out with future products that push the value envelope that leverage Toshiba TLC.mapesdhs - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I was impressed with the Arc 100, it was quicker than I expected. Any data yet on returnrates? It would be interesting to know if it's been competitive with the 850 EVO in that regard.
Samsung has a strong reputation here. My main concern with the Vector 180 though is it will
appear too expensive compared to the 850 Pro and SanDisk Extreme Pro.
Ian.
chrnochime - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
The point is some ppl don't actually want to use TLC.ocztosh - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Hi chrnochime, thank you for your comments. We so agree there are still a lot of customers that would still prefer MLC. Our current value drive series is MLC based and even after we introduce a TLC based Series we will continue to deliver MLC drives for those customers that are looking for drives higher up the performance spectrum.chrnochime - Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - link
Support? So how long did that TLC fix take to be available again?