Today we have a new OCZ solid state drive that fits right in the mainstream with that of Crucial’s MX300 and Samsung’s EVO series in terms of both price and performance. The VX500 is made to replace OCZ’s Vector 180 and is made up completely of Toshiba parts with Toshiba’s TC358790 controller and Toshiba-made 15nm MLC NAND. It is actually quite interesting to see a MLC-based solid state drive come out now with many companies opting for the less expensive TLC NAND. In any case the OCZ VX500 boasts sequential read and write speeds speeds of 550 MB/s and 510 MB/s respectively and is backed by OCZ’s impressive 5-year Shield Plus warranty. Can this new SSD compete with other lower-cost drives out there? Read on as we find out!
Special thanks to OCZ for providing us with the VX500 512GB Solid State Drive to review.
Specifications
Packaging
If you missed it from our review of the Toshiba OCZ RD400, Toshiba has overhauled the branding of OCZ. All products will now be called Toshiba OCZ, not just OCZ. OCZ will remain the enthusiasts and main consumer brand of Toshiba, but the Toshiba name will come first. The OCZ VX500 comes in a typical retail box that is not much larger than the SSD itself. On the front there is a photo of the SSD and it lets us know our capacity, which is 512GB. The drive is also available in 128GB, 256GB, and 1TB versions.
Flipping over to the back of the packaging some of the main features are listed as well as where you can find information on the warranty.
Getting everything out of the box we have the OCZ VX500 solid state drive and a technical support and RMA booklet. Interesting to not see a 7mm to 9.5mm spacer with this drive.
