OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB

After the success of its predecessor, which for a long time was the one other manufacturers had to beat, OCZ is back with the Vertex 2, which will no doubt prove to be another powerful performer.

It has everything it needs to perform excellently, including a SandForce SF-SF1222 controller which needs no introduction.  Other hardware features include a 3 Gbps SATA-2 interface, but no cache: one of the features of the SandForce controller is that it uses the memory available on the drive itself without having an impact on performance or the amount of space available (see inset).

It comes in several versions, but this test is based on the 120 GB drive. 

Pure performances

There's no use beating around the bush: the Vertex 2 has quite simply the most impressive performance of any hard drive we've had in our lab so far.  That might not be hundreds, but it does include some key players like the Intel X25-M or the Mach Xtreme Technology MX-DS Series.  The Vertex 2 pushes the limits back even further.  It doesn't smash all our previous records, but it gains a few precious MB/s here and there, and and puts in a solid performance even in the toughest tests.  In short, it does well in every situation.
  

Its results on the AS-SSD test reinforce what we already knew from running CrystalDiskMark:
  

The access times are pretty standard for a good quality SSD, but still much better than a traditional hard drive.

Practical performance

Once again, our practical tests confirmed the great impressions given by the raw results, beating the best PCMarkVantage score we've seen so far, a record previously held by the Intel X25-M.
 

Looking at real-life tasks, the results are more or less equivalent to the best modern SSDs.  The differences that there are less than those we found with the other tests, but in some cases, the Vertex 2 is between 4% and 7% better than the MXT MX-DX Series for instance