Introduction

OCZ has been one of the earliest adopters of SSD technology, and their products have always been at the forefront of technology. After all the financial irregularities that we've seen in 2012, combined with their falling stock price, it's great to see that OCZ is still alive and kicking, and working on new products. Their latest OCZ Vector is based on the new Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller: it is, given Indilinx was acquired by OCZ in 2011, the first OCZ controller with 100% in-house technology.

The Vector uses synchronous NAND flash with the Barefoot 3 connected to a SATA 6 Gbps interface. Warranty has been set at five years, which shows OCZ believes in their product - confident that it will last you for a very long time.

Packaging

You will receive:

• The SSD
• 3.5" mounting kit
• Screw package
• Acronis True Image HD license key
• OCZ SSD Sticker

The Drive

The drive conforms to the dimensions set forth by the 2.5" form factor. It is made of metal, which improves its durability. Please note that the drive is thinner than normal 2.5" SSDs. Its height of 7 mm makes it a perfect match for the latest Ultrabooks.


Like most recent SSDs, the OCZ Vector uses the SATA 6 Gbps interface. It is compatible with any older SATA standard, but will, in such a case, work at reduced performance.


You will find the SSD controller and a total of 16 flash chips on the PCB. A DRAM chip has also been installed to provide RAM for the SSD Controller.


OCZ uses their own Indilinx Barefoot 3 IDX500 controller: it is the first controller OCZ developed 100% in-house.


The 16 flash chips are produced by Intel/Micron on a 25 nanometer process.