OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD Review (firmware 1.4 update)

1. Introduction2. OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD3. OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD (Super High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. CrystalDiskMark6. ATTO Disk Benchmark7. AS SSD8. PCMark 79. IOMeter10. Real World Testing11. Closing Thoughts12. View All Pages

When we reviewed the 512GB Vertex 4 in April, the drive literally blew us away. Finally, the Sandforce 2281 controller was dethroned at the top of the performance charts. Today we are looking at the 128GB Vertex 4, with the latest 1.4 firmware revision.

OCZ released the 1.4 firmware early in May which they say could boost the performance of the Vertex 4 by up to 110% in specific situations. V1.4 RC increased 128kb sequential reads from 535MB/s to 550MB/s on the 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models, while 128KB sequential writes have increased from 200MB/s to 420MB/s, 380MB/s to 465MB/s. A short while ago the ‘release candidate' firmware hit full release status and this is the version we test today.

The 128GB Vertex 4 has seen a price cut from many stores, and ARIA in the United Kingdom are stocking it at only £105.95 inc vat, which looks to be the cheapest in the United Kingdom today.

	Vertex 4 128GB	Vertex 4 256GB	Vertex 4 512GB
Sequential Read	535MB/s (550MB/s)	535MB/s (550MB/s)	535MB/s (550MB/s)
Sequential Write	200MB/s (420MB/s)	380MB/s (465MB/s)	475MB/s (no gain)
Random Read IOPS	90,000	90,000	95,000
Random Write IOPS	85,000	85,000	85,000
Max IOPS	120,000	120,000	120,000

When we initially reviewed the 512GB model, we received a few emails from readers who were concerned that the 128GB was rated at much lower speeds. OCZ claim that the 1.4 firmware will bring the 128GB performance up to similar levels as the 512GB model, for mainstream users anyway.

OCZ claim the faster speeds were made possible by “proprietary algorithms which orchestrate the sequence of physical NAND programming operations to ensure that each NAND device is optimally utilized.”

The OCZ Vertex 4 ships in a stylish black and dark grey box. They list the capacity bottom right of the box.

OCZ include a lovely, branded 3.5 inch drive bay with mounting screws. There is also literature on the product.

The Vertex 4 is dark, comprised of a plastic front panel and a metal rear panel.

Please remember that opening these drives will invalidate your warranty. That is why we are here, to show you the insides without you having to take the risk.

The Indilinx controller is marked IDX400MOO-BC (Vertex 3 controller was IDX300M00-BC) – although its underneath a thermal pad in our images. OCZ are using Intel synchronous 25nm NAND flash memory (29F64G08ACME3). There are sixteen ONfi NAND modules on the PCB, each of them 8GB in size.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

For testing, the drives are all wiped and reset to factory settings by HDDerase V4. We try to use free or easily available programs and some real world testing so you can compare our findings against your own system.

This is a good way to measure potential upgrade benefits.

Main system:

CPU: Intel Core i7 2700k
Cooler: Thermaltake Frio OCK
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Memory: ADATA DDR3 2000mhz 9-11-9-24
PSU: ADATA 1200W
Graphics: Sapphire HD6950 Flex Edition
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit Enterprise
Monitor: Dell U2410

Other Drives (used in Core i7 2700k system above):
Visiontek GoDrive 60GB
Visiontek Racer Series 120GB
Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120GB
Mushkin Chronos 240GB
Kingston HyperX 3k 120GB
OCZ Vertex 4 512GB
Transcend SSD720 128GB
Kingston SSDNow V+200 90GB
OCZ Octane 512GB (V1.13 fw)
Mach Xtreme MX-DS Turbo 120GB
Corsair Performance Pro 256GB
Samsung 830 Series 512GB
Patriot Pyro SE 240GB
Patriot Wildfire 240GB
MemoRight FTM Plus 240GB SSD
Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD
OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 480GB
Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSD OCZ Agility 3 240GB
OCZ Vertex 3 240GB
OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS 240GB
ADATA S511 240GB
Intel 510 120GB
Corsair F100 100GB
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
Crucial Real SSD C300 64GB
MemoRight FTM.25 115GB SSD
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB

PCIe drives test system:

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB HDD/SSD &
OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 480GB

Test System:
CPU: Intel Core i7 990x @ 4.8ghz
Cooler: Corsair H100 Performance Liquid Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Black Edition
Memory: 12GB Kingston DDR3 @ 1600mhz 9-9-9-24
PSU: ADATA 1200W
Graphics: Nvidia GTX580
Chassis: Lian Li X2000F
Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit Enterprise
Monitor: Dell U2410

Software:
Atto Disk Benchmark
CrystalMark
AS SSD
PCMark 7
IOMeter
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call Of Pripyat

All our results were achieved by running each test five times with every configuration this ensures that any glitches are removed from the results. Trim is confirmed as running by typing fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify into the command line. A response of disabledeletenotify =0 confirms TRIM is active.

Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0.1 x64.

In the world of SSD performance, the results above are extremely rare. The Vertex 4 drive delivers fantastic results with both incompressible and compressible data (‘0x00' test). 4K QD32 performance is class leading, right at the very top of the chart, just behind the Intel 520 Series 240GB drives in RAID 0.

Above, some included compares from other leading solid state drives which we have reviewed in recent months.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

The Vertex 4 128GB with 1.4 firmware delivers better sequential read performance than the Vertex 4 512GB with the earlier '31' firmware. It scores 547 MB/s in the read test, which is close to the Sandforce 2281 powered drives at the top of the chart. Sequential read performance with the this software is a little lower, scoring 393 MB/s. Still a strong result.

Some comparison results from other leading products available on the market today.

AS SSD is a great free tool designed just for benching Solid State Drives. It performs an array of sequential read and write tests, as well as random read and write tests with sequential access times over a portion of the drive. AS SSD includes a sub suite of benchmarks with various file pattern algorithms but this is difficult in trying to judge accurate performance figures.

AS SSD only deals with incompressible data and the Vertex 4 128GB with 1.4 firmware manages to match the 512GB model at the very top of the chart. It scores a little more in the read test, but slightly less in the write test, balancing out.

This is when the Vertex 4 really shows its true potential, greatly outperforming the Sandforce 2281 powered drives.

Some other comparisons from leading manufacturer drives, which we have tested in recent months.

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

Both drives are closely matched in this synthetic test, although the Vertex 4 512GB manages to slightly outperform the 128GB model, even with the newer firmware installed. These would be negligible in the real world however.

IOMeter is another open source synthetic benchmarking tool which is able to simulate the various loads placed on hard drive and solid state drive technology.

We use a custom Kitguru configuration for 4k random write to measure performance. We use the same test, but for random read performance also.

IOmeter performance is exceptionally good in both 4k random read and write tests. Every company does rate the drives slightly differently, but our results are very close to the OCZ claims. The results are basically indistinguishable between the 512GB drive with 31 firmware and the 128GB drive with the newer 1.4 firmware.

It doesn’t matter how good any of the synthetic suites are, the real meat of the testing has to be under absolute real world conditions. This proves difficult as to record results we have to narrow down fluctuation. Therefore while we would say these are the most useful results to get from this review, there is always going to be a slight margin for error – its not absolutely scientific.

Firstly we installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Edition onto each of the drives and performed a clean update from Microsoft with all patches and security fixes. We then install a basic suite of software, such as Office, Firefox and Adobe Design, then we install AVG free antivirus. We used a digital watch for this startup and repeated the test five times for each drive – once we had these five results we averaged the results and took that for the final figure.

Fantastic results, taking 22 seconds, the same time as the 512GB Vertex 4.

The Vertex 4 drives claim the top spot in this test, behind the RAID 0 Intel 520 configuration and the RevoDrive 3 x2 480GB.

I review many Solid State drives each month … a high percentage of which are based around the Sandforce 2281 controller, with a different sticker on the chassis. It is generally a rather tedious process with a conclusion almost entirely based around the price point.

When we received OCZ's Vertex 4 512GB on April 4th, it was literally like a breath of fresh air. It was without question one of the most capable, well balanced Solid State drives available today.

Not content to rest on their laurels OCZ have been hard at work behind the scenes improving the performance of the drives. The latest 1.4 Firmware ensures that the Vertex 4 128GB drive can compete against the larger, more expensive 512GB model.

While the high end Sandforce 2281 controlled drives still have the best sequential, compressible read and write bandwidth, the Vertex 4 can maintain the same bandwidth parameters when dealing with both compressible and incompressible data.

Not taking a performance hit with any form of data can be such a vital prerequisite within specialised environments. We class OCZ's Indilinx Everest 2 as the clear market leader for both mainstream consumer and professional industries.

IOPS performance from the Vertex 4 128GB is conjointly class leading, dominating any Sandforce 2281 drive we have tested in the last year. Both of our intensive 4k random tests indicate unshakable results between 80,000 and 90,000 IOPS. This drive can be safely incorporated into a demanding data based server environment without a possible compromise on ultimate throughput.

If you are in the market for a new Solid State Drive, there really is only one drive I would unreservedly recommend right now, OCZ's Vertex 4.

This drive is available for an incredible £105.95 inc vat from ARIA today. I would class this as one of the tech bargains of 2012.

Pros:

• Indilinx Everest 2 controller is the new class leader.
• IOPS performance is dominating.
• No performance hit with incompressible data.
• OCZ look after their customers with a 5 year warranty.
• very competitive pricing.

Cons:

• None.

Kitguru says: If you want a new SSD this is the one to get. It has redefined the market.

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