OCZ Vertex 2 SSD Review

Introduction and Technical Specifications

Introduction

When Solid State technology first appeared on the marketplace it took a little while before the full benefits of it were felt. Not in terms of marketplace saturation, or pricing, but in pure unadulterated performance.

OCZ Technology were one of the first companies to really bring us a drive that was a leap forward over the current mechanical drives when they introduced the Vertex series. It quickly became the weapon of choice for the early adopters and found homes in many high-end systems.

Since then controllers and chips have become much more homogeneous and differences are far less apparent between read speeds of even the base models in a companies line. Write speeds have become the defining factor that separates an "average" SSD from the high performance variants. Of course average in SSD terms is still a quantum leap forward from mechanical drives.

Today we take a look at the OCZ Vertex 2, the follow up to the extraordinarily successful Vertex. Will it be yet more of the same, or has it got enough to keep it on everyones short list?

Technical Specifications

As always here at OC3D we want to make absolutely sure that not only do you have the most accurate information, but also that manufacturers aren't making unsubstantiated claims. Therefore we always ensure we take the technical specifications from the official website. With SSDs this naturally, much like the testing, ends up being fairly simplistic. How quick is it, and that's about it. Note that although performance figures for the 3 lower capacity drives are beneath those quoted here, for brevity we are only using the ones that we should obtain with the model on test today.

• Available in 40GB to 400GB capacities
• Available in 60GB to 480GB extended capacities
• Native TRIM support
• Max IOPS Firmware
• Seek Time: .1ms
• Slim 2.5" Design
• 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm
• Lightweight: 77g
• Operating Temp: 0°C ~ 70°C
• Storage Temp: -45°C ~ +85°C
• Low Power Consumption: 2W in operation,
  .5W in standby
• Shock Resistant up to 1500G
• RAID Support
• Included 3.5" Desktop adapter bracket
• Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X and Linux
• MTBF: 2 million hours
• 3-Year Warranty
• Read: Up to 285 MB/s
• Write: Up to 275 MB/s
• Sustained Write: Up to 250 MB/s

All fairly standard stuff. I'd love to have one of these long enough to find out the accuracy of that meantime before failure, but even if I did I don't think I'm going to live another 171 years, so it's safe to say that it will outlive all of us. Time for a look at what we have.