OCZ Agility 4 256GB Solid State Drive Review

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.

OCZ Agility 4 256GB Solid State Drive OCZ Agility 4 256GB Solid State Drive

To give you a good idea of how the Agility 4 comes and for a brief overview check out our video below.

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