OCZ Vector 150 SSD review - Specifications and Features

Specifications and Features

The sample that OCZ submitted is a 240GB version of the drive. The Vector 150 series will come with Toshiba MLC NAND, flash memory from the 19nm node. The NAND flash used is labeled: TH58TEG70DJ8A4C. A familiar part number these days being used on several high-performance SSDs. So that's Synchronous 19nm MLC NAND Flash. The previous original Vector used IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) NAND.

Controller Architecture

The flash memory is tied towards the Indilinx (owned by OCZ Technology) Barefoot 3 controller located under product code Barefoot 3 M00. This is an 8-channel NAND flash controller and the third revision from Indilinx, it comes with an all too familiar dual-core ARM architecture. The Barefoot 3 controller makes used of pretty big memory partitions for caching, that means that internal DDR3 memory plastered and hammered shut onto the PCB being used as file and data caches. The Vector 150 has 512MB of cache divided over two 256MB ICs from Micron, but as we'll show you later on in the photo shoot, there is room for more.

On the next pages we'll be showing you some PCB photo's as well, and what you'll notice is that it carries DDR memory caches as well. In-between the different SKUs the 256GB has a 512MB buffer, and some write speed variation with the lower capacity model. 

• SATA 3 - 6Gbp/s Interface
• 19nm Toshiba NAND Flash
• 7mm form factor
• 120GB - 240 GB and 480GB models
• Bundles with Acronis Clone software Windows 8 compatible edition
• High performance and endurance without compression/loss of usable capacity
• Advanced suite of Flash management to increase durability and reliability
• Lower Power consumption IDLE 0.9W / Active 2.25W
• TRIM support
• 5 Year Warranty

Over the SATA3 / SATA 6 Gb/s interface you may expect read speeds up to 550 MB/s and writes up to 530 MB/s based on volume size of the SSD. The 240GB and 480GB models will have these performance numbers. The 128GB model will however have less write performance at 450 MB/sec. All these models have an advertised 4K random IOPS rating in-between 80,000 random read and 95,000 random write (4K aligned).

The new OCZ Vector 150 SSD getting warmed up for a spanking