As promised in the original Vertex 4 128GB review, we’re ready to look at enthusiast level performance with two OCZ Technology Vertex 4 128GB drives. The single drive review showed impressive performance and set a few new personal records for our test lab. Two drives in RAID 0 should deliver nearly twice the performance since solid state drives are very efficient when used in performance RAID. Hopefully the Vertex 4 RAID 0 is able to more than double the single drive performance as we observed in XYZ review (please hyperlink the other review). Before we get into the RAID performance, let’s recap the OCZ Vertex 4 128GB and then dive right into the performance numbers.

The Vertex 4 is OCZ’s flagship model SATA 6Gb/s solid state drive. The Vertex 4 is designed to take on all drives in its class. As you can easily guess the Vertex 4 is the 4 drive offered by OCZ with the Vertex moniker. OCZ has built its status and reputation as the world largest and most well-known manufacturer of solid state drives through the Vertex series. The Vertex 4 is a first for OCZ in that, this is the first Vertex to contain OCZ’s own proprietary solid state drive processor, the Everest II. About a year ago OCZ purchased a company called Indilinx. Indilinx is the company that gave us the famed barefoot controller found in the original Vertex and in other SSD’s like the Patriot Torqx. The acquisition of Indilinx has given OCZ the ability to use its own proprietary SSD Processor in its solid state drives. The first drive to utilize an OCZ/Indilinx SSD processor was the OCZ Octane. The Octane is outfitted with an OCZ/Indilinx branded SSD processor called “Everest”. OCZ has since stepped up its game by introducing a second version of the Everest SSD Processor, the “Everest II”. The Everest II SSD processor is a higher performing version of the Everest. The world has been formally introduced to the Everest II SSD processor through the introduction of the Vertex 4.

Here is what Indilinx themselves have to say about the Everest II SSD processor:

“Everest 2: Enterprise-Class Performance and Reliability

The Indilinx Everest 2 family of solid state drive processors establishes a new computing and storage paradigm by delivering breakthrough performance and uncompromising reliability to next-generation SSDs. Combining a 400MHz dual-core CPU, 6Gbps SATA Revision 3.0 interface, and support for the latest, most advanced NAND flash memory technology available, Everest 2 exceeds the needs of the most demanding SSD environments.

Everest 2 features a highly optimized system architecture, showcasing the potential of tight integration between hardware and firmware. By combining a highly parallel and pipelined hardware design with extremely efficient data management algorithms, Everest 2 achieves unsurpassed speeds under any workload, regardless of data hype and I/O pattern. Everest 2 also unveils Ndurance^TM 2.0, the most advanced suite of NAND flash management technology ever developed for SATA SSDs.  Designed exclusively for Indilinx SSD processors, Ndurance 2.0 overcomes critical NAND flash memory shortcomings to ensure that SSDs with consumer-grade NAND flash can be reliably used in both enterprise and client computing environments over a lifetime well beyond the manufacturer-rated endurance limits.”

There is one other little known fact. For now the Everest controller is actually Marvell silicon that’s “Infused” with Indilinx proprietary firmware and programming. This is where the term “Indilinx Infused” comes from. Because the Everest II SSD processor is “Indilinx Infused” and that infusion is strictly proprietary to OCZ, the Everest II is very much OCZ’s own proprietary SSD processor. Hopefully I have brought you up to speed on just what makes the Vertex 4 tick.

How about we take a look at the drives themselves and then, how they perform in RAID 0?