OCZ Vertex 460 240GB Solid State Drive Review

Name: OCZ Vertex 460 240GB Solid State Drive Review
Brand: OCZ

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, January 22, 2014, 09:00 AM EDT

We had originally planned to start this review and evaluation off with a brief discussion of OCZ’s potential fate and what the company’s recent bankruptcy and looming acquisition by Toshiba could mean for its future. But in the 11th hour yesterday, news came through that the acquisition was complete and OCZ would go on producing solid state storage products but now as a “wholly owned subsidiary and Toshiba Group Company”. We've even got a fresh new logo to show you in the table below.

Fittingly, the first product released after the announcement, and the drive we’ll be showing you here, features all home-grown OCZ controller technology and bleeding edge 19nm Toshiba-built MLC NAND flash memory. These just-announced OCZ Vertex 460 series drives will be available soon in 120GB – 480GB flavors and we’ve got the full scoop for you all on the pages ahead. First up though, let’s take a look at some specifications...

OCZ Vertex 460

Specifications & Features

	120GB	240GB	480GB
Max Read	530 MB/s	540 MB/s	545 MB/s
Max Write	420 MB/s	525 MB/s	525 MB/s
Max Random Read IOPS (4K QD32)	80,000	85,000	95,000
Max Random Write IOPS (4K QD32)	90,000	90,000	90,000
Steady-State Random Write IOPS (4K QD32)	12,000	21,000	23,000
Physical Specifications
Controller	Barefoot 3 M10
NAND Components	19nm Toshiba Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash
Interface	SATA 3.0 6GB/s
Form Factor	2.5"; Ultra-Slim 7mm
Reliability Specifications
Data Path Protection	BCH ECC Corrects up to 44 random bits/1KB
Encryption	256-bit AES-compliant
Product Health Monitoring	Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART)
Endurance	Rated for 20GB/day host writes for 3 years under typical client workloads
Environmental Specifications
Power Consumption	Idle: 0.6W Active: 2.70W
Operating Temperature	0°C ~ 55°C
Shock Resistance	1500G/0.5ms
Vibration (Operational)	2.17Grms (7-800Hz)
Vibration (Non-Operational) Price:	16.3Grms (20-2000Hz) $99 (120GB), $189 (240GB), $359 (480GB) MSRP

OCZ Vertex 460 Retail Package

Before we take a look at closer look at the new 240GB OCZ Vertex 460 we received for testing, we want to quickly draw some attention to its accessory bundle. OCZ continues to be one of the few companies that bundle its drives with not only a 2.5” to 3.5” mounting adapter, but with a license for Acronis True Image HD (Windows 8 compatible) as well. Heck, OCZ even thrown is multi-language installation manual and an “I Love My SSD” decal. Though the mounting adapters are growing less important as newer cases that include 2.5” mounting locations are released, the inclusion of Acronis is an excellent value add in our opinion.

Tags: SSD, OCZ, Storage, Toshiba, SATA, solid state, vertex

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com