OCZ Vertex Limited Edition SATA II 2.5" SSD

"OCZ Vertex Limited Edition represents the bleeding edge in current SSD technology. Vertex LE offers data transfers approaching the limite of its SATA 3Gbps interface, there's no hard drive that can do that currently."

"This 'LE' or Limited Edition drive comes with a very neat distinction that pulls it out of the crowd of Indilinx-based drives; it's powered by the Sandforce SF-1200 controller. The controller is an impressive piece of technology, with built-in wear leveling, full TRIM support and even ECC support to ensure your data is exactly as you wrote it. It's a bloody fast performer too, with an average read speed of 223.8MB/s, random access of 0.1ms and a hefty burst speed of 246.5MB/s. Performance is the best we've seen from any SSD so far."

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"Limited Edition? I'll take eight! The Vertex LE offers 197.5MB/s average sustained reads, with write speeds over 220MB/s, and 4KB random read and write IOPS in the 5,000 range. It's minimum read speeds were slightly higher in our tests, these speeds would have been unheard of a little more than a year ago - we're pleased as punch at how far SSDs have come. They're awesome and fast and have TRIM and availability is limited. If you can find one, snatch it up."

"Because of OCZ's close working relationship with Sandforce, the former company able to score a few thousand SF-1500 controllers, which are based on an early revision of the chip at a big discount. The controller in the Vertex LE is unique in a couple of ways. It significantly reduces write amplification, which improves write performance and offers impressive real bandwidth. The sum of the Vertex LE's parts equate to one seriously fast solid-state drive. In fact, it's the fastest we've tested when paired with a SATA 3Gbps interface. "

"The OCZ Vertex LE has us all convinced: this is currently the fastest SSD available that you can screw into your PC. The PCMark Vantage benchmarks show that Vertex LE in practice will work much smoother than for example the Intel X25-M Postville or the different, more expensive SLC-based SSDs on the market. Who wants to buy a Vertex LE should probably be quick, because OCZ has only 5000 produced. The excellent performance deserves an OCZ Gold Award."

“With just a quick look at the IOPS values and at the constant performances levels, widely underlined on the endurance tests, it’s easy to understand that this SSD is the fastest on the market and, above all, it gives performances results from 3 to 10 time higher than any other SSD marketed till now...these setting, paired with the Vertex Limited Edition, available in store at around 399,00 €, are enough to bring the performances of you storage subsystem to unmatched high levels never seen before.”

"OCZ Vertex LE 100GB SSD is designed for users who need top performing high-capacity storage. The sequential and random read/ write performance lives up to VERTEX name – and all tests went very smoothly. . For those who are after the latest technology and the best performance, we would like to recommend OCZ VertexLE Series SSD without any hesitation – in particular that it’s more affordable that similar positioned PhotoFast G-Monster2 SFV1based on the same controller."

"The OCZ Vertex LE 100GB performed in much the same way after we ran the full disk benchmark, as it does support the TRIM function and it appears to work well. As expected, the OCZ Vertex LE performs very much like the Vertex 2 Pro, producing an average transfer speed of 82.8MB/s when duplicating a single 6GB ISO file. This made the Vertex LE roughly 6.5% faster than the Intel X25-M G2, which averaged 5MB/s less and took 5 more seconds to complete the task. The Vertex LE was also around 71% faster than a traditional hard drive (Samsung Spinpoint F1). By matching the OCZ Vertex 2 Pro in write speeds, the Vertex LE was 36% faster than the Intel X25-M G2 and a whopping 11 times faster than the original Vertex. When running the 4K test…the drive had no trouble keeping pace with the Vertex 2 Pro, and while it matched the read performance of the Intel X25-M G2, the write performance was 35% greater. For its price, the Vertex LE seems like a pretty good option."

"We think the Vertex Limited Edition by OCZ would serve very nicely as a super fast notebook drive, especially if you're the type that relies on a mobile workstation or an enthusiast class desktop replacement machine. It could also serve you well as a boot/OS drive in a high-end desktop application, where you'd use standard spinning hard drives for bulk file storage. Load up all your applications on this SSD and with the load time performance characteristics we saw in our Vantage testing, it will have you smiling ear to ear. What's really important to remember about our experience with this hot new SSD from OCZ is the promise that their chosen controller vendor, Sandforce, plans to offer more affordable controller derivatives moving forward, which OCZ will feature in their product line."

"The OCZ Vertex LE is one of the fastest SSDS that we have ever seen here at Legit Reviews. We were able to reach read speeds of up to 290MB/sec. and write speeds of up to 240MB/sec in ATTO on the Vertex LE and that was impressive. The results in IOMeter and CrystalDiskMark say it all and the Vertex LE appears to be a solid drive for the consumer market. The Vertex Limited Edition SSD has just 5,000 pieces available and with performance results like these they shouldn't be around for too long."

"The sequential write speed of this controller is just ridiculous. OCZ is able to virtually saturate the SATA 3Gbps bus at 252.7MB/s. The OCZ Vertex LE does ridiculously well here, outperforming even Intel's X25-E. There's just no replacement for IOPS, and the Vertex LE has ample to spare. Make no mistake - the Vertex Limited Edition is fast. Easily faster than the SSD posterchild Intel’s X25-M, across the board. Unlike most drives that only offer good sequential performance, the Vertex LE doesn’t use it as a crutch. Random read and write performance is spectacular, regardless of OS or partition alignment. Under Windows 7, the Vertex LE can randomly write data in 4KB at 162.2MB/s. That’s faster than Intel’s X25-M G2 can write sequentially."

"This is certainly a premium drive. The LE performed extremely well throughout our test suite, turning in staggering write speeds that would even leave SLC based units in the dust. While this level of performance does draw a premium price, you won't find write speeds like this in any other SATA SSD out there."