Would you like to join the Guru3D: OCZ SSD test team ?

Would you like to be part of the Guru3D SSD test slash focus group ? Over the years we a have tested a lot of not all products from OCZ Technology. Problem is their rep got a bit dented with some Sandforce controller based products, years have passed but they are still recovering from that.

Over the years a lot has happened, OCZ Storage Solution, now owned by Toshiba, is producing top-level, high performing products amongst others for the consumer market with their ARC, Vertex and Vector SSD series. OCZ believes strongly that their products are as good, if not better than any of the competitors out there. And together with Guru3D they want to relay that message. We talked about this with OCZ often, and I can write a dozen times in my articles that their products are top dawg yo ! We could also take five SSDs and write them off in a couple of weeks with synthetic tests, but we do not find that methodology realistic whatsoever. Real world usage and testing is what it is all about here on Guru3D.com

Seeing is believing

Or in this case testing is believing as I would like to send five of our forum regulars an SSD. I have arranged five Indilinx Barefoot 3 based Vertex 460A SSDs for five people who would like to engage in a long term (two years) test.

Basically here is what is going to happen:

• You receive an OCZ Storage Solutions Vertex 460A SATA3 SSD free of charge
• You use it as an OS drive in a PC that you use daily or at least very frequently  (OCZ includes clone software so you can backup your OS to the SSD.
• You report monthly in a forum thread about how the SSD is doing (this includes good and bad experiences).
• Initially (first month) explain a little what the workload is on the SSD (gaming/net pc/download rig/professional/content creation/etc.
• We like you to post a monthly screenshot of CrystalDiskInfo so we can see how much GB you have written and what the status (health) of your SSD is. Next to that perhaps in that thread you can post performance results with AS SSD every now and then.
• You will need a modern PC using a proper SATA3 controller. I’m really thinking Intel Z77/Z87/Z97/X79X/X99 or AMDs latest and greatest here. Not because of brand preference, but because we want to maximize throughput and stress that SSD at high performance. This also means that 3^rd party ASMedia and Marvel controllers will not qualify. BTW this is a requirement set by myself, not OCZ. I am merely trying to establish a difficult set parameters here for the SSD.

I will only give this opportunity to five Guru3D regulars, this means I will select five people that have been active in our forums who are knowledgeable and have been keen on assisting. Long time forum members will get my preference here.

If you commit and have been selected, please keep in mind that we you will need to report open and transparently each month in the forum thread with a screenshot or two. Since this test is rather long we will send you a good volume size SSD, the Vertex 460A with 480GB of storage space. Obviously it’s your to keep.

Interested ? Drop me a note in the thread below.

H.