OCZ Octane 512 GB SSD Review: Meet Indilinx's Everest Controller

Features
By published

What? A performance SSD from OCZ not based on SandForce's tech? The new Octane SSD features an Indilinx controller. Does OCZ rectify the controller company's past mistakes, or does it need more time to marinate? The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Test Setup And Firmware Notes

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Test Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 3.3 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled
MotherboardASRock Z68 Extreme4, BIOS v1.4
MemoryKingston Hyper-X 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V
System DriveOCZ Vertex 3 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s
Tested DrivesCrucial m4 64 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0002
Row 5 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 1.7
Row 6 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 320 300 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 1.7
Row 7 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0002
Row 8 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0002
Row 9 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0009
Row 10 - Cell 0 Crucial RealSSD 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0006
Row 11 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.15
Row 12 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.15
Row 13 - Cell 0 OCZ Agility 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.15
Row 14 - Cell 0 OCZ Solid 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.06
Row 15 - Cell 0 Corsair Force 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 1.2
Row 16 - Cell 0 Corsair Force 120 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0
Row 17 - Cell 0 Adata S511 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 311A
Row 18 - Cell 0 Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 319A
Row 19 - Cell 0 Patriot Wildfire 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 319A
Row 20 - Cell 0 Kingston SSDNow V+100 128 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: CJRA
Row 21 - Cell 0 Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB (WD3000HLFS) SATA 3Gb/s
Row 22 - Cell 0 G.Skill FM-25S2S 64 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 02.1
Row 23 - Cell 0 Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s
Row 24 - Cell 0 Intel X25-M G2 160 GB, Firmware: 1.7
Row 25 - Cell 0 Samsung 470 256 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: AXMO
Row 26 - Cell 0 Samsung 830 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO
Row 27 - Cell 0 OCZ Octane 512 GB, SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: E068
Row 28 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 2 (32nm) 120 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 1.32
Row 29 - Cell 0 Kingston HyperX 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 320A
GraphicsPalit GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
Power SupplySeasonic 760 W, 80 PLUS
System Software and Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
DriverGraphics: Nvidia 270.61 RST: 10.5.0.1022Virtu: 1.1.101
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Benchmarks
Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0Trace-Based
Iometer 1.1.0# Workers = # Logical CPUs, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential: QD=1
ATTO BenchmarkLBA=2 GB, QD=2 & 4, varying transfer sizes
PCMark 7Storage Suite

Firmware Notes

Performance can change noticeably with a firmware update. We'll try to update our benchmark library when a new firmware version is released.

You'll notice that 512 GB Crucial m4 scores are different than what was posted in our previous review because we've updated to firmware 0009. While this purportedly enabled better sequential performance, that claim only applies at higher queue depths, which is why the other m4 capacities weren't retested for this review.