OCZ Shows off Barefoot 3-Powered SSD at IDF

Cristian_25H · Sep 12, 2012

Yesterday at the Intel Developer Forum 2012 in San Francisco the OCZ Technology Group (OCZ for short) provided a quick peek at its upcoming solid state drive named Vector. Coming in a 2.5-inch form factor, the Vector features a Barefoot 3 controller (designed by Indilinx from top to bottom, unlike the Barefoot 2 which has Marvell technology), 2x nm MLC NAND, and a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface. Unfortunately OCZ didn't say anything about the drive's performance.

The Vector is set to be released in Q4 in at least two capacities - 256 GB and 512 GB.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

RejZoR · Sep 12, 2012

I'm really interested in seeing how it performs, being a full Indilinx technology...

Super XP · Sep 12, 2012

I was pissed at OCZ for stopping there amazing Equalizer laser mouse series. Truly one of the best computer mouse I've ever used for gaming. But now I understand why, they've been hard at work Innovating. I am very impressed with there OCZ RevoDrive series, just keeps getting better and better. Prices are starting to fall.

Anyhow, this Barefoot 3 looks very interesting. I wonder how much better this will be versus Barefoot 2 seeing how this new one was built from scratch. Good Job OCZ,

Random Murderer · Sep 12, 2012

Looks like a regular SATA connector at the back and M-SATA at the front... interesting.

Octavean · Sep 12, 2012

Unfortunately OCZ didn't say anything about the drive's performance.

From what I have read from other sources the OCZ Vector / BareFoot 3 series is to be positioned above the Vertex series. Therefore it should outperform / out spec whatever we have seen from the Vertex 3 and Vertex 4.

Reliability is another issue though as a lot of people seem not to trust OCZ SSD’s regardless of model / controller. OCZ needs the reliability of Intel and Samsung while maintaining its low prices. Customer reports of DOA and early failures (hours / days) seem to be fairly high.

I have a number of OCZ SSD’s:

120GB Vertex 2 (1x)
60GB Agility (1x)
120GB Octane (1x)
240GB Vertex Plus (2x)
360GB Agility III (1x)

and have never had a problem though.

I’ve also been eyeing a 512GB Vertex 4 for ~$299.99,……

But I have SSD units from other manufacturers as well, such as Corsair 120GB Force Series 3 (2x), Crucial 256GB M4 (1x), Kingston SSDNow SNV-2S 128GB and so on,…

Nordic · Sep 12, 2012

All ocz's ssd problems have been with sandforce. As far as I know, their vertex 4 series is pretty stable with good firmware.

wrathchild_67 · Sep 12, 2012

james888 said:
All ocz's ssd problems have been with sandforce. As far as I know, their vertex 4 series is pretty stable with good firmware.

I can't speak for the Vertex 4 line, but I know the Agility 4 line is dodgy, mainly because the drives using OCZ branded flash chips fail at very high rates. Someone opened several Agility 4 drives and noticed that the flash chips can either be OCZ branded or Micron branded. The Micron chips don't have the same failure rates.

Nordic · Sep 12, 2012

wrathchild_67 said:
I can't speak for the Vertex 4 line, but I know the Agility 4 line is dodgy, mainly because the drives using OCZ branded flash chips fail at very high rates. Someone opened several Agility 4 drives and noticed that the flash chips can either be OCZ branded or Micron branded. The Micron chips don't have the same failure rates.

I havn't heard anything good from the agilities of any number.

Octavean · Sep 12, 2012

Like I said I was considering a 512GB Vertex 4 for ~$299.99. The user reviews still report DOA and premature failure within days or weeks. Roughly 50 / 50 with respect to satisfaction and yes there have been firmware updates though I don’t know what effect this will have overall,…

Nordic · Sep 12, 2012

Octavean said:
Like I said I was considering a 512GB Vertex 4 for ~$299.99. The user reviews still report DOA and premature failure within days or weeks. Roughly 50 / 50 with respect to satisfaction and yes there have been firmware updates though I don’t know what effect this will have overall,…

I recommend reading the tpu review if you have not already. The stock firmware is buggy, but the updated firmware is good. W1zz mentions it in the review.

Octavean · Sep 12, 2012

james888 said:
I recommend reading the tpu review if you have not already. The stock firmware is buggy, but the updated firmware is good. W1zz mentions it in the review.

I’d be happy to checkout the review here and reviews elsewhere but a brief glance shows no review of the 512GB Vertex 4 at TPU.

Honestly though, reviews of such things typically don’t involve much more then one or possibly two review units. As such it’s a small sampling. As I said earlier I have a number of OCZ SSD units and have never had a problem. I take all reasonable precautions and upgrade my firmware,…and so on. So I am tempted to disregard at least some of the negative user reviews citing failures.

User reviews naturally included uninitiated users which somewhat throws off the ability to trust what is reported 100%.

Nordic · Sep 12, 2012

I was speaking of the 256 gb version.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/Vertex_4_256_GB/

Initially I experienced sporadic blue-screens while testing the drive with firmware 1.4, but after upgrading to the latest 1.5 these problems went away.

That is the comment I based my firmware comment on.

System Name	Dark Monolith
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
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Memory	64 GB G.Skill Ripjaws V Black 3600 MHz
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon RX 9070 XT Mercury OC Magnetic Air
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Video Card(s)	ASUS DUAL RX 6700 XT DUAL-RX6700XT-12G
Storage	Corsair MP510 480GB M.2 - 2 x WD_BLACK 1TB SN850X M.2 1TB - Lexar NQ790 M.2 2TB
Display(s)	ASUS ROG Strix 34” XG349C 144Hz 1440p + Asus ROG 27" MG278Q 144Hz WQHD 1440p
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Software	Windows 10 Pro - 64-Bit Edition (Back to Win 10 because 11 is garbage)
Benchmark Scores	I'm the Doctor, Doctor Who. The Definition of Gaming is PC Gaming...

System Name	TOO MUCH RADIATOR! \| The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
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Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX750 80Plus Gold
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OCZ Shows off Barefoot 3-Powered SSD at IDF

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