Difference between OCZ Vertex vs. Agility??

[RaistlinZ]

Can anyone tell me the difference between the Vertex and Agility? I'm looking on Newegg and I see both at 60GB, both have 230 MB Read / 135 MB Write, and RAID support. The 60GB Agility is $229.00 and the 60 GB Vertex is $219.00. Which to buy?


Also, is there much of a performance increase in running SSD's in RAID 0?

 

[jimhsu]

Different brands of flash memory (Vertex is Samsung, while Agility is Intel/Micron). Vertex has slightly faster seq performance, not much of a difference otherwise.

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Vertex has slightly faster seq performance, not much of a difference otherwise.

That's either not true or only part of the story. Beside, who gives a shit about seq unless you're just benchmarking seq rates or doing video surveillance type work?

 

[garritynet]

********************Conjecture. I honestly have no idea.*********************

I think they just need to fill demand for SSDs and nand ram is hard to get your hands on these days. The Agility drives probably cost a little more to make because they are probably paying a little bit more for Micron flash than they are for Samsung. I think it has nothing to do with performance or affordability because with the current demand for nand flash it all cost a premium. If OCZ didn't want to buy Micron's flash I am sure some other company would have been happy to.

I think they are just trying to push as many SSDs out the door as possible. They went and signed a contract with Micron to purchase flash memory and created a "new line" so as to avoid any sort of backlash when people realize that some drives had different memory in it. People would start opening up the drives and RMAing them when they saw Micron flash instead of Samsung on the 30gig models for sure.

I speculate that they are getting some slightly under performing nand from Micron as part of a packaged deal. Those binned chips are going into the 30gig model and they are publishing the specs for everyone to see to keep themselves honest.

Really, like I said, I have no earthly idea. I say to just get the Vertex and don't worry about it.

 

[Ayah]

The Agilities are just made with whatever OCZ can get their hands on.
I've seen Agilities with Intel and Toshiba flash.

 

[jimhsu]

That's either not true or only part of the story. Beside, who gives a shit about seq unless you're just benchmarking seq rates or doing video surveillance type work?

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/ocz-ssd-roundup_6.html#sect1

Anyhow, I never said seq rates actually mattered much. You will note that their comparison is not actually that fair, since they are benching a drive with 60GB capacity with one that has 250GB. The Agility is most likely using lower binned flash, hence the cheaper cost. If they are the same price, just get the Vertex.

 

[Zensal]

Vertex is the premium line. The Agility was supposed to be a slightly cheaper/slower alternative.

If the Vertex is cheaper, by all means, get it.

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Agility EX 60GB is $409 @ newegg

Vertex Turbo 60GB is $259 @ newegg

The Agility EX specs show it should write faster and is SLC rather than MLC. I'd like to see a better and more fair review. But, not really... I'm waiting for the Micron.

 

[bradley]

The Agility can either be slightly slower or slightly faster than the Vertex -- depending on which of the 4 different NAND modules are available at time of manufacture. It's the luck of the draw. My 120 GB Agility actually benches slightly faster than the average Vertex.

An interesting post from the OCZ forums regarding the difference between the Vertex and Agility brand...

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62523

 

[EarthwormJim]

Agility EX 60GB is $409 @ newegg

Vertex Turbo 60GB is $259 @ newegg

The Agility EX specs show it should write faster and is SLC rather than MLC. I'd like to see a better and more fair review. But, not really... I'm waiting for the Micron.

Vertex Turbo is an MLC drive, it just has an overclocked controller card.

The Agility EX should be faster in every way since it is SLC. The comparable Vertex to the Agility EX would be the Vertex EX.

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Thanks for repeating...

Not really. The Vertex EX 60GB is $659 on newegg, so I wouldn't say it's comparable in that way.

 

[robertk2012]

That's either not true or only part of the story. Beside, who gives a shit about seq unless you're just benchmarking seq rates or doing video surveillance type work?

Yeah I guess Copying large files, opening game saves, creating save files, Installing programs, Photoshop are all irrelevant.

Check out the heavy trace. http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667&p=8

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Yeah I guess Copying large files, opening game saves, creating save files, Installing programs, Photoshop are all irrelevant.

Check out the heavy trace. http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667&p=8

Those aren't all 100% sequential operations, therefore not sequential enough to stay at those rated speeds.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Thanks for repeating...

Not really. The Vertex EX 60GB is $659 on newegg, so I wouldn't say it's comparable in that way.

But it's ok to compare a $409 drive to a $259 drive?

The Agility line often has slower flash memory (but not always, OCZ seems to pick memory based on cost for the Agility) but identical controllers to the Vertex line.

 

[robertk2012]

Those aren't all 100% sequential operations, therefore not sequential enough to stay at those rated speeds.

LMAO. Gaming has been found to be around 70% sequential.

You cant just ignore sequential speeds.