OCZ Vertex 4 128 GB: Testing Write Performance With Firmware 1.4

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Back in April, we published one of the first reviews of OCZ's Vertex 4. In those three months, the company has issued three firmware updates, with a fourth reportedly in the pipeline. We take another look at the drive using its latest software.

Benchmark Results: HD Tune Pro

The first benchmark we run on the drive in its fresh-out-of-the-box state reveals odd behavior.

We're using HD Tune Pro to write across the full span of the drive with both 64 KB and 1 MB blocks. Both sizes reveal that, once the drive writes to 50% of its capacity, performance plummets. This is particularly unusual behavior for a fresh-out-of-the-box drive, and it gives us our first clue that there is something very different about the way OCZ's Vertex 4 operates. 

Below, you see the result of HD Tune Pro 5.00's 1 MB block write test.

Then, the same metric's 64 GB block write test.

In order to better evaluate how this translates to performance on a partitioned drive, we turn to Anvil’s Storage Utility.

Richard Hart
49 Comments Comment from the forums
  • danielkr
    This is unfortunate. I purchased four of these drives and configured them in RAID 10. I wanted the read performance and the security of knowing I would not have to reinstall everything if a drive failed. I understood I would only have double write performance. But now that I have about 100GB of free space left, I am realizing only single drive write performance. Now I will have to rebuild into a RAID 0 and do regular image backups. :(
    Reply
  • edlivian
    What is with these games these vendors are playing with firmware. Sandforce has a trick with compressible data, indelix controllers now expects you to have half your drive empty to get the performance boost?!?

    Why can't you just get the consistent performance like you do on samsung 830's ad crucial m4's, there is nothing wrong with consistency.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    Thats too bad.:(
    i was almost on the point of buying a 128GB Vertex4.

    NOT NOW. will wait for the next 1.5 firmware.
    its strange that such type of behavior was documented on Toms only, while multiple other sites have already reviewed this drive with 1.4 fw, giving it a very good rating.

    +1 to Toms review team
    Reply
  • kikiking
    so let me get this.. just like vertex III max iops and regular edition there is a performance drop? I sworn this drive had no garbage collection? either way I may buy one, and wait on 1.5. might as well or wait till I see 1.5 firmware.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    Man I was really interested in seeing what Indilinx could do, and I've been recommending this drive on all high end builds. I was even thinking of replacing my Intel 320 with one. Guess I'll be sticking with the Crucial M4 and Plextor M3 from now on.
    Reply
  • Todd Sauve
    According to OCZ this is the way the firmware for the Vertex4 128GB is designed to work and part of the reason is because of the way MS made the NTFS file system. They say the SSD will only slow down for a short time and then go back up to near normal speeds.

    They also tell me that Tom's Hardware is actually aware of this.

    Read about it here: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?102254-Anormal-128GB-Vertex-4-Performance
    Reply
  • waxdart
    danielkrThis is unfortunate.I read that RAID doesn't support TRIM (never checked beyond that) so I've not bothered with it. Have you done any tests with this?
    Reply
  • edlivian
    Todd SauveAccording to OCZ this is the way the firmware for the Vertex4 128GB is designed to work and part of the reason is because of the way MS made the NTFS file system. They say the SSD will only slow down for a short time and then go back up to near normal speeds.
    I am sorry, but there should be never be a slow down, this is ssd, people expect top speed all the time from their drives.
    Reply
  • you guys releaize that all ssds slow down when they're half full?
    Reply
  • Kurz
    edlivianWhat is with these games these vendors are playing with firmware. Sandforce has a trick with compressible data, indelix controllers now expects you to have half your drive empty to get the performance boost?!?Why can't you just get the consistent performance like you do on samsung 830's ad crucial m4's, there is nothing wrong with consistency.
    Reading Comprehension Fail... Let say you have a 20 Gigabytes of Free Space (The SSD has 512GB total).

    If you try to write a file that is more than 10 GB you'll experience less than optinum performance.

    Note we are talking about Sequential Writing.
    Reply