Solid 3

OCZ's Solid 3 series is the "value" drive in the manufacturer's SATA III 6GBps lineup based on SandForce SF-2200 series controllers and MLC NAND Flash memory. Compared to its more expensive cousins, the Vertex 3 and Agility 3 series, the Solid 3 is comparatively slower--particularly when measured in IOPS (input/output operations per second). Here the Solid 3 manages 20,000 IOPS (4K aligned) vs 80 to 85,000 IOPS in the more expensive drives. However, in terms of maximum read/write performance the difference is marginal. Sequential reads reach up to 500MB/s while sequential writes max out at 450MB/s--both still very high figures compared to all other 2.5-inch SSDs available at this writing.

As it's targeted at the value segment, the Solid 3 series is only available in two smaller capacities: 60GB and 120GB. Both offer the same performance and feature set. The drives support the TRIM command for preventing performance deterioration over time (available with Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard). Just like the Agility 3, the Solid 3 series also uses less power than the top performer in the family, the Vertex 3; 2.7W Active, 1.5W Idle versus 3W Active, 1.65W Idle in the latter. These solid state drives come with a 3-year warranty and are rated at 2 million hours MTBF.

Specifications:

• Sequential Read: Up to 500 MB/second
• Sequential Write: Up to 450 MB/second
• NAND type: MLC
• Interface: SATA 3 6GBps
• Controller: SandForce SF-2200
• Form Factor: 2.5 inches
• DRAM Cache: None
• Power Consumption (Active): 2.7W
• Power Consumption (Idle): 1.5W
• TRIM support: Yes
• SMART support: Yes
• Warranty: 3 years
• MTBF: 2,000,000 hours

Part Numbers:

• 60GB: SLD3-25SAT3-60G
• 120GB: SLD3-25SAT3-120G

None available at this writing.