OCZ Launches Vector Indilinx Barefoot 3 SSD, First All In-House Design 122
MojoKid writes "Not many SSD controller manufacturers have been able to compete with the likes of SandForce and the myriad of SATA drives from various OEMs on the market that are based on their technology. However, OCZ took a different approach recently when they acquired SSD controller manufacturer Indilinx and PCI Express Switch maker PLX. Today the company took the wraps of their new Vector line of SSDs. The Vector is the first drive from OCZ to utilize only technologies developed by the unified Indilinx, PLX, and OCZ teams (except for the actual NAND flash), since the acquisitions. The Vector is based on the new INDILINK Barefoot 3 controller, which in terms of its features and specifications, looks competitive with some of the fastest drives on the market currently. In the benchmarks, the drive's IOMeter and CrystalDiskMark scores line up well and OCZ is offering a 5 year warranty on the product."
I wouldn't. (Score:5, Interesting)
I bought one of their PCI drives - a RevoDrive X2. It was unbelievably fast.
To die. I barely used the thing, and it failed hard in about three months. Three months ago.
I'm still waiting on my replacement. I called them, and they authorized an RMA. Then I mailed my card in. Two months later, they called me (during Hurricane Sandy, despite that they had my address and knew perfectly well I couldn't answer questions,) to see if I still wanted my replacement (!) and would I give them their RMA number (!!) so that they could finally get around to it.
I told him my power was out and that I would love to have what they had promised me months ago, but I couldn't give him the RMA number at that time. He said he'd call back in a couple days. (Still not sure why he didn't just mail the drive.)
I haven't heard from him since, despite having left several messages with a suspiciously similar sounding "other" staff member who assures me that *this* time I'll get a call back.
It's a shame; the drive is wonderfully fast. However, it's unacceptably fragile, and I can't cope with their staff just never getting around to doing their jobs.
Re:Benchmarks don't mean much... (Score:3, Interesting)
This is OCZ we're talking about, as in reliability is a distant thought for them. If you're willing to gamble getting a 1 out of 8 chance of purchasing a drive that'll last at least a year for the sake of speed, then you'll do whatever you can to get it, which means going for OCZ. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence and an A+ cert or equivalent knowledge will know better to just grab a few reliable SSD drives from some other brand and run a RAID with em.