[www.hardmac.com]

OCZ was heavily criticized this past September after it decided to change the memory used in its line of Vertex 2 SSD, switching from 34 nm to 25 nm. This decision was based on cost, but had a negative impact on the performances, decreasing by 25%, and even the capacity of the disk.
After months of reflexion and lots of criticism, OCZ has finally decided to be transparent. From now on, we will now what type of memory is used in each SSD, as the serial number will end by .34 or .25.
That's excellent news and could allow the company to regain the trust of customers, even if it shows the limits of some manufacturers, as it is possible to divide them into two categories:
The first ones such as OCZ, OWC, Patriot... buy memory to other manufacturers. They are directly concerned by the fluctuation of the price of memory or the availability of a certain type of memory, which always has an impact on the performances, good or bad.
In the second category, we find the companies that also manufacture memory, such as Intel, Micron, Toshiba, etc. Those companies have much less supply difficulties.
In any case, it would be good for the customers if the manufacturers were clearly indicating the minimum performances that can be expected from a product, even if those performances are updated later on, and if things were perfect, they would change clearly the reference depending on the type of memory used.

Underwhelming. A company that does not understand reputation is everything in an innovation market.

Okay, so serial numbers will tell us which type of memory they're using, but how does that help me when looking at a product page (which never lists serial numbers) at newegg or amazon?

This still doesn't address OWC's concern over OCZ using lesser-quality flash memory in their SSD's.

OWC should buy that Sandforce powered MicroCenter SSD and open it up for testing. I would be curious what grade of chips are used.

why would smaller structure memory be slower? for CPUs smaller is better (faster, less power)

Thanks

Quote
space-time
why would smaller structure memory be slower? for CPUs smaller is better (faster, less power)

Thanks

I didn't understand this either.

which is smaller, a snail or a cheetah?

see, it makes sense!

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OCZ, in my opinion, really made a mess of things... the 25NM isn't necessarily slower - we're seeing the same peak data rates with 25NM as with 34NM on the 115GB and 480GB models we now build with the 25NM NAND technology.

What OCZ did was build an 8 channel SSD (Sandforce supports 16 channels on the 1222/32 and with less than 12 populated, you loose performance - you pop all 16 for max capacity - but get performance at 12 which is typical 90/180/360 - 60-120-240-480 need to be 16 done right). They had a MAJOR cost benefit with an 8 chip/single die per chip 60GB solution with what we saw out there being OEM (not Grade A/Tier 1) parts and they passed them into the market as the same 60GB p/n that reviews referenced... except those were true 60GB with 16 channel pop... and this actually was not only 8-channel solution, but also was only 55GB usable as well. -Edit/add- These 8-channel OCZ '60s' that were really 55s were sustaining little more than 50% of the performance expected.

After legal threats end of Jan/early Feb from users - they kindly offered to replace units for customers who filled out a request there for.

Feel bad for the vast majority who will never know what they are missing... what they thought they paid for vs. what they got. Any Sandforce SSD is such a leap over a standard hard drive that it's hard to complain... and most wouldn't know that they were missing something - speed and 5GBs...

Frustrating stuff and amazing that OCZ keeps cranking along.

I don't want to get started on Spectek and OEM vs. Tier 1... Watched their own people first deny, then imply we asked for them to send it to us with those parts, then defend use of the parts after a customer posted their own photos with the Spectek parts inside.. something that evolved over 2 days of forum thread start/stops. We list the grade of NAND we use... Flash is tough right now supply wise - but if customers believe they are getting one thing and getting another - there is a line potentially crossed if not publishing what part type in the spec. Big difference in cost and certainly in specification guaranteed and with impact to what reliability is further guaranteed in spec. We can get those parts too... I wouldn't put my data on a drive with them.... and if we offered, it would be a LOW END, Value product, and duly noted. It's unreal to me to see anyone put those parts in a performance / premium line where found.

And... before someone asks... OWC 6G SSD Next week.

'Night all..

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OWC Larry
Other World Computing
[www.macsales.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2011 03:58AM by OWC Larry.

>>WC 6G SSD Next week.

and 250GB under $200, right??

sorry, a man can dream....

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