OCZ Vertex 2 100GB

[Rob Williams]

Are you interested in equipping yourself with one of the fastest SSD's on the planet? If so, then OCZ's Vertex 2 is the one you want to keep an eye on. Thanks to its tweaked SandForce SF-1200 controller, the Vertex 2 is the fastest SSD we've ever tested, dominating almost every single one of our tests.

You can read the rest of Robert's review here and discuss it here!

 

[Unregistered]

Interesting read. Any numbers on how the 50(60)GB version would fare in comparison? It would be the real competitor to the 80GB Intel drive.

 

[Kougar]

Thanks for your comment!

It's a good question. Generally in any given model family, the 100-128GB models are the sweet spot for SSD performance. The 50/60GB Vertex 2 is going to lose a little performance off the top, but I do not believe it will be significant.

Even though I do not have one to test, I am very sure the write performance is going to stay well above the 80MB/s write speeds that the X25-M 80GB G2 is limited to. Honestly if I had to choose myself, I'd probably go with the Vertex 2 for the better write performance and knowing the drive will get a much needed bump to 60GB. The difference in cost per GB using street pricing is only about 20 cents between them after that.

 

[looisboo]

Nice review guys. This sandforce controller is very good. I wonder how will the new jetstream controller perform

 

[Kougar]

Nice review guys. This sandforce controller is very good. I wonder how will the new jetstream controller perform

Thanks for your post! And so do I, of course!

Indilinx's Jetstream controller was supposed to have been sampling already, so it's already behind schedule. Delays are fine as long as it means the product has any last bugs worked out and performance optimizations completed, but it does mean that it will be awhile before anything new launches to challenge Sandforce's performance.

Intel also has newer, smaller NAND flash on the roadmap (and one would assume) a faster, perhaps G3 controller ready for it when they launch new models but the earliest this would occur is July. And it is possible a SATA 6Gb/s G3 still won't appear on Intel SSD's until early next year. It's just not worth waiting, and I seriously am finding it hard to believe someone could even use anything faster than a Vertex 2 as it is!