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The OCZ Octane series is aimed at performance buffs, with initial Indilinx Everest-based models offering capacities 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and eventually 1TB. The Octane series has a slim 2.5" design, measuring 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm and weighing up to 83 grams.
Power consumption is low when compared to conventional hard drives as the Octane series sucks down just 1.98 watts when active and 1.15 watts when in standby mode. While this is less than OCZ’s claimed power rating for the Vertex 3 series, it is more than what Intel say their SSD 520 Series will consume. The 128GB model packs read and write speeds of 470MB/s-210MB/s, while the larger 256GB version is slightly faster with 480MB/s reads 310MB/s writes. The 512GB model is slightly faster again as the read performance is boosted to 480MB/s and the write performance 330MB/s.
Naturally, using the SATA 6Gb/s interface is essential to achieving these speeds. Currently Intel's Sandy Bridge platforms provide native SATA 6Gb/s support, as does the AMD AM3+ platform. There are also third party embedded solutions, such as the Marvell 88SE9128, which can provide motherboards with SATA 6Gb/s support, but offer very poor results compared to Intel's implementation. There's also a new Marvell 88SE9182 controller that can mimic the performance of Intel's 6 series chipsets, so support for 6Gb/s SATA is improving.
All Octane models are loaded with Intel MLC NAND (25nm) flash memory. Our review sample has sixteen 32GB Intel 29F32B08JCME3 NAND ICs for a total capacity of 512GB. Once formatted in Windows, the original 256GB is converted to 239GiB, though Windows shows this as 239GB, so it seems like 7% of the original capacity has been lost. With an estimated retail price of $849, the Octane 512GB costs $1.65 per gigabyte, which is excellent value for a high-performance SSD. The Indilinx Everest controller features a dual-core ASIC processor that is coupled with a 512MB DRAM cache. The DRAM cache is actually split into two separate 256MB chips, there is one located on either side of the PCB.
The Octane series also includes advanced features unique to Indilinx, including latency reduction technology to enhance system responsiveness and enable instant-on boot-ups. OCZ says access times are as low as 0.06ms, a ‘Fast Boot’ technology that will supposedly deliver 50% speedier boot times compared to existing SSDs. Couple that with no data compression limitations as in SandForce-equipped models, users can expect better performance with certain operations with media files and the like.
There is also the proprietary NDurance technology which is designed to increase the lifespan of the NAND flash memory and minimize performance degradation. OCZ says this technology increases the life span of NAND flash memory by as much as 2 times, from the 3,000-5,000 PE write cycles currently seen on 20nm-class NAND drives back to the 6,000-10,000 range we saw with 30nm-class NAND. Yet despite the NDurance technology OCZ has only given the Octane series a MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) rating of 1,250,000 hours, which is 38% lower than the rating awarded to the Vertex 3 series.
That said, this figure essentially means nothing to the consumer and honestly we really have no idea how reliable these drives are going to be in the very long run. However, the OCZ three-year warranty should let customers sleep comfortably at night knowing they're covered for a reasonable timeframe. The Octane drives support AES and automatic encryption to secure critical data, bringing unique enterprise features within the reach of enthusiasts. Finally support for Background Garbage Collection, TRIM, SMART and NCQ also exists. And with that let's move on to the benchmark results... |
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ProX |
Posted on: 03/14/2012 12:00 PM
Hmm mediocre performance and not that competitive price wise, think I will pass for now. |
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next |
Posted on: 03/15/2012 12:34 PM
yeah 2 late now the v4 is just around the corner. |
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swayn |
Posted on: 03/16/2012 11:20 AM
I had the Agility 3, well actually I had three of them. In the end I gave up and got an m4, not sure I could go back to OCZ anytime soon. |
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Sarge |
Posted on: 03/16/2012 11:29 PM
Yes the price of the bigger models like the 512GB model reviewed are cheaper when compare to most other high-end SSDs but the Octane is also slower. When spending as much on a single SSD as most people do on an entire system you probably want to buy the fastest model possible. So I fail to see the point of the Octane series. |