Recently updated with an important version 1.4 firmware, the Vertex 4 marks the high-water line in OCZ’s
SSD performance and a validation of the company’s acquisition of Indilinx. For a long time, Indilinx was the
competitor to SandForce, which had supplied the majority of OCZ’s drive controllers since 2010. The Vertex 4 is OCZ’s second spin with Indilinx, and the results don’t disappoint.
Our test results are right in line with other models we’ve examined recently, and in many cases, the Vertex 4 surpasses them. Considering that CrystalDiskMark reported a sequential write score of 467.7MBps, we couldn’t be happier with this 6Gbps SATA drive.
Beyond throughput, OCZ packs in several other notables. Vertex 4’s MTBF is an enterprise-class 2 million hours. Of course, 2 million hours is highly relative, depending on the workload, which is why algorithm advances in ECC, signal processing, and compression-free reduced write amplification are very important,especially in business environments. OCZ wraps up most of these lifeextending improvements under the name Ndurance 2.0. All told, Ndurance is supposed to double the NAND media’s expected number of program/erase cycles.
The Vertex 4 family uses MLC NAND based on a 25nm process. You’ll also find a pair of Micron chips supplying 512MB of cache each, which is a bonus, because SandForce products typically pulled cache from the main NAND pool, reducing total capacity.
In another nod to business buyers, OCZ also incorporates 256-bit AES encryption. For those with a
supporting BIOS, this will allow for complete drive security and a way to instantly wipe the drive when it’s
time to upgrade with no worries about residual data recovery. The five-year warranty rocks, too. All told, the Vertex 4 is a stellar SSD and a worthy asset to any performance-oriented system.
