OCZ Vertex 3 240GB Review

Performance Analysis

AS SSD uses incompressible data for its storage benchmarks, so it can be seen as a worst-case scenario for the Vertex 3’s SandForce SF-2281 controller. Impressively, read speeds weren’t far off the claimed monumentally high 550MB/sec, with sequential reads of 517MB/sec. Sequential write speeds in AS SSD were a long way from the 500MB/sec quoted, though, reporting at 294MB/sec.

This is still faster than the Crucial M4’s 287MB/sec in the same test, however, and as this is a worst-case scenario for the Vertex 3, it shows that the drive is ahead of the competition. In everyday use, we saw real-world write speeds exceeding 340MB/sec, even with highly compressed HD video. Clearly, the compression technology is more than just smoke and mirrors.

The Vertex 3’s 4KB random performance in AS SSD was excellent, if not as far ahead of the competition as its sequential performance. A single-threaded 4KB random read speed of 23MB/sec is lower than that of the 256GB C300, but its single-threaded 4KB random write speed of 88MB/sec is the fastest we’ve seen.

The Vertex 3’s 64-thread 4KB random performance was similarly excellent, although again, its 194MB/sec was slower than the 216MB/sec of the Crucial C300. A 64-thread 4KB random write speed of 235MB/sec is the fastest result we've seen in this test from a single drive.


Meanwhile, the ATTO benchmark uses highly compressible data and so can be seen as a best-case scenario for SandForce-based SSDs such as the Vertex 3. Oddly, its 4KB sequential read performance wasn’t particularly impressive in this test, with the Vertex 3 managing 159MB/sec compared to the Crucial C300’s 194MB/sec in the same test.

The Vertex 3’s 4KB sequential write was better at 223MB/sec, but this was also eclipsed by the C300’s successor, the Crucial M4. Switching to larger file sizes saw the Vertex 3’s best-case performance on show, with a 1,024KB sequential read speed of 547MB/sec, and sequential write speed of 511MB/sec.

While the Vertex 3’s performance in ATTO is its theoretical best, AS SSD’s results balance the picture. Even at its worst, the Vertex 3 was awesomely fast. Its sequential read speed in AS SSD was more than 15 per cent faster than the quickest Marvell-based SSD, the Crucial M4, and random performance was faster too.

TRIM Performance

After filling the Vertex 3 with data twice over, its performance took a sizeable hit with TRIM disabled. Sequential read speeds were unchanged, but sequential write speeds in AS SSD fell by 18 per cent to 240MB/sec. While its single-threaded random 4KB performance was unchanged, its 64-thread 4KB random read speed dipped to 166MB/sec.

Re-enabling TRIM restored the drive’s random performance, but the sequential performance was still reduced. This issue is shared with the original SandForce drive controller, and is caused by the limit at which the drive can recycle NAND to which data has been previously written. The problem could be solved by SandForce being more aggressive with its garbage collection and TRIM execution, but an absolute worse-case scenario of 240MB/sec is still pretty fast.

Conclusion

The Vertex 3 is the fastest 2.5in SSD we've seen, with sequential read and write speeds that are twice as fast as those of older Indilinx-based SSDs. While the biggest factor in SSD performance is still the ultra-low access times that all drives share, being able to move data at such speeds is still a great bonus. A system with a Vertex 3 will fly through storage-intensive tasks.

However, despite using the same amount of 25nm NAND as the 256GB Crucial M4, the Vertex 3 240GB costs £100 more. Add the fact that the Vertex 3 also offers 15GB less formatted capacity and its price per gigabyte looks uncomfortably high at £1.87. The M4 is certainly no slouch when it comes to performance either, so the Vertex 3 isn't the complete victor in this case, especially at its current price.

Nevertheless, the Vertex 3 offers unmatched performance. If you absolutely must have the fastest SSD in the room, the Vertex 3 is it.