Introduction

In early May, I made a few changes to our performance charts by clustering all of the SSDs together by capacity size. At the time, 24nm Toggle Mode flash was really starting to take off and products like the Plextor M3 Pro and SanDisk Extreme started to hit store shelves.

I decided to remove the Vertex 3 with IMFT synchronous flash and replace it on the charts with the Vertex 3 Max IOPS, another Toshiba Toggle Mode Flash drive, but based on the previous 32nm process. We already had the 240GB Max IOPS in the office; it was used in a gaming desktop for nearly a year. What we didn't have was a 120GB model to include in our smallest capacity performance charts. Luckily OCZ had a Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB on hand when we needed one and ever since this model has been part of our benchmark comparison foundation.

When it first hit the market, the Vertex 3 Max IOPS cost considerably more than the standard Vertex 3. At the time Toshiba Toggle Mode flash cost quite a bit more than the Intel and Micron 25nm flash. Even now with 32nm Toggle being in low supply, the price of the Max IOPS is quite a bit higher than the standard Vertex 3. While writing this article I found the unit we're reviewing today for roughly $185. Given that most SSDs are selling in the $1 per GB range the Max IOPS is still a little on the expensive side.

Let's not let that be a deterrent though because the Max IOPS is still an amazing drive and uses some of the best consumer grade NAND flash on the market. OCZ call it Max IOPS for a reason, let's take a look why.