OCZ Vertex 4 SSD review

Final thoughts and the conclusion

User experience

A modern operating system such as Windows 7 rarely does one thing at time; it processes hundreds of threads at once. Just take a look at the processes and services that are running in task manager for an idea of how much is going on, even with the PC idling at the desktop. When you start running applications on top of this, the workload increases in line with the number and type of applications you are running. It’s also fair to say that many of these processes are already loaded into system RAM, but many are also loaded into and unloaded from RAM from the system drive as and when they are required.

The fact of the matter is this. If you are running a mainstream or high end modern PC with a powerful CPU and graphics card, and are still running a traditional HDD as a system drive, regardless of how fast that HDD is, it is still bogging the system down substantially. It has long since passed the stage where one can meaningfully debate if an SSD is really faster than a traditional HDD. The fact is they are, and not just by a little bit: they are much faster.

If we look at the 4 basic requirements for a really fast SSD, they are as follows.

• Small file threaded performance needs to be high.
• Small random file performance needs to be high.
• Sequential read and write speeds needs to be high.
• Fast access times. 

The OCZ Vertex 4 512GB SSD has all of the above attributes in abundance. The Indilinx Everest 2 is quite simply the most powerful SSD processor available at the moment, and there is nothing else that can really compete, not even the mighty SandForce SF-2281, which had been top dog for nearly a whole year.

Stability

I have only had the OCZ Vertex 4 SSD for a few days, so it’s not possible to comment on the drive’s long term reliability. But what I can tell you now is that during the testing period, the OCZ Vertex 4 has been 100% stable, with not a single issue to report.

The OCZ Vertex 4 is as “plug n play” as it gets. There are no special tweaks needed other than simply making sure that AHCI SATA mode is enabled in the system UEFI (BIOS) and installing the latest Intel RST SATA drivers if you want to get the best performance and compatibility out of this SSD.

Long term testing on the OCZ Vertex 4 begins now, and I will report back if I should encounter any reliability issues with the SSD.

Conclusion:

Let us summarise the most important positive and negative points below:

Positive:

• Silky smooth operation as a system drive.
• Excellent sequential reading and writing performance.
• Outstanding 4K random I/O performance at low and high queue depths.
• SATA 6Gbps support.
• TRIM support under Windows 7.
• Ultra fast access times.
• Completely silent operation.
• Fast operating system start-up and shutdown times.
• 5 years warranty.

Negative:

• Nothing to mention

To sum up, this is what I would say:

Throughout this review, the OCZ Vertex 4 has gone head to head with the best of the rest, and that includes SSDs such as the Intel 520, the Crucial M4, Plextor PX-256M3, and OCZ’s own Vertex 3. In all but a couple of instances the Vertex 4 has been by far the best performer, and in some cases has been an absolute country mile ahead of the rest. Its ability to produce breathtaking performance at very low queue depths, and those ultra fast access times mean that the OCZ Vertex 4 is by far the fastest SATA SSD we have ever tested here at MyCE.com.

A new performance bar has been set for consumer grade SSDs, and the OCZ Vertex 4 is now the drive to beat.

The five year warranty is also a welcome addition and shows that OCZ are confident about the reliability of the Vertex 4, which also brings the OCZ Vertex 4 in line with the Intel 520, and the Plextor M3, who also offer a five warranty.

Price

As I write this article, the OCZ Vertex 4 range of SSDs is not available in the shops, but they should be appearing soon. The prices in the table below for the Vertex 4 are the suggested prices. Prices in Euro and UK pounds are derived from the current US dollar exchange rates.

The parting sentence is

“The OCZ Vertex 4 512GB is an outstanding SSD; it has breathtaking performance, and is backed by a 5 year warranty”.

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