Introduction

OCZ Technology built an excellent reputation for themselves in the SSD business with many innovations coming out of their labs.

The company's latest coup was the purchase of Indilinx which came with a completely working flash controller design. This will provide OCZ with a significant advantage over other manufacturers as these have to buy SSD controllers from Marvell or SandForce for a lot of money.

OCZ's Agility 4 is positioned as a high-end, mid-range drive based on Indilinx Everest 2 controller technology. The drive is available in capacities of 64, 128, 256 and 512 GB.

Packaging

With the Agility 4, OCZ is using a transparent plastic blister pack; the company's other SSDs come in a cardboard box which I prefer.


You will receive:

• The SSD
• Documentation
• OCZ sticker

The Drive

The drive conforms to the dimensions set forth by the 2.5" form factor. It is made from metal which improves its durability.


Like most recent SSDs, OCZ's Agility 4 uses the SATA 6 Gbps interface. It is compatible with any other SATA standard, but will, in such a case, work at reduced performance.


On the PCB, you will find the SSD controller in the center surrounded by 16 flash chips which are located on both sides. The two smaller chips are the DRAM memory for the controller.


As controller, Indilinx's Everest 2 M2502128T048SX22 is used. As we reported here, OCZ confirmed that the controller is a rebranded Marvell controller which is overclocked and runs OCZ firmware.


The 16 flash chips are branded OCZ, but we are quite sure they are rebadged IMFlash (Intel-Micron alliance) 25 nanometer NAND flash. Each chip has a capacity of 16 GB.