OCZ Octane 6 Gb/s Performance Looks Promising

[btarunr]

Anandtech posted the first set of performance figures of OCZ Octane. The enthusiast community is looking at the outcome of OCZ Octane eagerly, because it is based on OCZ's own newest high-performance SATA 6 Gb/s SSD processor, the Indilink Everest, the first major Indilinx controller after OCZ's acquisition of the company. It adds to the options available to enthusiasts, between SandForce SF-228x based SSDs, and Marvell 88SS9174.

The [p]reviewer put the 512 GB 6 Gb/s variant of this drive though the site's "Heavy Workload 2011" test suite, in which it edged past Intel SSD 510 250 GB, but fell behind OCZ Vertex 3 MaxIOPS 240 GB and Kingston HyperX 240 GB, both driven by SandForce SF-2281 processors. So far the performance yield looks encouraging, considering that OCZ has managed such performance on a drive with relatively higher capacity. Apart from the Indilinx Everest, OCZ Octane features 512 MB of cache and Intel 25 nm Sync MLC NAND flash memory. OCZ will also introduce a value variant that uses the SATA 3 Gb/s interface and Async MLC NAND flash. Complete reviews of this drive will surface in the coming days.



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[RejZoR]

For some reason i'd take Indilinx over Marvell...

 

[btarunr]

For some reason i'd take Indilinx over Marvell...

I know, I know. Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller bought so much bad PR to the brand.

 

[MikeMurphy]

I'd take anything over OCZ....

 

[NdMk2o1o]

troll, troll, troll troll troll....

Fixed that for you

 

[RejZoR]

Also because Indilinx was the first controller after crappy JMicron that delivered decent SSD performance. Though as MikeMurphy says, i prefer anything but OCZ as well. But since OCZ now owns Indilinx, you're limited to them unless they start selling their controllers to others as well. Which would be nice. I mean in a case if you really want Indilinx.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Also because Indilinx was the first controller after crappy JMicron that delivered decent SSD performance. Though as MikeMurphy says, i prefer anything but OCZ as well. But since OCZ now owns Indilinx, you're limited to them unless they start selling their controllers to others as well. Which would be nice. I mean in a case if you really want Indilinx.

I like your opinion, you at least gave an explanation and some input into the thread.

Btw my previous comment was due to the fact he came into a thread about OCZ and just stated i'd take anything over OCZ, I might try that in the AMD/Nvidia/Intel threads etc and see how it goes down...

Myself never had an issue with any OCZ products (touchwood) aside from their DDR2 RAM (gold platinum stuff etc) which I never rated, though I am sure the bad hype they have got around their SSD drives is mostly relating to older drives and hasn't been present for a while aside from the odd firmware issue which afaik even the likes of Intel and Crucial etc are prone to now and then so I am going to thank the OP for the post instead of the ususal trend of manufacturer bashing in every different thread that's created that seems to have become the norm..

 

[Completely Bonkers]

OCZ has so many SSD product "sub-brands" that it is getting very confusing for the poor consumer. While they might want to crowd out the retail shelf with their array of products, they are setting an expectation of "one or two of our SSDs are great, most are below average, and some are rubbish" so if you dont remember which is which then buy an Intel or Crucial and take no risk. OCZ really have to clean up and simplify their product line. It is a classic case of product line confusion.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

most are below average,

Look at my post above, I rest my case.

Completely misinforming people who don't know about OCZ drives, most = the majority = 51%+ are you telling me that more than half of the drives that OCZ produce are below average, do you care to share where you get your amazing statistics from?

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Yes, and if you are going to be rude, then do your own research.

I'll pose the answer as a few simple questions.

1./ How many different "brands" of SSD is OCZ actively selling, today?
2./ How many of them are top performers?
3./ Now do the counting and understand that in the retail channel you are likely to make a purchase error unless you are geeked up with the latest info
4./ Why are you taking my general comment "so personally"?

It is irrelevant that OCZ has some of the BEST SSDs. The fact is more than 50% of their "brands" are below average and this I don't like.

 

[btarunr]

If Indilinx Everest takes off, it's a good thing. It will cause OCZ to restrict SF-2281 to only its top-end Vertex 3 drives with Sync MLC, and Agility 3 (async MLC) will be axed (at least the 120 GB version). The lower-capacity Octane (SATA 6 Gb/s with Sync MLC) drives will take its place. No more SandForce-specific issues, everyone wins.

1./ How many different "brands" of SSD is OCZ actively selling, today?

36 (excluding capacity variants).

2./ How many of them are top performers?

In their respective segments, 6.

3./ Now do the counting and understand that in the retail channel you are likely to make a purchase error unless you are geeked up with the latest info

Not "geeking up with the latest info" (I prefer to use the term "basic research"), leads to paying the idiot tax.

It is irrelevant that OCZ has some of the BEST SSDs. The fact is more than 50% of their "brands" are below average and this I don't like.

The same can be said about practically any company with a large product portfolio. Take car-makers for example.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Yes, and if you are going to be rude, then do your own research.

I'll pose the answer as a few simple questions.

1./ How many different "brands" of SSD is OCZ actively selling, today?
2./ How many of them are top performers?
3./ Now do the counting and understand that in the retail channel you are likely to make a purchase error unless you are geeked up with the latest info
4./ Why are you taking my general comment "so personally"?

It is irrelevant that OCZ has some of the BEST SSDs. The fact is more than 50% of their "brands" are below average and this I don't like.

I'll pose the answer as questions, waita wriggle out of that one. Ok I will bite, and I wasn't being rude, if you can't take someone questioning what you say perhaps you should think about what you do say.

1:/ I see no relevance in this question, I said how can you claim that more than half of the OCZ drive lineup is "below average"
2:/ Oh right so you are only talking about top performance, so if they are not "top performers" then they are below average? is it the same anology for mid/low range CPU/GPU's so price/perf isn't relevant?
3: you have asked question 1 again and ended it with a statement that again has no factual backing?
4: I am not, I am sorry you think i am though, I do feel I have a right to ask about information that is common place amongst certain threads on TPU without any kind of factual/statistical backing and it is generally always the same kind of threads.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Damn fine and thorough answer bta,

The same can be said about practically any company with a large product portfolio. Take car-makers for example.

I disagree with the car-makers example. With a car there are very clear "upgrades" and product choices with transparent pricing for features. Buy a new car, from eg. any german car manufacturer, and you get booklet with one page for one of the "basic" options, and a 100 pages to "upgrade" to the feature set you want.

No, a better example is a washing machine from Miele, or a fridge or cooker from Bosch. You will spend an enormous amount of time trying to work out your options, probably dont know, really, which is the "best for the price" and if you go into a store and see just 10 on display, you dont know the other 100 models you might be missing.

Same with OCZ in the retail channel. With their 36 or more brands (not including capacity differences) the chances are that what is on the retail shelf, or indeed the 10 different sub-brands crowding out the retail shelf, gives you a "losers selection" unless you are "properly researched before hand". That is my point. OCZ do some brilliant products, get great brand reputation, and "sell that reputation to you" in the retail channel where more than half of what is on the shelf aint great and is below average. And the problem is IN THE SHOP you just won't know. It's lucky dip bingo. And I dont like that.

I think the simplicity of the Intel and Crucial SSD lines means you are less likely to pick a lemon and therefore I would buy the Intel or the Crucial in the shop rather than taking a sub-brand risk with OCZ.

To put it simply. If your mom wanted an SSD and said she would go shopping with the girls on Wednesday, would you tell her to get an Intel, Crucial or OCZ.

Obviously you aren't going to tell her to go an do research. Poor lady!

 

[btarunr]

I disagree with the car-makers example. With a car there are very clear "upgrades" and product choices with transparent pricing for features. Buy a new car, from eg. any german car manufacturer, and you get booklet with one page for one of the "basic" options, and a 100 pages to "upgrade" to the feature set you want.

No, a better example is a washing machine from Miele, or a fridge or cooker from Bosch. You will spend an enormous amount of time trying to work out your options, probably dont know, really, which is the "best for the price" and if you go into a store and see just 10 on display, you dont know the other 100 models you might be missing.

I may have overlooked the part about choosing from a wide range of cars from a manufacturer, because some pick cars subjectively, out of looks, colors, etc. Beyond that, OCZ's having a large product portfolio is no different from any other such manufacturer of anything else.

To put it simply. If your mom wanted an SSD and said she would go shopping with the girls on Wednesday, would you tell her to get an Intel, Crucial or OCZ.

If she wanted an SSD, I'd write down the exact SKUs of at least five choices of the best SSD options for her, even if I'm this drunk:

http://www.qhud.net/pictures/2011/01/Cute_-_drink.gif-.gif

 

[arterius2]

OCZ has some of the highest failure rates in their SSDs, I build computers for a large company, and I used to use vertex 3 agility drives in all of the machines, except that after a month or two of use, almost half of the machine's SSDs failed (BSOD//does not detect on bootup), after sending them all for RMA, I stopped using OCZ since, mostly been using intel and crucial nowadays without any problems.

 

[SteelSix]

OCZ has some of the highest failure rates in their SSDs, I build computers for a large company, and I used to use vertex 3 agility drives in all of the machines, except that after a month or two of use, almost half of the machine's SSDs failed (BOSD//does not detect on bootup), after sending them all for RMA, I stopped using OCZ since, mostly been using intel and crucial nowadays without any problems.

Has v2.15 firmware helped? I had an Agility 3 dissapearing from Raid 0 with earlier firmware. I've yet to resinstall and test with v2.15.

 

[N3M3515]

I saw in newegg pretty bad ratings for the mayority of ocz ssd's
What about Corsair ssd's??

 

[arterius2]

Has v2.15 firmware helped? I had an Agility 3 dissapearing from Raid 0 with earlier firmware. I've yet to resinstall and test with v2.15.

They failed before v2.15 firmware was released(was mostly on 2.11 and 2.13), I'm sure the new firmware would have helped as the remaining agility 3s was updated and has been running decent so far without too much problems.

 

[robal]

To article:
Good to hear.

To reply to the troll-part of the thread:
My Agility 2.15 still suffers from occasional 'freeze'.

 

[MikeMurphy]

Fixed that for you

Perhaps I should have been clearer for those living in alternate realities.

The drug dealing junky on the corner does a better job standing behind his product than OCZ does with their SSD drives.

OCZ has had MAJOR problems with their SSDs in the past and were either financially incapable or unwilling to address them. This is abundantly clear.

Forgive me if I don't get excited about OCZ releasing new drives. They are quite literally the last company I would ever support.

But, good luck on your purchase. Perhaps after your purchase you'll be kind enough to contribute to the endless negative reviews on newegg relating to OCZ drive problems and failures.

Best,

-Mike

 

[deleted]

OCZ has so many SSD product "sub-brands" that it is getting very confusing for the poor consumer. While they might want to crowd out the retail shelf with their array of products, they are setting an expectation of "one or two of our SSDs are great, most are below average, and some are rubbish" so if you dont remember which is which then buy an Intel or Crucial and take no risk. OCZ really have to clean up and simplify their product line. It is a classic case of product line confusion.

It's not really that confusing. If you ignore all of the EOLed drives (or is the existence of, say, AMD's Radeon HD 3000 series too confusing for the general consumer?), they have the Vertex 3, Agility 3, Solid 3, Octane, and Synapse Cache lines in the consumer space (lets leave out the enterprise level stuff). The first three are basically the same, and the last is pretty self-explanatory. Apart from the Synapse Cache series, which is a bit more situational, any of them would be perfectly reasonable to use in pretty much any computer, as long as the firmware is up to date.

 

[mediasorcerer]

Ocz make great ssd,s, sure some had the sandforce bug recently[like any brand that was using sforce controller], but it was a miniscule number compared to the amount sold, and was overblown and hyped up to make them sound/look like they were all faulty, hardly the case.

Ive heard folks around tech websites slag ocz off and say 'dont buy sandfocre"or "dont buy ocz ssd,s" its got a bug, i dont believe that , i reckon it was all way over hyped frankly.A few folks had the bsod issue, and that got turned into "everyone with ocz has problems"-crap.

Half the time i wonder if people dont cause the problems themselves with the way they install or handle ssd,s. Im using an ocz right now, never had even 1 fault or problem,with any ive owned.

Are you kidding me, they are great pioneers in ssd tech, especially hybrid ssd/hdd too, look at the recent hybrid they put on the market,500 $ or so for massive read/write speeds using there own proprietary caching software , huge capacity, thats a winner in my book, good on them!!!

Folks take one mistake and turn that into lets crap on ocz for ever!!! come off it, they are pushing the envelope and providing industry leading products for us, the consumer!!

 

[Completely Bonkers]

It's not really that confusing. If you ignore all of the EOLed drives (or is the existence of, say, AMD's Radeon HD 3000 series too confusing for the general consumer?), they have the Vertex 3, Agility 3, Solid 3, Octane, and Synapse Cache lines in the consumer space (lets leave out the enterprise level stuff). The first three are basically the same, and the last is pretty self-explanatory. Apart from the Synapse Cache series, which is a bit more situational, any of them would be perfectly reasonable to use in pretty much any computer, as long as the firmware is up to date.

I could say that the complexity of your post proves my point. Go tell your mom to pick up a SSD at the local Best Buy. Dont complain when she comes back with an "OCZ". And NO, don't give the poor lady a list of SKU's to choose from as bta suggested. bta is clearly a single man.

Just get back to post#8 and agree.

 

[Fx]

I could say that the complexity of your post proves my point. Go tell your mom to pick up a SSD at the local Best Buy. Dont complain when she comes back with an "OCZ". And NO, don't give the poor lady a list of SKU's to choose from as bta suggested. bta is clearly a single man.

I agree- the tech knowledge for the vast majority of non-techies are at pathetic levels