When OCZ gave us a peek at its Vector SSD, we were curious as to how the drive would fare with a Barefoot 3 controller built through the team from its Indilinx buyout. Would it be the validation of a new strategy, or produce classic rookie mistakes? As long as you're fine with the OCZ badge, it's mostly the former. Reviews don't have the Vector winning outright in every benchmark, but it's one of the more reliably quick drives on the market; multiple sites point out that Barefoot 3's balanced approach to techniques like garbage collection (freeing up data blocks for future use) keeps the overall speed high. Write performance is the strong suit, staying closer to the ideal where others sometimes trail off quickly. Drawbacks most center around the less predictable factors -- Barefoot 3 doesn't have an established track record for reliability, and the pricing isn't always favorable against high-end peers like Samsung's SSD 840 Pro. That OCZ managed to do so well with its first in-house controller is still a positive sign, and those willing to give the Vector a shot may find it worth the initial uncertainty.
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