INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    SATA III based solid state drives (SSDs) may have reached the maximum supported read & write numbers most enthusiasts and gamers look for when out in the market for one but durability and sustained performance are the two most important aspects for professionals and enterprise users (probably even more important than maximum read & write speeds). Unfortunately ever since we made the SNIA IOMeter tests part of our testing methodology we've seen that not many models can produce good sustained performance numbers and so this might just be the next thing for them to focus on. However OCZ with their ARC 100 SSD model which we tested a few months back proved that they've already started to focus on that area (most likely thanks to their merge with Toshiba) and today we're taking their top of the line SATA III SSD model the Vector 180 480GB for a spin to see just how better it is compared to the ARC 100 and of course it's immediate competition.

   OCZ Storage Solutions – a Toshiba Group Company is a leading provider of high performance client and enterprise solid-state storage products and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. Offering a complete spectrum of solid-state drives (SSDs), OCZ Storage Solutions leverages proprietary technology to provide SSDs in a variety of form factors and interfaces to address a wide range of applications. Having internally developed firmware and controllers, virtualization, cache and acceleration software, and endurance extending and data reliability technologies, the Company delivers vertically integrated solutions enabling transformational approaches to how digital data is captured, stored, accessed, analyzed and leveraged by customers.

   The Vector 180 SSD (currently available in 120GB, 240GB, 480GB and 960GB capacities) is based on the latest Barefoot 3 NAND flash controller by OCZ (runs at 397MHz as opposed to the 352MHz of the one found in the ARC 100) paired with A19nm MLC NAND flash modules by Toshiba a combo which produces excellent read/write performance numbers (550MB/s & 530MB/s respectively), superior endurance (has a MTBF rating of 2.3 million hours and an write endurance rate of up to 50GB per day) and finally offers SMART/NCQ support and AES-256bit encryption. Of course OCZ fully covers their flagship model with their 5-year ShieldPlus warranty which basically simplifies swapping a defective drive for a new one since all you need is provide the S/N of your drive and OCZ will then send you a new one in advance along with a prepaid return label (which you can then use to return the defective drive to them). However what really makes the Vector 180 unique is the addition of OCZ's Power Failure Management Plus (PFM+) technology which unlike enterprise grade models provides users with a partial yet sufficient power loss protection (in case of a power loss it only "protects" data already stored in the NAND). All the above sound very interesting but the time has come for us to check and see what the Vector 180 is really capable of.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A large product picture is placed at the top of the box along with the model name and capacity.

 

 

The available capacities, features and specifications of the Vector 180 are printed at the rear of the box.

 

 

The box contains the Vector 180 SSD, 2.5" to 3.5" bracket, 6 mounting screws, installation manual, warranty information paper, and a paper with an activation key for the True Image HD cloning software by Acronis.

 

 

THE VECTOR 180 480GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have come to expect all SSDs to look alike and that also applies for the Vector 180 (besides it's what sits inside that we care for).

 

 

You can find the serial, part and World Wide Name numbers for the drive on a sticker placed on its belly.

 

 

OCZ makes removing the exterior extremely easy (just 4 Philips screws).

 

 

On one side of the PCB we find 8 MLC NAND flash modules by Toshiba, a DRAM (DDR3@1333MHz) chip by Micron (512MB) and the Indillinx Barefoot 3 NAND flash controller.

 

 

Moving on the other side we see 8 more NAND flash modules, another 512MB DRAM (DDR3@1333MHz) chip by Micron (1GB total) and the capacitor used by the Power Failure Management Plus (PFM+) technology.

 

 

OCZ SSD GURU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to be able to access certain features of the Vector 180 SSD (or if you wish to use the Acronis True Image HD Cloning software) you will need to download the SSD Guru application from the official OCZ support page.

 

 

Via the SSD Guru software you can check the health of the drive, check online for firmware updates (automatically), access the drives SMART feature, manually enable TRIM whenever you want (requires the drive to be partitioned), manually increase over-provisioning for extra gains in performance (also requires a partition), run secure erase and finally you can also make a bootable drive with SSD Guru (you need to download the image from the support page to do so).

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   After over 7 years of testing sold state drives i have concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts. Also as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately due to the time required for these tests we repeat them a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people have made inquiries about our charts in the past so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation with every update installed up to June 8th 2015.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – AS SSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – IOMETER SNIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Whenever we're called to test a new SSD model we have to take into consideration many factors in our conclusion such as maximum read & write performance (MB/s and IOPS), sustained performance levels, endurance, supported features, warranty and of course price. So in the performance department the Vector 180 does very well and although it's not the fastest drive in the market in our regular tests it's the fastest one we've tested using IOMeter (regular and sustained tests) to date something which should matter quite a bit to professionals and enterprise users alike. When it comes to features the Vector 180 is less impressive since although it does feature support for TRIM, AES-256bit encryption, NCQ, SMART and OCZ's Power Failure Management Plus (PFM+) technology (may not be full proof like the one we find in enterprise models but it's more than what we see from most SSDs in the market today) it doesn't support DevSleep, TCG OPAL and eDrive. True these are not what I’d call important especially since the majority of users out there (regardless of market segment) will not even notice their absence but to some people these may actually be strong selling points so we do need to point this out. Endurance is one of the strong points of the Vector 180 since it has an MTBF of 2.3 million hours and a write endurance rate of up to 50GB per day for 5 full years and although we've seen better a couple of times in the past still this makes the drive stand out from the crowd. As for the 5-year ShieldPlus Warranty well not much to say here other than that it basically simplifies RMA situations immensely something which we expect to matter a lot to some people.

   Prior to OCZ sending over the Vector 180 480GB i had checked their "projected" MSRP and i can't say i liked what i saw since at USD269.99 it was even more expensive than the 850 Pro 512GB model by Samsung which i personally consider being its primary adversary. Today however after wrapping up its review we see that the Vector 180 480GB is actually slightly cheaper retailing for USD249.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 279Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Granted the price difference is not sufficient enough to automatically place the Vector 180 480GB in the winning place and the 850 Pro 512GB model does feel a bit more "complete" overall but we feel that everything matters. With that out of the way however although the Vector 180 480GB by OCZ may not be the jack of all spades and it certainly could be a lot better (hopefully their upcoming SSDs based on their upcoming controller will be exactly that and much more) but it does offer excellent read/write performance, superior endurance, surprisingly good sustained performance levels and is covered by one of the best warranties in the market today which is why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Toshiba A19nm NAND Flash)
- Excellent Overall Performance
- Sustained Performance (SNIA Tests)
- Power Failure Management Plus (PFM+) Technology
- OCZ 5-Year ShieldPlus Warranty
- OCZ SSD Guru Software
- Bundle
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- Lack of Support for DevSleep, TCG Opal and eDrive