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