OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD

“Like its predecessor, the OCZ Vertex 2 seeks for ultimate performance! If you are a person with high expectations in PC storage performance or perhaps a successful business person, this is the product you must have! The SSD of your dream!”

"In the sequential write speeds you can see the OCZ pull ahead with it's Sandforce controller; making it tough to compete with. From this review I can say the Intel drive has been bettered by the newer OCZ Vertex 2 drive. Overall I would give the OCZ Vertex 2 60GB a Computerlounge recommended award for a great product all around."

"SandForce-SSDs are hooked up in a tough fight with Intel for the Crown in speed and Performance. There is one SSD that has won this battle by several points; the OCZ Vertex 2 -120GB-. After testing this drive [with the new firmware generation] has a higher capacity than its predecessor, we can attest the OCZ Vertex 2 E 120 GB SSD good results – it is working fast. With improved firmware and a balanced delivery package and additionally 3 years warranty it is a solid overall package. If you like OCZ brand, and you have bought this SSD you can be sure you got one of the actual fastest SSDs on the market and you did a great choice!"

"As the tests show the OCZ Vertex 2-drives are very fast and take over the crown from Intel's 80GB SSD. Speed is never free, or cheap for those on a small budget. However if you are building a performance PC, we can surely recommend to purchase this SSD to get the maximum speed from your computer. Another option is to use the SSD as a boot drive with windows and your applications installed, leaving pure storage for the conventional hard drive. As soon as you have experienced the speed of the Vertex 2 drives, you will never want to go back to conventional HDD, even if it were only for the OS!"

"The most impressive would be the IOPS achieved at 50,000 IOPS. That is surprisingly fast for 4K writes. In fact, ATTO benchmark also gave it a MB/s that is almost as close to the interface speed of 300MB/s for SATA II. Even with the Intel X25-M, you would be hampered by the slower write speeds but this demon can go up to close to 275MB/s for writes. It is truly amazing. Compared to the cheaper Kingston 64G SSD SNV425-S2/64GB, the OCZ Vertex II definitely beats it in all benchmarks. So, if you want maximum performance, the OCZ Vertex 2 is definitely the better choice. For its performance, we give it our Gold Award.”

"Performance is the best we’ve seen yet; returning sustained reads of 230.5MB/s, bursts of 249.9MB/s and access speeds of 0.1ms. OCZ also throws in a convenient 2.5in to 3.5in adapter,and the drive’s controller supports TRIM. It’s surprisingly snappy to use, with 2GB of small files copying in just over thirteen seconds, and the three-year warranty is a nice touch."

"The Vertex 2 E is the best way to upgrade your existing drive and to clone a partition to SSD. To update with an SSD is the best choice for bringing new life in your computer and even better than an upgrade of RAM or CPU. The boot performance with Vertex 2 is 50% faster than Intel X-25M G2 and the general xbench score is also scoring the highest with Vertex 2 (+50%). The QuickBench 4 score is 20/25% better in Vertex 2 than Intel G2 and the GB/price is similar for both SSD’s."

"I was pleasantly surprised to see how fantastically it performed on pretty much every level, taking a giant leap in IOPS performance over its predecessors. The Duraclass system worked flawlessly during testing and kept the drive in optimum condition, even through my rigorous testing. To sum up, the OCZ Vertex 2 E OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G is a fantastic performer, it is a worthy successor to the Vertex title and appears to have it all."

"Having put the Vertex 2 to the test, I was amazed to see its outstanding overall performance. The write speeds were especially impressive when compared to drives we have tested in the past. Although their Agility series is known for its mid-range pricing, the Vertex is not far off when compared by their price per Gb. Combine the great performance with a reasonable price and you have the makes of a great buy. I would recommend the Vertex 2 for anyone looking for top notch speed with a reasonable price."

"If you take a realistic, detailed look at all of these scores (60+ of them), there's just one thing to conclude. Vertex 2 is the fastest of the crop, closely followed by Agility 2, which is not surprising as these drives are really very similar. Both are excellent drives and you can't go wrong here. OCZ's Vertex 2 gets the Editor's choice award!"

"It wasn't easy picking the storage for this year's Dream Machine. Crucial's C300 has read speeds in 6Gb/s SATA mode, but its random and sequential write speeds have nothing on OCZ's Vertex 2. We ran our benchmarks using a single 200GB Vertex 2 as the boot drive. Why the Vertex 2? Well, the V2 was the fastest Sandforce SSDs."

"This 100 GB model that we could test is a great example of how we can get a high-end performance SSD at a reasonable price suitable for both desktop computers and notebooks.”

"These numbers are as good as they come, at an average of 20% faster than the Intel X25M G2 – this is indeed the new performance king - as such the Vertex 2 represents a watershed for the market. The Vertex 2 is a genuinely unique product; you should have an SSD, it should be a drive with a Sandforce controller and that drive should be an OCZ Vertex 2. In the end it all comes down to the experience – once you’ve used a good SSD it really is difficult to go back."

”The manufacturing of the Flashchips has a high quality – better is not possible. Vertex 2 are playing an important role for the performance crown and are recommended if end customers are looking for the fastest SSDs. This is why they get the PC-Experience Gold Award"

"Thanks to its Sandforce controller shows outstanding performance and impressive random writes. The Vertex 2 is no doubt a worthy successor to the original Vertex. OCZ has a strong relationship with Sandforce and often gets new firmwares first."

"The Vertex 2 shows its superiority in ATTO as it trumps the Western Digital by a sizable margin. In fact, these are the fastest read / write numbers we have seen for a single SSD using SATA 3Gb/s and are approaching the interface's bandwidth limits. Even the 6GB/s Crucial drive mentioned above couldn't touch the write speeds on the Vertex 2. Very impressive. Furthermore, OCZ worked with SandForce to develop a custom "max IOPS" firmware that comes loaded on the drive. This firmware tested positive as we hit right under 49K total IOPS in IOMeter 2008. OCIA.net awards the OCZ Vertex 2 our Gold Seal of Approval!"

"Throughout our tests, Vertex 2 has proven to be the crème of the crop of the current SSD offer. We measured 280MB/s read and 250 MB/s write speeds, whereas 4K file writing tests saw Vertex 2 hit spectacular 46,654 IOPS. These results show that users will benefit from Vertex 2 in multitasking and general response of their OS of choice. Talking about speeds, Vertex 2’s specs list 285MB/s read and 275MB/s speeds. In conclusion, no matter which Vertex 2 drive you choose, you’ll find these drives to be quality, durable components that offer reliable performance, whether it’s Workstation PC, Desktop PC or Notebook PC."

"The OCZ Vertex 2 Extended SSD delivered 284/277 MBps peak read and writes speeds using ATTO Disk Benchmark SSD speed tests with Everest Disk Benchmark produced 264/259 MB/s, making this one of the fastest SATA-3GBps MLC SSD's Benchmark Reviews has ever tested. In fact, the OCZ Vertex 2 Extended SSD outperformed all other SandForce-based SSDs in nearly every single bandwidth speed and operational performance test. OCZ's Vertex 2 SSD series has pushed performance results to their highest points in the entire test history of Benchmark Reviews. Extremely high operational IOPS performance was the V2's most coveted attribute, and yet the Vertex 2 still surpassed practically every other SSD storage product we've ever tested.”

"The SandForce-powered OCZ Vertex 2 performed very well in our tests, handily beating our previous 'fastest SSD". Power consumption with the SandForce SF-1200 controller was excellent by keeping the drive near one watt while operating. It is one of the top performing drives we have reviewed so far, completely blowing away the 160GB Intel X25-M while offering a good price. The Vertex 2 is definitely worth consideration for enthusiasts looking to get more from their machines."

"At about three times the speed of the closest competitor, the Vertex 2 looks like the drive for the job. The bottom line is that the OCZ Technology 50GB Vertex 2 solid state drive is blazing fast and well worth considering for a high performance laptop, or as the boot drive in a desktop system."

"The OCZ Vertex 2 SSD is a must-have for any performance enthusiast’s parts list. OCZ has produced an insanely fast solid state drive with competitive pricing. Light weight, super fast, good pricing and lower heat and noise also help to make this a stellar buy. Ample room for game installations, or plenty of space for working on large photos or HD video editing. The OCZ Vertex 2E Series 60GB SSD receives the TechREACTION.net Gold Silicon Award!"

"The Vertex 2 excelled in the random write test with random 4KB write speed of 69MB/sec. There were no issues with either random read or write latency to speak of, with average read latencies of just 0.24ms and average random write latencies of just 0.16ms and maximum latencies above more than 44ms. While SSD pricing is a hard sell, the performance improvements are undeniable, with the Vertex 2 a major step up from the Indilinx-powered Vertex on almost every level."

“With an average read score of 220.9MB/s the Vertex 2 beats the Corsair Force F100, which is based off the same internal hardware. The 4K IOPS scores are very good, actually the highest we have received for a solid state drive! These new SandForce drives are bringing solid state drives up to incredibly fast speeds and it will keep on continuing. As of right now it is the best performing SandForce-based solid state we have tested. Overall ThinkComputers gives the OCZ Vertex 2 120GB Solid State Drive a 10 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award.”

"Our tests clearly showed that the OCZ Vertex 2 performs better than the two other SandForce-1200 based SSD we reviewed (Patriot Inferno and Mach Xtreme MX-DS), specially in 4k random benchmark (131 MB/s read and write 4K-QD32 in CrystalDiskMark, the MX-DS was 58 MB/s writing in the same test, 85 MB/s for the Inferno). We can acknowledged that the OCZ tweaked firmware really performs better with small files. If you are ready to spend a lot of your money to buy a SSD, you’d better choose the Vertex 2, one of the best on the market. But we also consider that SSD are still far too expensive for the moment. Others might wait a little more to get one of these performance beast!"

"OCZ are certainly onto a winner with their Vertex 2 drive, thanks to the implementation of the Sandforce 2 controller. Importantly, real world performance shines – the boot times are some of the quickest we have seen and you will never be waiting long for applications to load and large files to save to the flash memory. When we directly compare to any other solitary SSD configuration it is at the top. Everything considered we can easily recommend the Vertex 2 100GB drive, it delivers some of the best performance on the market right now."

"OCZ advertise uncapped IOPS performance and they achieved this, scoring well in excess of some other SandForce models and older SSDs. Additionally the real world experience offered by the drive was excellent. Read speeds hit the rated levels, as did write performance which is significantly faster than their previous generation Vertex series. With OCZ it is not all about performance though and we cannot praise their level of customer support more highly. OCZ always offer firmware updates which are quick to market and often well documented, ensuring consumers are able to make the choice on whether to flash or not."

"Considering the first class performances, build quality, power consumption and warranty term, we can only give to the Vertex 2 the same score achieved by the Vertex LE: 5 stars out of 5!"

"Finally we can say the Vertex 2 with 100/120 GB with and without TRIM can score with a better performance and a higher life expectation then the competitors. This is why it seems that it is (status quo) the best SSD for several operation systems, notebooks and desktops. The Vertex 2 with 100/120 GB receives our “Recommended Award".

"We've fallen even more deeply in love with the 60GB Vertex 2. Without even delving into all the numbers and benchmarks provided in our review, the best selling point for the Vertex 2 is what it offers by way of an end-user experience, and it's difficult to describe just how wonderful it is to turn on your PC, see Windows 7 boot in a few seconds, and then have all of your required applications fired up just a few seconds after that! The Vertex 2 is undoubtedly at the top of the list of Solid State Drives to consider placing on your "must buy" list - It's incredibly fast at both reading and writing data, silent, reliable and capable of maintaining that high level of performance thanks to TRIM support. Tor anyone looking to finally enter the solid state market this is as close to perfection as you can find at the time of writing."

"The 512k and 4k tests though show you just how much faster the OCZ Vertex is though, we’re talking 2,3 even almost 8 times faster if we look at that 4k Write test. Just ‘Wow’ is all there is to say there. There’s no doubt the OCZ Vertex 2 is a fast drive, in fact it’s the fastest I’ve ever tested. Seriously though, the OCZ Vertex 2 is a drive that I can easily recommend if you’re looking to have the best performing and fastest SSD out there in your system. Right now if you’ve got the cash then this is the SSD you want."

"The money matters on how fast the data can be written to the drive and that is what SandForce and OCZ concentrated on when they designed and built the Vertex 2 series. If you look back again at the benchmarks that were run, just about every time, the SandForce controller dominated in the write tests. When you take into account overall scores, it was the faster drive of the bunch. OCZ concentrated its development and firmware design on the write speeds with the new Vertex 2 and it seems it has worked - especially in the 4k tests. OCZ has literally put the work into the new Vertex 2 series, so you don't have to."

"OCZ gives SSDs a big push with the Vertex 2. It is one of the fastest SSD (as it is not the fastest) on the market. The performance is great, as files are opened within a look. OS loading is very short, there are no more waiting times with OCZ SSD Vertex 2 – absolutely silent and TRIM is supported! This is why we gave our recommendations award for this great product."

"To say that the Vertex 2 is a worthy successor to the original Indilinx-based Vertex is an understatement of epic proportions. In almost every possible way imaginable it simply is a better product from top to bottom and proved this time and again on its way to becoming the fastest SSD we have tested to date. When you compare the Vertex 2 100GB against the Corsair Force F100...the Vertex 2 is a much more sensible buy from a future-friendly perspective. As we mentioned, Corsair is using a modified firmware and doesn’t have access to the “unlocked” version OCZ got their gloves on. This means any update performed on the F100 will likely result in decreased performance. So while the F100 is locked up in its modified firmware pen, the Vertex 2 has acres of space to grow through official firmware revisions and OCZ’s own stellar support structure. At the end of the day we consider the OCZ Vertex 2 to be the high water mark against which all other SandForce drives will be measured."

"We aren't trying to scare you into backing up all data stored on a SSD, but to instead point out that these issues have not occurred with the Vertex 2 and other SandForce drives. This gives it a clear edge in our mind over the Vertex 2's only real competitor, the RealSSD C300. From comparing other results we can safely say OCZ's specially tweaked Vertex 2 can not only offer higher small file IOPS but almost double the write throughput of comparable Intel drives. This is simply astounding. OCZ has taken the well-known Vertex series, an admittedly already powerful drive, and taken things up to a new level entirely with its successor the Vertex 2. This SandForce powered SSD will easily live up to the Vertex name and then some. Despite its distinctly unique controller design there just are no weak spots, no caveats, and no asterisks with fine print with the Vertex 2 to hold it back."

"The disk performs extremely well. Read and write transfer-rate ranges from 250-270 MB/s. Actually it can hardly be much faster because the max transfer rate of the SATA 2 standard is 280 MB/s. In addition to this, the disk has another fine detail; the enclosed 3,5"-2,5" bay. The disc is the fastest we ever tested on this site. Hence 5 point in this category."

"The proprietary Firmware OCZ is using on the SandForce SF-1200 controller is looking like gold to us. ATTO in the 8MB Write test shows us the Vertex 2 100Gb SSD running away with the performance crown and probably laughing at the competition. Kicking to the 512k test we see the Vertex 2 65MB/s ahead of the closest drive and once again probably can't even see the other drives in its rear view mirror. Performance wise the OCZ Vertex 2 does an excellent job of satisfying our need for speed. The OCZ Vertex 2 proves to be a significant force in the SSD world. Overall we would say it's the fastest drive we've tested. The future looks bright for the OCZ lineup of drives and their OCZ Toolbox just makes it even sweeter."

"Our IOMeter testing shows a huge disparity in performance between the JMicron based and SandForce based drives, with the OCZ Vertex 2 coming out on top. CrystalDiskMark does a good job of showcasing the performance difference between the different firmware revisions used with the SandForce based drives. Notice the OWC drives have much lower performance with 4K writes when the queue depth is increases, versus the Vertex 2 drives."

"The sequential reading speeds on the OCZ Vertex 2 series SSD is excellent and the fastest single drive we have ever tested here at MyCE.com. Sequential writing speeds were also the highest we have ever encountered here at MyCE.com, and the same applies to 4k random write. The Intel X25-M used to be the king of 4k random writes, it has now lost its crown to the OCZ Vertex 2 which is capable of providing nearly 4 times the performance with 4k random writes. This level of 4k random write performance places the OCZ Vertex 2 in enterprise class territory. The OCZ Vertex 2 is a phenomenal SSD, its state of the art, and strong in every area it needs to be and the fastest SSD we have tested here on MyCE.com."

"Both versions of the drive perform at the same level, as fast as anything else with a SandForce SF-1200 controller. When compared to the other next generation SSD on the market, we felt the Vertex 2 E is the way to go. Even though a large chunk of space has been given to the user, the new extended SandForce 1200 still keeps a large percentage of space available for internal use. The Bottom Line: We can't recommend anything other than the OCZ Vertex 2 E."

“Here we see that the Vertex 2 utterly crushes the competition in the Write department, a huge increase over the Indilinx-based SSDs. The Vertex 2 is so far ahead of the competition it is almost embarrassing. The SandForce-based drive blows away any SSD on the market by a wide margin. Needless to say, the Vertex 2 is lightning quick. OCZ has proven to be a leader in the solid state drive market. The performance is simply jaw-dropping, and while the write speeds easily surpass any previous drive to date, it is the small file and random write performance that is truly impressive. No SSD has matched these numbers yet, and these are the best results we've seen to date, putting the Vertex 2 at the top of the performance heap. We've looked at most of the top SSDs on the market and the Vertex 2 performance results are simply outstanding.”

"I would consider the Vertex 2 100GB drive and the SandForce SF-1200 to be mature products and have no problem recommending or using them myself. When it comes to flat out speed the Vertex 2 100GB drive that we reviewed today is like the first time I ever rode a superbike. The speed is so fast you really don’t believe it and the feeling lasts for a very long time. When it comes to the user experience there is nothing else on the market in this capacity size that is able to compete toe to toe with the Vertex 2."

"The Vertex 60G is relatively affordable and reasonably fast and is a good upgrade for those who want to cut load times and improve their computers’ responsiveness."

"SF-1200-based drives we tested offer solid sequential throughput and very fast random access times across a range of transfer sizes. The SF-1200 proved particularly adept at handling random writes with larger transfer sizes, and it absolutely crushed the field when fed IOMeter workloads that contained a mix of read and write operations. Throw in quick load times and a strong showing in our multitasking tests, and all the hype surrounding SandForce looks very much deserved."

"The OCZ Vertex 2 is an ideal successor to the original Vertex series as it has proven to be one of the fastest SSDs that we have ever seen here at Legit Reviews. It was able to give the Intel X25-M G2 160GB SSD and Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB drives a run for their money in many of the benchmarks. We were able to reach read speeds of up to 280MB/sec. and write speeds of up to 238MB/sec in ATTO on the Vertex 2. If you want a SandForce SF-1200 based drive the OCZ Vertex 2 is the best buy on the market."

"[In the PCMarks test], the Vertex 2 [shows] result of 34,609! That is a 69.8% gain over the previous best SSD result for the test! If we are even comparing it to the hard disk drive we are looking at a whopping 10x improvement in the HDD benchmark score alone. A modern Core i7 system has the potential to break the 40,000 mark in the HDD suite with this drive! Whether for breaking world records or simply turning an already fast PC into the pinnacle of performance, the Vertex 2 does not disappoint. We haven't even completed half of our tests but one thing is already clear from our experience with the batch testing, which is that the Vertex 2 delivers some of the most consistent results we have seen to date. Suffice to say we already know the Vertex 2 is the fastest SSD we have tested to date."

"It's not a secret that with the SF1200 series SSDs, OCZ brings a great new SSD series to the market. On certain applications we see baffling numbers reaching advertised speeds. The most shocking results we see however are in PCMark Vantage, that the best real-world stress test you can think of as it emulates productivity on your PC just like in a real-world scenario, but then it's ran as fast as possible. Absolutely dominating is the random IO performance of small sized files write performance. Nothing, and really .. nothing can come close here to date. The performance is as advertised with read speeds up-to roughly 280 MB/sec and write performance at roughly 260+ MB/sec, depending on how you measure. It's good to see that the Firmware supports TRIM, so if you use Windows 7 that increases performance over a long time-span. We hand out our hard to earn best hardware award to the OCZ Vertex 2, it really is an incredible piece of hardware and pushes SSD performance to an even higher level."

"We already knew what Sandforce was capable of from the OCZ Vertex LE. With that in mind the Vertex 2 even brought us higher benchmarks. One disadvantage is that the Sandforce controller is quite expensive. But what SSD brings you the best deal? If we consider the results from PC Mark Vantage, the Vertex 2 gives you the best performance and justifies the higher price. Although the Vertex 2 isn't a cheap SSD, it IS the best drive you can buy for your PC, even when you consoder the higher price. The BEST PERFORMANCE and the BEST DEAL for us means an Hardware.info GOLD AWARD! Although the other brands have a descent perorming drive, it is hard to compare them without a price. Also we have no experience with them bringing out consistent and stable firmware updates, something we can now rely on with OCZ."

"The random 512KB write results look even better for the Vertex 2. The drive spits out 138MB/s, making it considerably faster than the Intel X25-M. It is in the small random read and write tests where the Vertex 2 shows its superiority. The random 512KB test in CrystalDiskMark 3.0 showed the Vertex 2 delivering 19% faster read performance, and about 6% greater write performance. Then the 4KB threaded performance blows the door wide open, where the Vertex 2 is up to ten times faster."

"The Vertex 2 gives you a definite edge in small file random write performance, and maintains the already high standards of SandForce drives. Performance is still respectably high and if you look at write speed, there are no painful blips that would result in a pause or stutter during normal usage. In fact, despite the unrealistic workload, the drive proves to be quite resilient. The drives have done very well in our tests as well as in my personal systems. If you have a workload that demands it - the Vertex 2 doesn’t disappoint."

"There's no way around it. When it comes to bulk file creation and copying, SandForce controllers simply dominate the field. This is mostly attributed to the high write speeds. It appears OCZ does a bit more tuning above the standard firmware loadout. These new SandForce-1200 based models performed very well in our testing, competing with Intel in IOPS and completely dominating in write performance."