OCZ Vertex 3 PRO review - Final words and conclusion

Final words and conclusion

Really, OCZ Technology is in its own league when it comes to leading storage solution performance. The Vertex 3 PRO that we tested, again proves that point. The performance it offers is just enormous.

But yeah, bare in mind that this was just an engineering sample of the product, it's not refined and tuned 100% just yet, but we still managed to push out preposterous numbers often close to RAID SSD setups.

Now don't get the impression that this SSD will read/write 500 MB/sec all the time though, it's the marketing behind these products that is dominating for a while now. These are the peak values, tests under very specific conditions with specific test applications. If the conditions meet specific requirements then that's where the drive can and without doubt will perform at that level. On average in real-world usage though you'll still, the SSD will be brutally fast compared to the last generation SSD drives, so yeah the Vertex 3 PRO in that respect is just sexy and very, very fast.

Now I can rant on and on about performance, but you have seen our tests, and well, I'll just let them speak for themselves.

Pricing then, now please understand that this is an enterprice class product, not really intended for consumers. Consumer editions of the Vertex 3 will likely be much cheaper but ... this is going to be the icky matter of the Vertex 3 PRO series, the 200 GB version tested today will cost you 750 USD (3.75 USD per GB), and for that money you'd be better off purchasing two Vertex 2 120GB drives at 210 USD (1,75 USD per GB) a piece, and simply put them in RAID giving you probably even more throughput performance and save you money. Also an alternative obviously has to be the RevoDrive X2 -- the 240 GB version sells for roughly 600 USD, and is faster on average alright.

So yeah, that's the caveat really, the price. It's always the same with the most high-end kit ... prices will be high, and that makes sense for X-Factor products with no competition. But the Vertex 2 PRO RAID alternative ... it just makes a whole lot more sense really. 3.75 USD per GB is just not going to sit well with today's high-end oriented enthusiast end-user anno 2011.

Anyway let's round up, price aside, the Vertex 3 PRO is sheer storage precision, the factors are all right, that SandForce 2582 Controller shows muscle paired with the right NAND flash memory and then the SATA 6G interface is 'the road' that makes all this performance possible. But do make sure you connect it to the native SATA 6G solution from Intel's chipset okay ?

The thorough innovation and component selection makes this product the fastest non-RAID SSD on the market. The sheer performance over that SATA 6G interface is absolutely flabbergasting, even with this beta version. Once the dust and prices settle this is going to be a very popular product series.

So let me just exit this review with some closing words ... 500 MB/sec = sexy

More info on this product can be found here.

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