New OCZ Firmware Boosts Vertex 4 Performance Up to 210%

OCZ just released a new firmware (v1.4RC) this morning that boosts the performance of its Vertex 4 SSD (check out: OCZ Vertex 4 Review: A Flagship SSD Powered By...Indilinx?). Random read and write performance hasn't changed, but OCZ has made a few tweaks to sequential read and write speeds that should provide a major performance benefit. Across the entire Vertex 4 product line the data rate for sequential reads now top out at 550 MB/s, a meager 15 MB/s improvement.
| Vertex 4 Performance Specifications | 128 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 KB Random Reads (IOPS) | 90,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 |
| 4 KB Random Writes (IOPS) | 85,000 | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| 128 KB Sequential Reads (MB/s) | Now: 550 Previously: 535 | Now: 550 Previously: 535 | Now: 550 Previously:535 |
| 128 KB Sequential Writes (MB/s) | Now: 420 Previously: 200 | Now: 465 Previously:380 | 475 |
With the exception of the 512 GB capacity point, sequential writes see a major improvement. If you own the 128 GB model, you'll see a 210 percent increase in performance, as the data rate is now 420 MB/s. At 256 GB, the firmware tweaks made by OCZ only yield a 22 percent gain - from 380 MB/s to 465 MB/s. The great thing is that these speeds obviously apply to incompressible data, an important distinction considering this is OCZ's first performance Vertex drive that doesn't feature SandForce.
Edit: In addition to the fuzzy number wording, this is also not the first Vertex without a Sandforce controller - correct me if I am wrong.......
Boot includes sequential writes.
God, this is NOT Sandforce!!!!!!!!1!11!!!!!!!
100% increase = double the performance.
200% increase = triple performance.
How about reading a 5th grade math book ?
Also, on a completely unrelated note, could we have a new memory timing vs speed article? The old one is well and truely outdated, and probably not accurate. I'd like to see how the addition of CPU integrated memory controllers and advanced memory types like DDR3 has changed (or not changed) things.
The original Vertex had an Indilinx Barefoot controller.
Pretty sure OCZ has worked out the destructive flashing, most firmware updates go smoothly, but it never hurts to get another copy of your data.
Additionally speaking of writing and math, it's also how it's worded:
1) A 200% increase = 3x your base
2) 200% of something = 2x your base