Final Words & Conclusion

Final Words & Conclusion

The Vertex 460 is no slouch that's for sure, even the 120 GB model (which has slower writes opposed to the 240 GB and 480 GB models), managed to impress really well. Yeah the performance is simply good, the price we think will be competitive as well, by the way you get 3 years warranty and with this purchase you will also receive Acronis True Image HD license (compatible with Windows 8) for free (worth 40 EUR). So it's all good stuff alright. Performance and features wise the SSD is actually darn close to the Vector 150 we recently tested. That SSD however remains a notch more expensive as it is an endurance optimized SSD  with more warranty as well. 

Architecture & Perf

The Vertex 460 series is now based upon the Indilinx Barefoot architecture controller as well, paired with Toshiba NAND Flash memory the symbiosis seems to work out really well. The SSD IOPS performance is excellent but we stated it before though, IOPS is not something you as a consumer should worry about too much unless you are doing a lot of database related stuff on your PC, but this SSD certainly hauls the proverbial ass on IOPS perf.

The Vertex 460 also shows incredible good performance with trace testing, PCMark Vantage 64-bit for example shows excellent numbers. This is a trace test and can emulate what you guys do on your PC but then multiplied with factor 100. The results with the SSD are very good. The overall peak read performance are good, the write performance is okay, but the 120 GB version we had limited write performance by 20% ~ 25%. The 240 GB models will be faster in that respect. Zoom in at both IOPS and Trace performance then you'll notice that the SSD can manage very high workloads without breaking a sweat. Also sequential writes did not disappoint, copying an ISO or MKV file of 10 GB takes merely a few seconds to write to the SSD.

Software

Alongside the SSD comes the OCZ Toolbox, which is a handy utility alright. The tool will check for available firmware and updates it trouble free, 9 out of 10 times it can flash your drive non volatile and thus keep your data intact. Very handy. The software will also allow you to erase your drive and check out some functions. You'll also receive a license for Acronis True Image HD. With this software you can clone and backup your data and easily restore HDD/SSD drive images within minute's time. This is actually the software suite we use in our office for all local backups. It's great value to see that included.

Overall SSD Usage

An SSD is enjoyable, very much so. 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, if you copy a vast amount of compressed data, then the OCZ Vector will perform seriously fast in performance. Make no mistake, replacing a HDD with an SSD in your desktop PC or laptop eliminates the random access lag of the HDD head, it is no longer mechanical. That combined with the performance SATA3 offers these days is simply a massive difference and probably the best upgrade you can make for your computer anno 2014.

SATA Controllers

Some overall recommendations then. Should you be in the market for a SATA 3 SSD then we have a couple of hints though. First and foremost if you have a SATA2 controller only on your motherboard, then you'll get limited at roughly 270 MB/sec read and writes. SATA3 (6Gbps) will free you up from that allowing the SSD to perform in the 500 MB/sec range. It is however important that you connect your SSD towards the proper controller. We absolutely prefer the performance of the Intel Series 6 and 7 (H67/P67/Z68/Z77/H77/Z87/X79) integrated SATA 6G controller over anything else available in the market. If you run the SSD from a 3rd party controller with say a Marvell 6G controller, you will see lower performance. The new AMD 85X chipsets also offer fantastic performance. The more recent Asmedia controllers we spotted lately on motherboards are also offering good performance, albeit still 20% ~ 25% slower then Intel's controllers. Also make sure you run your drive in AHCI mode, it does make such a difference in performance... really guys, a big difference.

Concluding

We have come to the point in time where everybody is or has been transitioning towards an SSD. As stated the market is fierce and competitive, the biggest danger of them all being Samsung, currently the 840 series are dominating the SSD market, bringing companies like OCZ towards where they have been the past few months. But combined with Toshiba, we foresee very positive posibilities for OCZ. The Vertex 460 is truly excellent, it excels in sequential read/write performance, IOPS perf is through the roof and trace testing, well... no comments there either. And remember, we tested the slower 120 GB version. Combined with a three year warranty and Acronis Cloning software the Vector 460 could be a very popular drive to put on your wish-list. Trust me when I say it, the hardware is sound, fast and rocks.

Pricing then, the most trivial factor, especially if the new technology doesn't offer any significant improvement.

• 120 GB - 99.99 USD
• 240 GB - 189.99 USD
• 480 GB - 359.99 USD

Above listed are the suggested retail prices, it would be save to shave off another 10% and also combine it with the fact that you'll receive free HDD/SSD cloning software (Acronis with Windows 8 compatibility) as well. As you can see, pricing is already getting more competitive, but sure, the SSD is positioning itself in a saturated segment of the market (enthusiast grade SSDs), and that is the not making the choice any less difficult. We honestly have very little to complain about the Vertex moving to Barefoot and Toshiba 19nm NAND flash memory. It is a product you'll like and love for a long time, and as such comes recommended by Guru3D.com.

Nice job OCZ Storage Solutions!

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