OCZ has done a great job with he Indilix 2 controller. The Vertex 4 128GB SSD offers a very good random/sequential write performance, besting even the latest SSDs from Intel and Samsung. But the most impressive characteristic of the new drive is its consistent performance regardless of data composition - a welcomed advantage compared to the SandForce-driven SSDs.

We would like to see a better sequential read performance from the drive, especially in low queue depths. On the other hand, it has competitive sequential read speeds under heavy load. So the trade-off is obvious. If you are using this drive for generally IO heavy workloads, then the Vertex 4 is a great choice. For more typical mainstream client workloads, the Vertex 4 is still good but it's far from industry-leading when it comes to low queue depth read speeds.

In the writing part, the Vertex 4 is industry-leading in write performance even in low queue depths or mainstream workloads.

With the Vertex 4, OCZ has delivered a great drive from a performance standpoint. If you have a workload that demands better write and/or random read performance, the $130 SSD drive should be your choice, backed by an impressive 5-years warranty.