Page 10 - Conclusion
As the market for enthusiasts looking for bleeding edge speed moves on to PCI Express and M.2 based SSDs, it is rather unsurprising to see the gap closing in between value oriented products and performance parts that remain in the SATA 6Gb/s world. When we reviewed the OCZ Vector 150 240GB last year, it was one of the fastest drives in the market. The OCZ Vector 180 240GB remained mostly so, thanks to packing the same hardware under the hood, but in a number of cases, it actually fell behind its predecessor by a small to moderate margin. My best explanation is probably due to changes on a firmware level. Whether this is directly reflected in real life scenarios is hard to say, because I do agree OCZ does not play tricks as the Vector 180 delivered consistent performance with incompressible data. Furthermore, being one SSD used daily in my computer, the Vector 180 is proven to sustain under stress, and this is not a metric always reflected in our benchmarks today. Its 90TB write endurance rating is also one of the best in the market. My only complaint is it does not have DevSleep, nor does it support Microsoft eDrive, making it mostly unsuitable for mobile applications. That said, what makes the Vector 180 stand out from the crowd is beyond simple raw speed and listed specifications. It is the commitment OCZ brings to its flagship Serial ATA drive. With PFM+ to enhance its reliability, which the Barefoot 3 based OCZ Vector 150 already has a solid reputation on, along with a 5-year ShieldPlus warranty, the message is clear: The Vector 180 is not likely to fail; and if it does, they have your back totally covered. For about $145 at press time, this solid state drive will run you some cash, and market-wise, it is really something that fills the spot until the next generation OCZ JetExpress controller comes along. But for now, if you are looking for a SATA 6Gb/s SSD with top notch reliability, solid performance, and the best warranty, the Vector 180 is a great choice.
OCZ provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH:Renewal Award
Since April 30, 2007, Number Ratings have been dropped for all CPUs, motherboards, RAM, SSD/HDDs, and graphics cards. This is to ensure the most appropriate ratings are reflected without the inherent limits of using numbers. Everything else will continue using the Number Rating System.
More information in our Review Focus.
The OCZ Vector 180 240GB is a high end SATA 6Gb/s drive that delivers on performance and reliability, backed by the best warranty available in the market today.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark Vantage
10. Conclusion
