Earlier this year OCZ acquired Indilinx, one of the first SSD controller makers to really make a splash in the enthusiast community. Some months later, OCZ debuted its first drive based on an Indilinx design: The Octane series of SSDs.

Based on OCZ's in-house alternative to SandForce, the Octane series do not set any performance records, at least according to their specs. However, they should remain competitive to other offerings.

OCZ's Octane series includes an 128/256/512GB and 1 TB versions. All are based on 25nm Intel Sync MLC NAND. The 256 GB version we have in our hands is rated as following:

• Max Read: up to 480MB/s
• Max Write: up to 310MB/s
• Random Write 4KB: 25K IOPS
• Random Read 4KB: 35K IOPS
  

The drive is available online for $340.

According to OCZ, the new Indilinx Everest platform is optimized for the complete spectrum of file types and sizes, with proprietary page mapping algorithms mirroring real world conditions across a wide range of applications.

The Octane series also includes features unique to Indilinx, including latency reduction technology to enhance system responsiveness and enable instant-on boot-ups, and proprietary NDurance technology to increase the lifespan of the NAND flash memory and minimize performance degradation. In addition, Octane drives support AES and automatic encryption to secure critical data.

Specifications

Capacity: 256GB
Interface: SATA 6Gbps / Backwards Compatible 3Gbps
512MB Onboard Cache
Indilinx Infused
TRIM Support
Background Garbage Collection Support
Boot Time Reduction Optimization
AES and Automatic Encryption
SMART Support
Proprietary Indilinx Ndurance Technology

Seek Time: 0.06ms Read; 0.09ms Write
2.5" Design
99.8 (L) x 69.63 (W) x 9.3 mm (H)
Weight: 83g

Operating Temp: 0°C ~ 70°C
Ambient Temp: 0°C ~ 55°C
Storage Temp: -45°C ~ +85°C
Power Consumption: 1.98W active,1.15W standby
Shock Resistant up to 1500G
RAID Support
MTBF: 1,250,000 hours
3-Year Warranty
Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7 (32/64 bit), Linux, Mac OSX