OCZ Octane 512GB SSD review

Final words and conclusion

The encouraging fright factor is massive with the Octane series SSD, seriously once we popped it in to our test setup it just felt good in every way and sense. SandForce 2000 controllers haul ass in uncompressed files, Indilinx hauls ass when it comes to compressed files and sustained read/writes. Honestly overall if I'd have to pick an either an SandForce 2281 based SSD or a Indilinx Everest based Octane, it would probably be the latter. OCZ has a homerun in their hands with this series and technology.

A word on reliability first, we know for a fact that OCZ would like to prevent the ordeal that happened with the SandForce 2200 series and Firmware issues. The Octane has been tested and analyzed on quality for a while now, hence its somewhat late release. While I'm not saying that nothing can go wrong, we do have a very comfortable feeling with the SSD knowing that it was QA'd intensely. It should be a very save bet.

Now the overall performance to previously tested SSD units for the Octane SATA3 SSDs simply is excellent, admittedly here and there lacks / shows some offsets in write performance compared to that oh so tough competition. So hopefully the overall write performance will go upwards with future firmware relases and next-gen products.  

We did spot substantial write perf degradation with IOMeter compared to the competing controller. But overall performance is just great really. Should you worry about Random IO write performance, then don't, only in enterprise server configurations that's becoming a bigger factor. For desktop, workstation and home usage, it's unlikely to be significant.

Just take the sheer peak performance, and then look at the sustained performance throughout the SSD, it is seriously fast. If you put a drive like this into your SATA 3 compatible laptop or SATA 3 compatible PC, you'll have no idea what is about to hit you. We very much enjoy the grand sustained performance of this SSD series, so you you copy a fast amount of compressed data, then the Octane will slay and slaughter in performance.

Some overall recommendations then. Should you be in the market for a SATA3 SSD then we have a couple of hints though, we absolutely prefer the performance of the Intel Series 6 (H67/P67/Z68/X79) integrated SATA 6G controller over anything else available in the market. If you run an AMD chipset with the added Marvell 6G controller for example, you will see lower performance, make no mistake about that. The Asmedia controllers we spotted lately on motherboards is offering good performance, albeit still 25% slower then Intel. Also make sure you run your drive in AHCI mode, it does make a difference.

Prices HDD versus SSD -- well my advice is simple and I'll keep repeating this in each and every SSD conclusion; you probably should stop looking at the Solid State Disk technology as if it were a traditional HDD. We all will be old and grey before the two reach the same prices or top the multiple TB volume storage the HDD offers for less money. Comparing an SSD with an HDD is making a comparison in-between an integrated IGP or a dedicated graphics card, that last one will cost you a heck of a lot more yet you gain incredible overall performance. It is the very same with an SSD, use it as boot drive on Windows and applications and you instantly have removed a huge bottleneck, load and access times. It is a difference in-between night and day (in a proper system). For massive storage like movies, MP3 files and bulky data you do not access on a regular basis, sure that's where the HDD remains the winner.

The magic simply is finding a good combination in-between the two and balance things out. That's where the magic happens. I kid you not, all my test systems and work systems run on SSDs, not once have I considered going back to HDDs. The benefits of a good SSD are simply grand. But that doesn't mean I do not understand the budget and cost dilemma that many of you are facing though. There are still many variables and unknowns regarding life-span.

With the acquisition of Indlinx OCZ really took a colossal risk, and we had our concerns really. The Octane series proof that it might have been the best choice OCZ's Ryan Petersen could have made. The Everest architecture footprint seems extremely solid.

So there you have it, the Octane series took us by surprise, we had no idea it was going to be at this level. If you are seeking great performance in the storage segment then the Octane SATA3  series offers just that, really good performance. Hopefully you can find it for a price that is acceptable for you. The initial price indication in the Netherlands is 172 EUR for the Octane 128 GB with the 256GB model costing 309 EUR and the OCZ Octane 512 GB costs 775 EUR.

We end this article with the words we always say, an SSD is the best upgrade a modern PC can use, your operating system flies, there are no waits which you normally have with an HDD, there's no noise and hardly any power consumption.

If you have a proper PC with a SATA3 controller, the Octane SATA3 series are definitely going to knock you off your socks in terms of performance. If you are still on a SATA2 platform then you are in luck, a cheaper Octane SATA2 version is in the works as well. For those still doubting SandForce 2200 series SSDs, look no further, the Octane is worth purchasing and holds ground against the competition really well.

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