Toshiba OCZ VX500 SATA SSD Review: Fast, Affordable Storage

Although NVMe PCI Express solid state drives are all the rage as of late, due to their relatively strong performance and inherent feature benefits, manufacturers continue to tune and refine their SATA based offerings as well. Case in point: the brand new OCZ VX500 series solid state drives we’ll be showing you here today. The OCZ VX500 series targets the mainstream computing segment and initially consists of a quartet of 2.5mm SATA SSDs, packing all, in-house, Toshiba made technology. The hook is, even though these new drives are priced aggressively, they eschew less expensive TLC NAND in favor of more durable MLC, and performance is relatively strong too.

We’ve got the full list of features and specifications for the new OCZ VX500 series posted below. Give that a gander to get a feeling for where these drives fit in the market, and then we’ll tear one open, take a tour, and finally burn through a bunch of benchmarks...

OCZ VX500 Series Solid State Drives Specifications & Features

Performance	128GB	256GB	512GB	1024GB
Sequential Read Speed	Up To 550MB/s	Up To 550MB/s	Up To 550MB/s	Up To 550MB/s
Sequential Write Speed	Up To 485MB/s	Up To 510MB/s	Up To 515MB/s	Up To 515MB/s
Random Read (4KiB, QD32)	Up To 62K IOPS	Up To 90K IOPS	Up To 92K IOPS	Up To 92 IOPS
Random Write (4KiB, QD32)	Up To 49K IOPS	Up To 58K IOPS	Up To 64K IOPS	Up To 65K IOPS
Endurance
TBW (Total Bytes Written)	74TB	148TB	296TB	592TB
Daily Usage Guidelines	40GB/day	81GB/day	162GB/day	324GB/day
Pysical
Usable Capacities	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1024GB
NAND Flash	MLC
Interface	Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s
Form Factor	2.5", 7mm height
Dimensions	100 mm x 69.85 mm x 7.00 mm
Drive Weight	128 GB, 256 GB: 49 g (typ.) 512 GB: 52 g (typ.), 1024 GB: 54 g (typ.)
Environmental
Operating Temperature	0 °C to 70 °C
Storage Temperature	-40 °C to 85 °C
Shock Resistance	1500G/0.5ms
Vibration	20G (10-2000Hz)
Certifications	CE, BSMI, RCM, KCM, UL, WEEE
Power Requirements
Supply Voltage	5.0V
Power Consumption	Active: Up to 3.4W, Idle: 125mW (128GB-512GB), 260mW (1T), DEVSLP 5mW max
Reliability / Security
MTTF	1.5M Hours
Health Monitoring	Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART)
Compatibility
Serial ATA	ATA/ATAPI Command Set-2 (ACS-2) and Serial ATA revision 3.1 interface spec
Operating System	Windows, Linux, MacOS X
Connector Type	Standard SATA Power Connector
Additional
Performance Optimization	TRIM, Idle Time Garbage Collection
Service & Support	5-Year Advanced Warranty Program, Toll-free and online Tech Support
Software	SSD Utility, Command Line Online Update Tool (CLOUT), Acronis True Image 2016

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The new OCZ VX 500 series drives feature textured aluminum housings, similar to previous-gen mainstream offerings, though they're not quite as rigid or heavy as some of OCZ's older drives. The enclosures are held together with screws, however, and the PCBs inside are securely mounted with screws as well, so the VX500s should be somewhat more durable than drives that simply snap together. There are also thermal pads on every chip inside the drives, which aid in dispersing heat and ad a bit of cushion as well.
All of the drives in VX500 series conform to the standard 2.5” form factor common to today’s SATA-based SSDs, and they all have slim 7mm Z-heights. The enclosures used on the drives are all metal (top and bottom) and there are no stand-out external features to speak off, other than a dimpled texture pattern, their decals / branding,  and the SATA power and data connectors at one end. Those are par for the course with a drive of this type, though.

Open up an OCZ VX500 and you'll find Toshiba MLC NAND flash memory and a Toshiba controller (these shots are of a 512GB drive). Inside the 1TB drive, there is also a bit of DRAM cache soldered to the pad adjacent to the controller. Unlike many other affordably-priced solid state drives that use TLC NAND Flash memory, the VX500 uses MLC NAND, which improves endurance. Details are scarce on the Toshiba controller and actual NAND used though, so we don’t have much to share in that regard, but it is not the same TC58 found on the Trion series. The VX500 series does support DEVSLP to save power when idle, but it lacks support for hardware encryption at this time.

The VX500 series drives are all rated for max read speeds of 550MB/s, but write performance varies between the models. The 128GB drive’s write performance peaks at 485MB/s, while the 256GB drive top out at 510MB/s. The higher capacities peak at 515MB/s. All of the drives support TRIM and idle garbage collection, as you would expect, but endurance ratings differ based on capacity, ranging from 74TBW and 40GB/day on the 128GB drive on up to 592TBW and 324GB/day on the 1TB drive. Idle power is listed at 125mW, DEVSLP mode at 5mW, and active power at 3.4W, which is somewhat lower than many of OCZ’s recently released drives.

We should also mention that OCZ offers a 5 year warranty on these SSDs. And that warranty is part of the OCZ Advanced Warranty Program, which the company describes as, “…a new approach to service that mitigates the hassle surrounding support and warranty claims that consumers often have to deal with”. Provide OCZ Support with the drive’s serial number (no original purchase receipt is required), and in the event the drive is determined to be defective, it will be replaced with a brand new SSD. Advanced product replacement and a paid return shipping label are also provided to minimize downtime, should users need to take advantage of the warranty coverage.


Bundled with the VX500 series is a serial number for a copy of Acronis True Image 2016 (which supports Windows 10) and the drives are supported by OCZ's excellent SSD Utility as well. It's becoming more and more rare for companies to provide any cloning software with their drives, so we have to give kudos to OCZ for coming through with a copy of Acronis here, which is widely regarded as one of the better utilities in its class.