OCZ shows 1TB SSD RAID module

ONE COMPANY THAT tends to put out halo products that actually make it into production is OCZ, and its Z Drive 1TB SDD looks like the next big thing. Couple this to 80+ Gold PSUs, and you have a pretty nice system.

1TB SSD RAID card

The star of the booth was obviously the Z Drive prototype, a large metal case filled with four SSDs, a RAID controller and a bunch of cache that plugs directly into a PCIe slot. The idea is simple, most interfaces would bottleneck anything capable of this level of transfers, so they stuck it on the one that would not, a PCIe slot.

How fast is fast? 750MBps sustained, 1200 burstable should be enough for most applications, and would allow Vista to boot in an almost tolerable time. If 1TB isn't enough for you, there is a two TB version coming, but don't expect either to be cheap. The case will change, the prices change hourly with flash, and it will be done when it is done. That said, it will be a product somewhat soon.

OCZ also claims that it will be the first to ship an 80+ Gold certified PSU. A lot of people were showing them off, but only OCZ is confident it will have the first one you can buy, likely in a few weeks. This is the highest efficiency rating possible, a claimed 93 per cent, making the Z1000 1000W model one of the best (almost) on the market.

One last tidbit, OCZ Summit 64G SSDs now are shipping with Samsung memory. They should be fast, but We'll take a Z Drive over that any day. µ