OCZ Octane 1.13 Firmware Update: Improving 4KB Random Write Performance
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 9, 2012 11:21 PM ESTPerformance Over Time
I was curious to see if the latest firmware improved the Octane's worst case scenario. Although write amplification is definitely down, it's still a problem as the drive can get into a pretty nasty performance state when subjected to constant random writes. I suspect we'll need to see a more significant effort on the firmware side to get this addressed. Perhaps that's something we'll need Everest 2 for.
Final Words
I asked OCZ if the 1.13 firmware update offered any bug fixes or if it was purely for performance, the answer was the latter - it's a performance upgrade, nothing else. If you've got a 128GB or 256GB drive the upgrade is worthwhile. If you've got a 512GB drive however, you may want to hold off as there's no real benefit. The only exception would be if you've deployed your Octane in a server that's subjected to tons of random writes. I suspect even the bravest enterprise customers aren't too keen on adopting a fairly new consumer drive for use in their servers though.
The bigger news is that OCZ is clearly addressing one of the performance issues with Octane and the Everest platform. There's still more room to improve but this is an important step forward to hardening Everest. Reducing write amplification and improving random write performance will make Everest more feasible for use in enterprise workloads, although it may ultimately be Everest 2 that gets OCZ all the way there.
As far as Octane goes, I'm still in the wait and see mode with this drive. I have one Octane deployed in a system here that's used daily. The drive has been problem-free thus far but we've still got several months of testing before I'm totally comfortable. The competition is tough for sure (particulary after this last round of Intel and Samsung launches), but the market is growing quickly enough where there's still room for multiple controller vendors.
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iwod - Thursday, February 9, 2012 - link
Get M4 ( Or Marvell Based ) if you want Stable and Top Notch Performance.Get Sandforce Based Drive if you only care about Performance.
Samus - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Don't forget Sandforce is generally cheaper, especially their mature first-gen controller based drives like the $120 Sandisk 120GB, or recentlky the Patriot $105 120GB drive.Ammaross - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
"...or recently the Patriot $105 120GB drive. "The Patriot Pyro you're mentioning is based on a Sandforce 2281 controller, so SATA3 and second-gen. But yes, definitely cheaper than most (all) worthy alternatives.
GrizzledYoungMan - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Sorry, but no. I just RMA'ed a 128 gb Crucial m4 because of a numerous issues and incompatibilities stemming from poor firmware. The system wouldn't wake from sleep without modifying the registry (and even then, it wouldn't always work) and the drive would frequently stutter thanks to an unacknowledged (but clearly prevalent, given forum posts about it) issue with Intel RST 10.x drivers.I am now running a 120 gb Intel 320 and loving it. The performance is indistinguishable from the m4, despite the latter's advantage in spec and benches. If anything, the 320 might feel a bit snappier than the m4 (and certainly better than my old 60 gb Vertex... not 2 or 3, just Vertex).
iwod - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
I can definitely say the performance IS distinguishable from m4 and Intel 320.In terms of stability Intel is in a different league. So i forgot to mention them.
M4 may have its problem, but nothing compare to Sandforce.
ckryan - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
OCZ deserves credit for continuing to support it's older Indilinx drives with newer FW. While Arrowana FW never materialized for Intel NAND equipped models, their newer FWs are much better.The problem with the Octane isn't necessarily it's performance. The problem is price.
Unless the price drops, there isn't a compelling reason to own one. I'm pleased that OCZ is releasing new FW that positively impacts performance, but until they get the price lower, I wouldn't recommend that shoppers pass up the 830 -- especially at 128GB. Depending on the day, the Samsung 830 128GB is $10 to $20 more. For that price differential, you get better performance and probably better NAND as well.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the 64GB 830 and 128GB Octane are pretty much equal performance-wise.
pc_void - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
The octane isn't an older drive. It came out not long ago.ckryan - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
No, I mean it's awesome that OCZ is supporting the original Indilinx with newer FW (like 1.7, and I assume there will be at least one more FW release). OCZ does a lot of things which irritate me to no end, but FW support is not one of them.To me, FW support (both initial and long term) is pretty important, so they deserve credit for that.
The 128GB Octane is actually more expensive than the 128GB 830 today; Newegg is having a sale.
pc_void - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Do see what your saying now.eman17j - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
OCZ bought the indilinx controller thats why its in the octane and thats why they are supporting it. It is their own controller. They arent just trying to help out by supporting some old controller