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OCZ Vertex SSD Owners-Which firmware??

H

hogo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 3, 2005
213
122
so. cal
I have an i7 iMac which i'm swapping the dvd drive for the SSD. I have a 250 gb vertex mac edition but was wondering what firmware i need to have? Is GC viable now? Or do i need to stick with whatever it shipped with?
 
Vertex 1.4 firmware has been great.

Hi.

Not sure if this is super helpful, but I'm using the 120gb normal Vertex (non Mac edition, but there's no difference other than a sticker) with the 1.4 firmware in a Mid 09 15" MBP 2.8ghz.

I've never had any issues whatsoever and I think most of the complaints about the latest firmware are on 2008 Mac's and earlier.

You should be good.

Perhaps yours already has 1.4 FW on it since you just got it?
 
turbineseaplane said:
Hi.

Not sure if this is super helpful, but I'm using the 120gb normal Vertex (non Mac edition, but there's no difference other than a sticker) with the 1.4 firmware in a Mid 09 15" MBP 2.8ghz.

I've never had any issues whatsoever and I think most of the complaints about the latest firmware are on 2008 Mac's and earlier.

You should be good.

Perhaps yours already has 1.4 FW on it since you just got it?
Click to expand...

yeah, thats what i was thinking. Only, i heard 1.41 has garbage collection and is better for mac. I'll just have to check when i install tomorrow.
 
hogo said:
yeah, thats what i was thinking. Only, i heard 1.41 has garbage collection and is better for mac. I'll just have to check when i install tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Ahh.

Yeah, I've honestly stayed away from the bleeding edge of Vertex Firmware releases since they have been pretty problematic in the past.

I've had a Vertex since day one and it's always been a good plan to be one step behind releases unless there's a TON of great feedback.

Just my $0.02
 
If you want to upgrade to the newest firmware than upgrade to 1.41 as it has garbage collection only. The 1.4 version has trim only and is therefore only recommended to Windows 7 users who can actually use trim. Linux and os x people will have to use the 1.41 if they don't want to suffer from the performance degradation. Both 1.4 and 1.41 are final and stable releases so no bleeding edge stuff. Look for the corresponding firmware upgrade iso on the OCZ forums and follow the instructions.
 
I tried to upgrade to 1.41 from 1.4 to no avail. I'm really getting fed up with ocz. The drive right now is wikkid fast, but I know it will slow down in the future. apparantly I have to yank out the drive and put it in a windows box to update it? Why did I spend $500 on a drive that isn't fully compatible with my mac?!?!?
 
yes, help please!

My 250gb vertex shipped with 1.10 firmware!! Geez! I have to upgrade to 1.3 THEN to 1.41. However, every time i try to boot off of the freeDOS iso to get to 1.3, i get the dreaded question mark icon and blinking folder at start up, and no loading of the iso. I followed the the disk utility instructions to the letter with no avail. Anybody get to 1.3 from 1.10 with an external firewire dvd drive??
 
I've had Vertex since they were released. It's my belief that Mac editions come shipped with 1.41 (Garbage Collection)
Also if you have 1.4 and want to Downgrade to 1.41 you have to first downgrade to 1.1 then to 1.3 then to 1.41
 
CoolHotCold said:
I've had Vertex since they were released. It's my belief that Mac editions come shipped with 1.41 (Garbage Collection)
Also if you have 1.4 and want to Downgrade to 1.41 you have to first downgrade to 1.1 then to 1.3 then to 1.41
Click to expand...

1.41 is a downgrade from 1.4?
 
I'm running 1.5 on my Vertex, with no issues.

Results 290.01
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.2 (10C2234)
Physical RAM 8192 MB
Model iMac11,1
Drive Type OCZ-VERTEX
Disk Test 290.01
Sequential 271.63
Uncached Write 404.19 248.17 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 336.84 190.59 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 146.69 42.93 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 405.52 203.81 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 311.05
Uncached Write 106.44 11.27 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 515.12 164.91 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 3049.30 21.61 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 836.79 155.27 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
Vertex v1.10 to v1.4 firmware

hogo said:
My 250gb vertex shipped with 1.10 firmware!! Geez! I have to upgrade to 1.3 THEN to 1.41. However, every time i try to boot off of the freeDOS iso to get to 1.3, i get the dreaded question mark icon and blinking folder at start up, and no loading of the iso. I followed the the disk utility instructions to the letter with no avail. Anybody get to 1.3 from 1.10 with an external firewire dvd drive??
Click to expand...

I have the Vertex Mac Edition 250 GB with v1.10. Should I upgrade the firmware to 1.4 (or even 1.5 which just came out)? Is it worth it and where could I get the exact upgrade instructions?
Many thanks!
 
XBench with Western Digital 500GB 5400 RPM

@WilliamG -- Excellent, thanks for posting the XBench run on your OCZ. How long has your drive been in service?

This to me is the most critical thing for us to do for people like me who are contemplating moving to an SSD.

Below are the XBench marks for your run-of-the-mill Western Digital on the same os version 10.6.2. Albeit, I am using a macbook. This drive is the OS drive in my machine, and has been running for 2 months.

It would be really great if someone could post an XBench of an Intel X25-M drive....

Results 18.81
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.2 (10C540)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type WDC WD5000BEVT-00A03T0
Disk Test 18.81
Sequential 34.33
Uncached Write 67.65 41.53 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 39.12 22.13 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 18.69 5.47 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 44.14 22.19 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 12.95
Uncached Write 4.07 0.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 34.93 11.18 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 40.46 0.29 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 101.40 18.82 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
@Robb.Penoyer, I've had the Vertex 120GB in my MacBook Pro and then -> this iMac. I've had it working since May, 2009. No issues at all. My wife also has the same drive in her computer, no issues since March, 2009. Both running firmwares 1.5 at this time.
 
OCZ has got the absolute worst firmware upgrade system. I recently added one to my iMac. What kind of company sends you on a hunt on their forums for an official Firmware? Their support section only has (or had as of last week) v1.3. They should post a firmware checking boot disk iso too. My intel was much easier all around.
 
All,

I just upgraded to an OCZ 250... Here are the XBench stats:
Results 222.38
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.2 (10C540)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type OCZ-VERTEX
Disk Test 222.38
Sequential 191.43
Uncached Write 179.12 109.98 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 160.48 90.80 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 144.99 42.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 457.96 230.17 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 265.25
Uncached Write 102.39 10.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 254.09 81.34 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 3274.07 23.20 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 932.18 172.97 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
Sep 2010 (8 months later)

Results 233.78
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.4 (10F569)
Physical RAM 8192 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type OCZ-VERTEX

Disk Test 233.78

Sequential 189.41
Uncached Write 172.95 106.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 186.08 105.28 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 133.65 39.11 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 403.17 202.63 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Random 305.31
Uncached Write 114.45 12.12 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 365.43 116.99 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2343.71 16.61 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 832.92 154.55 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
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