Back in July we took a look at the Vertex 4 solid state drive from OCZ. This was the first consumer solid state drive from OCZ to use the Indilinx Everest 2 controller. Today we are looking at OCZ’s second solid state drive to use that controller, the Agility 4. The Agility 4 features read and write speeds of 420MB/s read and 410MB/s write respectively. Since OCZ has been making solid state drives they have always had the Vertex line and Agility line. The Vertex line was always the high-end enthusiast product, while the Agility was aimed for the mainstream. It is no different here, unlike the Vertex 4 that uses synchronous NAND the Agility 4 uses asynchronous NAND and is much less expensive. As of this review the Agility 4 is $189.99 for the $256GB version. Read on as we check the Agility 4 out!
Special thanks to OCZ for providing us with the Agility 4 256GB Solid State Drive to review.
Specifications
| Performance | 64 GB | 128 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB |
| Sequential Reads1 | 300 MB/s | 420 MB/s | 420 MB/s | 420 MB/s |
| Sequential Writes1 | 200 MB/s | 300 MB/s | 410 MB/s | 410 MB/s |
| Random 4k Read IOPS2 | 46,000 IOPS | 58,000 IOPS | 48,000 IOPS | 48,000 IOPS |
| Random 4k Write IOPS2 | 47,000 IOPS | 72,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS |
| Physical | |
| Usable Capacities (IDEMA) | 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
| NAND Components | 2Xnm Asynchronous Multi-Level Cell (MLC) |
| Interface | SATA III / 6Gbps (backwards compatible with SATA II / 3Gbps) |
| Form Factor | 2.5 Inch |
| NAND Controller | Indilinx Everest 2 |
| DRAM Cache | Up to 1GB |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3 mm |
| Reliability/Protection | |
| MTBF | 2 million hours |
| Data Path Protection | ECC corrects up to 78 random bits/1KB |
| Data Encryption | 256-bit AES-compliant, ATA Security Mode Features |
| Product Health Monitoring | Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) Support |
Packaging
OCZ has gone away from their normal SSD packaging for the Agility 4. It comes in a clear clamshell package. The front is open so you can take a look at the drive and also lists the capacity, which in our case is 256GB. The back of the package has some information about the drive.
To give you a good idea of how the Agility 4 comes and for a brief overview check out our video below.
