OCZ Vector Barefoot 3 Solid State Drive Review

Performance Summary: The new OCZ Vector is one of the fastest, most consistent performing solid state drives we have ever tested. In a number of our tests, the Vector was arguably the best performer overall, as evidenced by its IOMeter, CrystalDiskMark, AS-SSD, and HD Tune scores. But even when the drive wasn't leading the pack, its performance was right in the mix. The Vector proved to be a strong performer with larger sequential transfers and with small file transfers at high queue depths. It's consistently high performance incompressible data was also a strong point for the OCZ Vector.

The New OCZ Vector Solid State Drive

There are still a lot of unknowns with the OCZ Vector, considering it is brand new to market and is OCZ's first drive which utilizes all in-house technology, save for the actual NAND. With that said, the OCZ Vector appears to be a very strong product. The Vector consistently performed among the best drives we have tested, occasionally outpacing what were considered some of the fastest drives on the market. Performance of the drive is strong at high queue depths and remains consistent, regardless of the compressibility of the data being transferred. Overall, this is one of the fastest SATA SSDs on the market currently.

The Vector’s long-term reliability remains to be seen, but OCZ is offering a 5 year warranty on the drive and says it is rated to deliver 20GB host writes per day for 5 years, or 36.5TB or writes. As for pricing, OCZ expects the 128GB model to retail for around $149, the 256GB model for $269, and the 512GB model for $559. At those prices, the OCZ Vector is somewhat more expensive than other high-end alternatives, but we expect street prices to dip lower once the drive is widely available.

All things considered, we think OCZ has a heck of a product on their hands with the Vector. Not only was it one of the fastest drives we’ve tested, it was also one of the most consistent. Factor in a very good warranty and OCZ’s historic commitment to supporting their solid state drives and there’s a whole lot to like here.

5-Year Warranty Consistently Strong Performance 7mm Z-Height	MSRP Somewhat High