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Today we take a look at the OCZ Technology Vertex 3 in both 120GB and 240GB capacities. The Vertex 3 was the first SF-2000 based client SSD to hit the market in 2011 and such will be the product in which all others will be judged against. The Vertex 3 is capable of transferring data at 550+MB/s.

Introduction
The Big Bang, it's more than just a theory. In life everything has a starting point, one location that you can point to and say it all started right there. OCZ Technology didn't start the chain of events that brought consumer SSDs to market but they can be accredited with fueling the explosion. To date, no other company has done more to make true consumer SSDs a reality. OCZ, once known almost exclusively for its memory modules is now considered an SSD manufacturer. A majority of its R&D resources are directionally pointed to further consumer SSD development.

For the most part SSDs are comprised of two primary components, the SSD controller and the flash that stores data. Both of these components have changed greatly over the last four years. Last year SandForce debuted its first consumer SSD controller, the SF-1200 and with it came new technology that fueled a revolution. The SF-1200 was based on an enterprise controller that allowed manufactures to reduce the overall component costs by eliminating expensive cache modules and enabled low cost Multi-Level Cell (MLC) flash to perform at levels previously reserved for more expensive Single Level Cell (SLC) flash devices. The MLC based SandForce SF-1200 products quickly reached the SATA II (3G) limits of 285MB/s and turned the storage world upside down.

At the same time flash technology evolved and a larger focus was placed on improving MLC technology. MLC flash is now the standard for all consumer solid state drives and is available from a large number of manufacturers. In 2011 SSD manufacturers have a much broader range of choices when it comes to NAND flash and many of these companies will offer several SSDs based on the new SandForce SF-2281 controller with the differing component being the flash used to store the data.

The OCZ Technology Vertex 3 will be HardOCP's baseline standard for performance in 2011; the product in which all others will be compared against. OCZ was the first to bring a SF-2281 controller to market and is SandForce' preferred partner even though no public acknowledgment of this fact has been found. The Vertex Series of products is always a good starting point for kicking off the SSD season. Let's get started.

Labels: laptops and computers