OCZ VERTEX 3.20 240GB SSD RRP: $229.99 | Website: www.ocz.com
Test Machine • Intel Core i7 3770K • GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H (F2i) • CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 2x4GB DDR 2666MHZ CL10 • Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W • Windows 7 64-bit SP1
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ere is yet another SSD from OCZ. There’s no questioning that OCZ knows how to make SSD drives that are both compelling in performance and sometimes in price. Over the last few issues we’ve looked at the blisteringly quick OCZ Vector and the Vertex4, both remarkable and well worth their placing amongst enthusiast class SSDs. So what of the Vertex3.20 then? Well this is a newer version of the original Vertex3. In essence the only thing changed is that the new drives make use of 20nm Intel NAND instead of the older 25nm NAND also from Intel. This does
18 The OverClocker Issue 24 | 2013
nothing but cut costs for OCZ, ideally without compromising performance. What it does in theory though is reduce the life cycle of the NAND. However this shouldn’t be a problem for any user at all as you’re unlikely to cause failure through repeated writes in any realistic scenario. We’ll save you the time as there’s no need to go into the internals of this drive, you’ve seen it before. The original Vertex 3 was one of the first if not the first drive to come out with the then new SF-2281 controller. So you can imagine everything associated with that controller holds true here as well. Keep in mind that this was previously OCZ’s high end offering, but was subsequently replaced by the Vertex 4, the Vector and now we’re hearing rumours of a Vertex 5. Either way this is a mid-range offering from the outfit and as such the performance should not be judged too critically or against other heavy hitters like the Samsung 840. What should be of concern to you
is the pricing which in turn will skew your opinion on the drive. From where we stand the performance is admirable for what it is, but falls short of being as impressive as the original Vertex3 when it came out and certainly nothing like the Vertex3.. The problem here is that at $229 USD, you’re essentially charging performance grade prices for a mid-range part. No doubt that with some shopping around you may be able to find it a little cheaper but based on the pricing we use consistently; this is an expensive drive. It costs more than the remarkable CORSAIR Neutron GTX. Now there’s no situation where this drive outperforms the GTX yet at the time of writing, the GTX was selling for just under $200. That means for significantly lower performance you’re paying up to $30 more. That alone may make you consider another drive because while the Vertex3.20 is faster than the INTEL 335 we reviewed last issue. It isn’t a whole lot faster. Mind you the INTEL drive is also overpriced in