OCZ Vertex 460 240GB SSD Review

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SATA 2 Performance

SATA 2 Performance

In a perfect world everyone investing in a new solid state drive would have access to a SATA 6GB/s controller which could pass on the TRIM command. In reality not everyone has this and for many the decision comes down either giving up TRIM – never a good idea with most controllers – and running it off a secondary controller; or taking a performance hit and running in SATA 2.0 mode.

These tests will consist of some of our real world and synthetic benchmarks run on our standard 1155 test-bed; but the drive will be attached to an SATA 2 port.

For synthetic we have opted for the newcomer to our charts: Anvil Storage Utilities Pro. For real world we have opted for our Adobe test. These two tests should give you a very good idea of the level of performance impact you can expect from running a modern SATA 6 drive in compatibility mode.

As expected the Vertex 460 is an excellent performer in SATA 2 environments and unlike the more expensive Vector 150 we can actually see consumers with older systems opting for this drive. It certainly would give an old rig an new lease on life and could even help push thoughts of a system wide upgrade off for a few years.

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

Had the Vertex 460 been released a few months ago, our conclusion would have sounded quite different. Back then, OCZ was on the ropes. Buffeted by potential bankruptcy on one hand and falling consumer confidence on the other, things certainly didn’t look good. Now with Toshiba riding in like a white knight, OCZ’s current position and future couldn’t look better which is why the Vertex 460 240GB could very well be one of the most appealing SSDs currently available.

There was a lot riding on this launch. The 460 represents the first product being released under the combined stewardship of OCZ and Toshiba, making it a kind of litmus test for the future. All things considered, we couldn’t be happier with the results. The close partnership between these two companies has been able to leverage the domination of Toshiba’s NAND alongside the innovation behind OCZ’s Barefoot acquisition to create an SSD lineup that has the latent capabilities to compete with some of the premier drives available today while costing substantially less. If this is a sign of things to come, the likes of Crucial, Samsung, Corsair and many others have a lot to be concerned about.

As a bridge product between the Vector 150 and the Vertex 450, OCZ’s Vertex 460 is nearly perfect. It provides substantially more performance than its predecessor while coming dangerously close to the Vector in some benchmarks. That may cause a bit of buyer’s remorse for Vector users but budget-minded enthusiasts will likely have a field day knowing they can achieve flagship-level performance while spending mainstream money.

So is there actually a reason to consider the Vector 150 over this lower priced Vertex? That really depends upon your usage pattern. Most gamers, content creators and everyone below those points will be better off with a Vertex 460 since they’ll never come close to the drive’s 20GB per day endurance rating. Anyone who has aspirations of something more like workstation or hosting environments should settle on the Vector since it offers a longer warranty and a vastly superior 50GB per day endurance rating.

After their acquisition by Toshiba, OCZ needed to come out of the gate running and with the Vertex 460 they’ve done exactly that. This drive offers a near perfect combination of price and performance which will likely become the envy of competitors. While OCZ may have been on shaky ground over the last few months, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Vertex 460 to anyone looking for well priced high performance SSD.