Aaah, it was only a week ago when we tested the OCZ Vertex 3 PRO, the somewhat 'business' oriented SSD with a freakishly fast controller and performance.

But what about the enthusiast consumers you might wonder ? Well for you guys OCZ will release a cheaper "Vertex 3" SSD.

See where the PRO model comes in at 750 USD per 200 GB, this non-PRO consumer model will cost you 249 USD for the 120GB model and 499 USD for the 240GB model. See these are prices that seem to be more acceptable (and no I didn't say cheap okay?).

The golden rule anno 2011 is to get yourself a sweet SSD for your operating system, applications and a game or two and a big TB HDD for mass storage. It is the perfect balance for speed and volume storage.

So back to the PRO versus non-PRO Vertex 3 SSDs -- what's the difference you might ask ? Well, two primary things really, controller and NAND flash memory type.

• So immediately you'll be wondering, is it still SATA III 6G then ? Yep
• So immediately you'll be wondering, is it still performing well then ? Yep

Yes, this SSD as well reached read speeds of 525 MB/sec with write speeds of 500 MB/sec.

Quite frankly from what you'll see today is that this SSD might be roughly as fast as the PRO model, so what are the differences then  ? Well, Let's find out and start up this review on the next page.