OCZ Vertex Review

[coolVariable]

Amazon and Zizoomfly apparently have them too (and better RMA policies)

 

[fyleow]

..

 

[coolVariable]

Wow - the intel further increased in price though:
$379.99 on Amazon.

At that price, I would recommend the Vertex, especially considering the intel drives long term performance issue.

Price Tracking:
Intel x-25m 80GB SSD
OCZ Vertex 120GB
OCZ Vertex 60GB

 

[fyleow]

..

 

[kensiko]

Originally posted by: fyleow
Results on a Unibody MBP 2.4 ghz. Not my benchmarks.

Vertex 120 GB
Disk Test 232.30
Sequential 188.72
Uncached Write 255.88 157.11 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 186.87 105.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 106.34 31.12 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 395.00 198.52 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 302.06
Uncached Write 118.28 12.52 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 336.99 107.88 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1641.39 11.63 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 825.25 153.13 MB/sec [256K blocks]


Intel X-25M 80 GB
Disk Test 215.63
Sequential 139.30
Uncached Write 124.80 76.62 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 109.80 62.12 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 109.12 31.93 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 411.42 206.78 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 477.06
Uncached Write 610.84 64.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 203.66 65.20 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1264.36 8.96 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 955.56 177.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Emphasis mine. Looks good, but random writes at the 4k level is still lacking.

So Intel fans what do you have to say now?

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: kensiko
So Intel fans what do you have to say now?

5.2 times the performance in 4k random writes.

Everything alright with you? Using a taunting tone in this situation, was not exactly smart, was it? Random writes is the biggest deficiency of OCZ drives. The vertex is much much better but it still is not as good as the intel. Not even close.

 

[kensiko]

That depends how much time you ask your SSD to write randomly 4k blocks. My bet is that it's not so often.

All other numbers are higher.

But definitely we need Anandtech to put everybody at its place.


Note: For my taunting tone, I couldn't resist because of the non respect some people have here to Wendy (CDFreaks).

 

[coolVariable]

Well, if you want to use the SSD as an OS drive (which is pretty much the point) you need good random write performance.
And guess what: OCZ drives up to now all suck at that!

Maybe nobody has any respect for Wendy aka Tony II because she (i.) has no credibility, (ii.) is an OCZ fanboy/fangirl, (iii.) would never ever criticize an OCZ product and (iv.) she picks and chooses benchmarks so that they make OCZ look good.
Her opinion is worth about as much as the opinion of an OCZ employee ... nothing.

The fact that OCZ needs to rely on people like her and spamming forums should be a big fat warning that people should stay away from OCZ products because they obviously do not do well in the hands of independent/non-partial testers!

 

[kensiko]

Just read this.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum....showthread.php?t=52383

Now you see she was right.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: kensiko
Just read this.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum....showthread.php?t=52383

Now you see she was right.

No. That link says that it works better than the other OCZ drives but not better than the intels.



And:
1. She is not right.
2. That doesn't address any of the issues people have with her as a reviewer (Wendy = OCZ spammer)
3. And finally you should know, spamming doesn't make the drives better!


PS: Once they allow actual criticism of their drives on the forum and users to post also positive things about other companies' product (they currently only allow negative stuff), MAYBE one can at that point take OCZ forums seriously as an impartial source of info.
With fanboy/fangirl fanatics like Tony, Wendy or worse D111 though ...

 

[Idontcare]

I'm digging the price/performance of the smallest 60GB Vertex as I would slap four of these on raid-0 if/when I go flash-based SSD.

OCZ is doing a pretty good job pulling these products together and pushing them into the channel given that they control absolutely zero of the production/assembly aspects of the business. All outsourced.

I don't consider that a bad thing, but it does make it more challenging to be competitive with someone who can customize their IC's in-house on their own roadmap/timeline like Intel.

 

[shabby]

Originally posted by: coolVariable
Well, if you want to use the SSD as an OS drive (which is pretty much the point) you need good random write performance.
And guess what: OCZ drives up to now all suck at that!

The ocz summit has some excellent random write performance, this will probably be the first ssd i buy once it comes out.

 

[usernamereserved]

Originally posted by: coolVariable

Originally posted by: kensiko
Just read this.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum....showthread.php?t=52383

Now you see she was right.

No. That link says that it works better than the other OCZ drives but not better than the intels.



And:
1. She is not right.
2. That doesn't address any of the issues people have with her as a reviewer (Wendy = OCZ spammer)
3. And finally you should know, spamming doesn't make the drives better!


PS: Once they allow actual criticism of their drives on the forum and users to post also positive things about other companies' product (they currently only allow negative stuff), MAYBE one can at that point take OCZ forums seriously as an impartial source of info.
With fanboy/fangirl fanatics like Tony, Wendy or worse D111 though ...

It looks like you are the one who is wrong as it looks like folks who are buying this drive are getting very similar results and findings as that review over on cdfreaks.com.
I am curious here.
What benchmark is missing in that review that would have shown Vertex in a bad light ?

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: usernamereserved

Originally posted by: coolVariable
PS: Once they allow actual criticism of their drives on the forum and users to post also positive things about other companies' product (they currently only allow negative stuff), MAYBE one can at that point take OCZ forums seriously as an impartial source of info.
With fanboy/fangirl fanatics like Tony, Wendy or worse D111 though ...

It looks like you are the one who is wrong as it looks like folks who are buying this drive are getting very similar results and findings as that review over on cdfreaks.com.
I am curious here.
What benchmark is missing in that review that would have shown Vertex in a bad light ?

usernamereserved welcome to the forums!

Regarding your observation of users posting favorable experience with OCZ's drives on the well-known-to-be-heavily-moderated OCZ forums...I'm curious what else you would have expected to observe in a forum where the owner (OCZ) is known to delete user posts that are perceived as critical or unfavorable of their products?

Could you imagine what the user review ratings would be like on Newegg if Newegg or the manufacturer were allowed to screen and delete any unfavorable user ratings and reviews? My hunch is that every product Newegg sells would suddenly be rated as either a 4 or 5 by end-users, and all reviews would contain flowery positive end-user feedback.

This is the down-side to heavily controlling your forum, sure you restrict the content so there is minimal PR damage from unsatisfied customers, but at the same time the credibility of anything that does get posted in the forum thereafter becomes rightly viewed as (a) fanboys, (b) viral marketing, and (c) shills.

Hence the desire by forum goers in otherwise independent forums such as this one to see reviews by independent reviewers (subjectively defined as such by ourselves) as well as end-users (whom we have no suspicion of being (a), (b), or (c) as listed above) posting their real-world experience and benches on independent forums.

 

[usernamereserved]

Thx for the welcome
I would agree that OCZ forums are heavily moderated but it is a product support forum.
CD Freaks are however independent and a much larger site than Anandtech and that is where the Vertex review is located. It is not located on OCZ.
And for someone who is supposed to be so pro OCZ. The author of that review looks fairly balanced in my opinion in this post.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f138/...5m-267894/#post2232660

It just looks like at least one person here is jumping the gun a bit with these slanderous comments.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: usernamereserved

Thx for the welcome
I would agree that OCZ forums are heavily moderated but it is a product support forum.
CD Freaks are however independent and a much larger site than Anandtech and that is where the Vertex review is located. It is not located on OCZ.
And for someone who is supposed to be so pro OCZ. The author of that review looks fairly balanced in my opinion in this post.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f138/...5m-267894/#post2232660

It just looks like at least one person here is jumping the gun a bit with these slanderous comments.

No. Some of us at AT are just a little sick and tired of OCZ fanboys/fanatics trying to screw with public opinion. (as a side note, the number of newly registered members on AT since SSDs came out is absolutely amazing!)

Am I jumping the gun? Really? I don't think so:

1. Search OCZ forums for Wendy and tell me that she is fair and balanced. She is not! She basically is a mod on the OCZ forums, echoing everything Tony says.
2. Starting on the first page the whole review just screams impartial: ?The Vertex series SSD drives are incredible. Add this drive to your wish list, now?
3. The drive is good but the intel still kills it in IOPS and small random writes which count when you use the SSD as a system drive!!!!
4. Why does she not compare the Vertex to the intel if it is soooooo good? Everybody knows the intel is the drive to beat! Instead she uses Ridata and Traxdata SSDs ... WTF?

 

[usernamereserved]

You have selective reading coolVarible.

From AT Intel X25M review

If you want to know the ending first I won't make you wait. Intel absolutely delivered with its first SSDs. After I completed my initial testing of the drive I sent AnandTech Senior Editor, Gary Key a message:

"I think Intel just Conroe?d the HDD market."

Honestly, within 6 months I'd expect it to be just as important to have one of these drives in your system, as your boot/application drive, as it was to have Conroe in your system back in 2006. The only issue here, the only problem I have is the price. I was hoping for something much lower from Intel and although the pricing is justified based on the performance, it ensures that the X25-M like most high performance SSDs, remains a luxury item.

oh dear notice the similarities in what you just said in your point 2 ? cdfreaks also have the conclusion on the first page of all their reviews. why do you not ask cdfreaks why they do this ?

point 1
i did search and again you read selectively
by far the biggest amount of her posts is helping people debug their systems

point 3
again selective reading
does she ever mention in the review that the Intel is slower than the Vertex ?

point 4
again selective reading or you just do not read at all
she already answered why she did not compare with an Intel SSD in the review reactions on cdfreaks and in the link i just gave you.
she does not own an Intel SSD so how could she compare with an Intel SSD ?

i am still waiting on you providing me with an answer from before.
which benchmark could she have run that would have shown the OCZ Vertex in a bad light ?

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: usernamereserved
you read selectively

Haha - you are funny. YOU are the one that apparently can't read!

Originally posted by: usernamereserved
she already answered why she did not compare with an Intel SSD in the review reactions on cdfreaks and in the link i just gave you.
she does not own an Intel SSD

I thought they are the biggest and best review website on the internet?
Apparently not?

She claims in her article that the Vertex is the best SSD available at the moment.
Everybody agrees that the intel has had that crown for quite a while.
In order to make that statement, she needs to compare the two. Otherwise, her review is nothing more than a cheap crapshot.

And if you read your link (even if reading is not your strength) you will also see that she barely ran any benchmarks, or ran them with the wrong settings, and that people had to tell her what to do.
AGAIN - you are absolutely right. She is such a great, impartial and professional reviewer.

----

Last but not least, I would not trust her review further than I can throw her.
Vertex drives are available now and already we are seeing the first (real, impartial) users reporting problems and bad random R/W performance:

http://forum.notebookreview.co...tid=31549&d=1236456245

 

[VaultDweller]

Still haven't answered the question that the dude's asked twice, coolVariable.

 

[coolVariable]

dedicated iometer runs vertex vs intel

 

[usernamereserved]

LMAO @ coolVariable
You are a vindictive self acclaimed expert whos knowledge is at best very limited on the subject and you are full of cr@p and you have been exposed for what you are
have a nice day

Please read the AnandTech Forum Guidelines

Specifically take note of this part:

No trolling, flaming or personally attacking members. Deftly attacking ideas and backing up arguments with facts is acceptable and encouraged. Attacking other members personally and purposefully causing trouble with no motive other than to upset the crowd is not allowed.

personal attacks are NOT allowed. Keep this attitude up and you'll be shown the door here rather quickly.

Anandtech Moderator
Gillbot

 

[VaultDweller]

People sure do get awfully testy in these SSD threads.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: usernamereserved
LMAO @ coolVariable
You are a vindictive self acclaimed expert whos knowledge is at best very limited on the subject and you are full of cr@p and you have been exposed for what you are
have a nice day

This is unacceptable behaviour, we do not attack our fellow posters here in the AT forums.

You can have an issue with what a poster says (provided they are not making personal attacks), and debate them over the merits of the content of their posts (i.e. is Wendy on OCZ forums a shill, or is she just acting in a manner which makes us highly suspicious of it being the case?) but you cannot attack the poster themselves as you have here.

I suspect the mods will be here shortly to help clarify the TOS for being an AT member.

 

[usernamereserved]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
This is unacceptable behaviour, we do not attack our fellow posters here in the AT forums.

You can have an issue with what a poster says (provided they are not making personal attacks), and debate them over the merits of the content of their posts (i.e. is Wendy on OCZ forums a shill, or is she just acting in a manner which makes us highly suspicious of it being the case?) but you cannot attack the poster themselves as you have here.

I suspect the mods will be here shortly to help clarify the TOS for being an AT member.

I will say sorry for the personal attack but will coolVariable say sorry at the lady in question if that review turns out correct ? I doubt it

You said yourself early in this thread Idontcare that not all reviewers have access for Intel drives. Yet this is still held as a reason for saying the review is biased you also said that it looked like reviewer on another site had been told not to run 4K IOPS tests yet the lady run them anyway and run CrystalMark which you seemed quite happy about ?
Does that make her any less biased ?

She was at least naive for saying stuff in the open on OCZ forums that other reviewers including AT would only say behind closed doors. but where i live folks are innocent until proved guilty. only time will tell if the lady was biased or not and that will be decided by the people who buy Vertex not a couple of folks on a forum or by any review even a review by AT.

for your last sentence Idontcare. the mods were around as early as page two in this thread and joined in. how unbiased or professional is that ? It does not give AT a very professional look when their mods cannot stay neutral and at least wait for further results before making such judgements

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: usernamereserved
but where i live folks are innocent until proved guilty.

Move to the USA, then you'll see the light.