Introduction

OCZ Technology has been one of the companies that built an excellent reputation for themselves in the SSD business. Their latest OCZ Vertex 3 is based on the new Sandforce SF-2281 controller, which comes with full support for the SATA 6 Gbps interface. Like all recent SSDs the Vertex 3 also supports TRIM and NCQ.

OCZ's consumer SSD lineup consists of three products called Solid, Agility and Vertex (in order of increasing performance). The Vertex 3, that we have on our test bench today offers the highest performance out of the lineup.

Packaging

OCZ's SSD comes in an appropriately sized cardboard box. The most important product performance specs and capacity are visible on the front. Additional product details can be found in smaller print on the front and back.


You will receive:

• The SSD
• Documentation
• OCZ Sticker
• Mounting screws
• 2.5" to 3.5" adapter

The Drive

The drive conforms to the dimensions set forth by the 2.5" form factor. It uses a rugged metal casing that feels extremely solid and high quality.


OCZ's Vertex 3 uses the SATA 6 Gbps interface. It is compatible with any other SATA standard, but will work at reduced performance in such a case.


OCZ is using 16 flash chips and the Sandforce flash controller, which is located in the middle of the PCB. An additional DRAM cache chip, like other SSDs use for additional caching, is not available.


As controller the recently released Sandforce SF-2281 is used.


The 16 flash chips are made by Intel and have a capacity of 16 GB each, they are produced in a 25 nanometer production process.