OCZ Vertex 4 SSD review

Speed degradation after heavy testing

On this page I will test how the SSD performs after heavy testing and usage.

I now have a new policy as to how I go about testing an SSD. In the past I would deliberately try and get an SSD into a “used state”, by filling the drive several times before starting the tests. This seemed to work quite well up until the SandForce based SSDs appeared, but because of the way the SandForce controller works, it was near impossible to tell if deliberately trying to get a SandForce based SSD into a “used state” had actually worked or not.

A new strategy was required. So now I begin the tests with the SSD in a clean state and allow it to look after itself during the testing period. I start off the tests by running AS SSD benchmark. This gives me the “as new” reading and writing performance of the SSD.

Once all the tests have been completed, the drive is then tested as a system drive, and just used normally for many days which will also includes idle time (which is something I have always done with a review sample). At the end of the period, the drive is filled to capacity and then all files are deleted from the drive and then a “quick format” is performed.

The last test is a rerun of AS SSD benchmark, and the result from the final test is compared with the first run when the SSD was in an “as new” state.

Given that I have only had the OCZ Vertex 4 for a matter of a few days, and a deadline to meet. The Vertex 4 has not had much idle time for garbage collection to work its magic.

 

New state 30/03/2012

Used state 1/04/2012

With 2.38 Terabytes of data already written to the drive during a testing period of just three days, one would have expected the performance to have dropped off slightly. I have to say there is no evidence of this having taken place, in fact the overall score in AS SSD has gone up.

If this is an indication of how the OCZ Vertex 4 will behave in general use, then there is no need to worry about the drive grinding to halt caused by dirty NAND, as the Vertex 4 seems very capable of maintaining performance even when being pushed very hard.

 

This concludes our review. To read the final thoughts and conclusion, click the link below….

 

• MyCE Reality Suite
• Final thoughts and the conclusion