OCZ Drives, Reliable or Not? VX500

[The Architect]

So, I've been planning on building a new PC, I was going for a setup with SSDs only and I mentioned that I would pick the OCZ VX500 due to their High NAND Endurance and 5 Year Warranty.

 

However, nearly every person suggested that I avoid OCZs all together, because they are faulty and tend to break...

 

So is this a rumor or not? and does it apply to a specific model of OCZs drive or is it a quality thing with the manufacturer...

 

If so, what are some other alternatives for the same price and with similar High NAND Endurance? mind you the system will be mostly used for graphics, editing and 3D work

 

Here are the basic specs compared to the similarly priced 850 EVO:

 

	850 EVO – SAMSUN	VX500 - OCZ
CAPACITY	500 GB	512 GB
PRICE	$165 - NEWEGG	$155 - NEWRG
MC	3D V-NAND	MLC
MTBF	2,000,000 HOURS	1,500,000 HOURS
ENDURANCE	150 TBW	296 TBW
WARRANTY	5 YEARS	5 YEARS

 

I would like to hear everybody's opinions...

 

Thanks & Regards,

 

[ARikozuM]

MX300.

[The Architect]

4 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

MX300.

Well... I do appreciate Crucial Drives but the topic is about the OCZ VX500...

[ARikozuM]

Just now, The Architect said:

Well... I do appreciate Crucial Drives but the topic is about the OCZ VX500...

Have you read any reviews?

[The Architect]

Yes... They all pointed to the VX500 as being a good pick, but some forum members advised me to avoid OCZ drives since they tend malfunction or have reliability issues. So I was wondering if that applies to a specific model

[ARikozuM]

Just now, The Architect said:

Yes... They all pointed to the VX500 as being a good pick, but some forum members advised me to avoid OCZ drives since they tend malfunction or have reliability issues. So I was wondering if that applies to a specific model

I've only had experience with one OCZ drive so I can't comment on that definitively. What reviews did you read? Has Anandtech done an in-depth review of the controller?

[The Architect]

yes he did... throughout the review he pointed out that the technology of the drive is reliable yet old compared to the competition...

[Sakkura]

OCZ had reliability issues back when they were an independent company and relied on Sandforce controllers. Especially when they were the early adopters of the Sandforce controllers, offering some of the best performance on the market at nice prices... but the firmware wasn't always that thoroughly tested.

 

They are now part of Toshiba, have much more testing, and aren't using Sandforce.

 

They are reliable now.

 

And hey even back in the day, if you just avoided the worst models, they weren't that bad. I have a so-so budget drive of theirs from 2012, and it's still running fine.

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, The Architect said:

yes he did... throughout the review he pointed out that the technology of the drive is reliable yet old compared to the competition...

I just read the review in full. I would say skip the drive unless the price is good for you. The MX200 and 850 EVO perform better in most regards and with the MX300 being better than the MX200, I'd be inclined to offer the recommendation I initially made.

[The Architect]

The main reason I've considered the VX500 is the Crazy High TBW (296 TBW)... the closest unit to it is the 850 Pro (300) which is nearly $100 more. Most other Units don't even exceed 200 TBW, except the WD Blue.

 

Since I'm dedicating the unit to content creations, I'll be moving files a lot. possibly 100s of GBs in a week or so.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, The Architect said:

The main reason I've considered the VX500 is the Crazy High TBW (296 TBW)... the closest unit to it is the 850 Pro (300) which is nearly $100. Most other Units don't even exceed 200 TBW, beside the WD Blue.

 

Since I'm dedicating the unit to content creations, I'll be moving files a lot. possibly 100s of GBs in a week or so.

The TBW is what the company says. You aren't likely to hit that amount in the lifetime you use it.