OCZ Technology Introduces another Vertex 3 “MAX IOPS” SSD

OCZ has added another model to the venerable Vertex 3 solid state drive family. In addition to the Vertex 3 for consumers and the Vertex 3 Pro for enterprise customers, OCZ has introduced the Vertex 3 Max IOPS SSD. As the name implies the max IOPS on this drive is a whopping 75,000 IOPS, compared to 60,000 IOPS for the regular Vertex 3.

For solid state drives IOPS is usually stated in terms of 4K random writes, so translated; this means the Vertex 3 Max IOPS has a higher 4K random write speed than the vanilla Vertex 3. OCZ Technology states it has achieved this by replacing the 25NM Micron NAND with an alternative but unmentioned manufacturer’s NAND. For an already blazingly fast SandForce SF-2200 drive, this is an interesting feat.

If this reminds you strikingly of when OCZ Technology followed the huge success of its original Indilinx Vertex SSD by releasing the Vertex Turbo, you’d be spot on. At the time the Vertex Turbo featured a slightly overclocked Indilinx Barefoot controller, but given the NAND is often the real bottleneck, the launch of the Max IOPS Vertex 3 simply appears to be the modern equivalent of the Vertex Turbo.

While we will never say no to faster, greater performance in all of our IT devices, it goes without saying a drive with the Vertex 3 Max IOPS’s credentials is probably better suited for enterprise and database workloads. Desktop users would be hard pressed to discern the difference, although if your PC requires the absolute best then OCZ has just delivered a new SSD option in 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB varieties. And as with the Vertex 3, the Max IOPS version carries a 3 year warranty.

SAN JOSE, CA – April 26, 2011 – OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled a new addition to the highly-awarded Vertex 3 SATA III Series. The Vertex 3 Max IOPS edition drives extend the company’s industry-leading Vertex 3 SSD product line to support users that require greater transactional throughput.