Toshiba OCZ VX500: mainstream s MLC

Toshiba sent us their mainstream SSD OCZ VX500 which is available in four different versions with capacities from 128 GB to 1024 GB. We have tested their 256GB version that is as well as the others based on proprietary controller TC358790 and 15nm MLC memory, while just the 1TB version also has a DRAM buffer.

The Anandtech also assert that VX500 line uses SLC cache in order to enhance its writing speed, but our tests did not show anything of the sort. Writing speed did not drop suddenly after a few gigs of write, but rather gradually during tests using tens of gigabytes, which really does not indicate the presence of a small SLC cache. Even the most demanding setting of ATTO and CrystalDiskMark with total length of 32 GB did not show any problems with writing speed. So, if you do not want to use your SSD for frequent writing of tens or even hundreds of gigabytes at once, you should not worry about that. Not to mention that the VX500 is not the right medium for such tasks with respect to its write endurance.

Considering the overall performance, VX500 is on par with many other modern SSDs. There are faster and slower models for the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. For that matter, performance is nowadays an issue rather for M.2 SSDs for PCIe. Classic planar NAND Flash memory has in this case also an average write endurance and according to the specs we can expect at least 600 P/E cycles. However, the firmware, nor the S.M.A.R.T. offer a detailed overview of the drive condition except the health scale.

The VX500 are truly mainstream SSDs for common PC builds or notebooks. The only real problem here are the high prices in Czech shops which are on par with models such as Samsung 850 PRO.