OCZ Octane 512GB Review

Performance Analysis

While initially posting a favourable average sequential read speed of 501MB/sec in AS-SSD, the latest v1.13 firmware for the OCZ Octane 512GB knocks it well down the pecking order with a sequential read speed of 430MB/sec. With 64 NAND die to address on this 512GB version of the drive, sequential write speeds are excellent, although this is also somewhat lessened by the v1.13 firmware which drops the write speed for 341MB/sec to 296MB/sec. Be aware though that smaller versions of the drive will offer lower write speeds though.

Single queue-depth 4KB random read speeds are standard at 24MB/sec, with single queue-depth 4KB random write speeds still on the slow side at 48MB/sec, even with the latest v1.13 firmware. 64 queue–depth 4KB random read speed are also low at 123MB/sec for the v1.13 firmware, and while the new firmware has improved performance, a 64 queue-depth 4KB random write speed of 86MB/sec is still fairly mediocre.

In ATTO disc benchmark, a 4KB sequential read speed of 100MB/sec is disappointingly low, with a competing drive capable of almost double the performance in the same test. A 4KB sequential write speed of 120MB/sec is also well behind the competition in the same test, albeit by not such a significant margin. Things improve with 1024KB sequential read speeds, but the latest v1.13 firmware sees the Octane 512GB’s performance in this test drop from 523MB/sec to 462MB/sec. The high write speeds still shine through though, with a v1.13 1024KB sequential write speed of 295MB/sec besting the Crucial M4 256GB.

While the Octane 512GB delivers largely lower read and write speeds than its direct competition, we were pleased with how well it maintained its performance following heavy use. After writing over 2TB of data to the drive on a TRIM-enabled system, performance was unchanged from when we first unboxed the drive/installed the v1.13 firmware.

Conclusion

While we’d hoped for a return to form for Indilinx, its new Everest drive controller lags behind the competition when it comes to performance. The new v1.13 firmware sees the OCZ Octane 512GB deliver sequential and random speeds notably slower than those Crucial’s M4 or Samsung’s SSD 830 drives. It’s still a very fast drive of course, offering that massive step up in performance over a hard disk and excellent TRIM implementation; it’s just out paced by cheaper competition.

While it’s difficult to tangibly feel such performance differences in everyday use, SSDs are still extremely expensive, and particularly when it comes to such a large investment as a 512GB drive, you’re going to want to get as much speed as possible for your money. As such, unless its price drops below that of the competition and sets it out as a genuine value option, the OCZ Octane 512GB is an also-ran in the SSD arms race.