SSD maker OCZ declares bankruptcy, has offer from Toshiba for assets

SSD hard drive maker OCZ Technology Group has announced bankruptcy, also confirming it has received an offer from Toshiba to buy the company's remaining assets.

OCZ had a market value of $43 million before the news but the company's stock fell 75 percent, leaving it with a capitalization of just $11 million.

The company will file its official bankruptcy after completing the asset purchase agreement with Toshiba and Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc, one of their current lenders. If the deal falls apart, the company would immediately file for bankruptcy and liquidate.

OCZ has been hit with a shortage of NAND flash memory storage chips for the last year, and has not had a full-year profit in over five years.

Majors players in the industry such as Seagate, Western Digital and Micron had long been rumored to be acquirers for the struggling SSD maker, but it seems Japan's largest chipmaker, Toshiba, stepped in.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Nov 2013 21:48

mukhis

sad to know that. i have an OCZ SSD, and it performs very good.

27.11.2013 23:23 #1

bobiroc

Well that stinks.. My current PC has OCZ Ram (got it right before they stopped making it) and has an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD. I was a fan of them.

AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 256GB OCZ Vertex 4, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.

http://www.facebook.com/BlueLightningTechnicalServices

27.11.2013 23:58 #2

Morreale

Yea I have a 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD and its been great over the past year. Was only $50 too.

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28.11.2013 03:49 #3

Mysttic

I wonder how warranty coverage will be honoured.

28.11.2013 07:22 #4

guy8689

Wow this sucks!

28.11.2013 09:27 #5

Jemborg

This is bad news. I thought they were popular.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

29.11.2013 09:26 #6

Mr-Movies

Toshiba will honor the warranties I'm sure but this was no surprise coming as OCZ's SSD's are the worst in the industry with no exceptions. If you have a good one consider yourself lucky and good for you. Now although Toshiba makes a great laptop their hard drives are not the best so will they make a better SSD or will this be a bad venture? Time will tell I guess. I'm hoping they do well but again we will see.

29.11.2013 09:51 #7

Jemborg

Well, I have moved on from OCZ myself. But I can't agree with you about Toshiba laptops. I'd had heaps of problems with them. Time was they were great but nowadays.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

29.11.2013 11:09 #8

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by Jemborg: Well, I have moved on from OCZ myself. But I can't agree with you about Toshiba laptops. I'd had heaps of problems with them. Time was they were great but nowadays. I have not bought a Toshiba in a few years so I certainly wouldn't argue that point but is good to know as I will steer clear if they are now problematic. Good to know...

29.11.2013 16:13 #9

Jemborg

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by Jemborg: Well, I have moved on from OCZ myself. But I can't agree with you about Toshiba laptops. I'd had heaps of problems with them. Time was they were great but nowadays. I have not bought a Toshiba in a few years so I certainly wouldn't argue that point but is good to know as I will steer clear if they are now problematic. Good to know...
As an alternative, if you're shopping, check out what Lenovo's got on offer.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

30.11.2013 01:18 #10

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by Jemborg: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by Jemborg: Well, I have moved on from OCZ myself. But I can't agree with you about Toshiba laptops. I'd had heaps of problems with them. Time was they were great but nowadays. I have not bought a Toshiba in a few years so I certainly wouldn't argue that point but is good to know as I will steer clear if they are now problematic. Good to know...
As an alternative, if you're shopping, check out what Lenovo's got on offer.

-------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I've got Lenovo's recently and they are solid notebooks. When they were first taken over from IBM some models, not all, were questionable but all-in-all now they are very good laptops.

I've also had fantastic luck with Acer for laptops, in fact all of the many Acer's I've had can accept a second SATA SSD or M-SATA port for an extra drive and even on some of their less expensive notebooks you can still use up to 16GB of RAM which is real nice for someone like me who uses bloatware like Creative Suite 6 Design and Web Premium plus Lightroom 5.2 among other stuff like video reproduction tools. RAM is my friend on my desktops I like to have 32GB or better depending on the platform as I use virtual drives too sometimes.

30.11.2013 07:05 #11

Jemborg

I've had the impression lately that Acer had picked up their game. If you find them reliable I'll keep them in mind too.

If your doing video, yeah, you'd want lots of ram. Conversely, I built a gaming rig for someone with only 8 gig in it the other day... it was 2400mhz cas 10 RAM though. :)

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

30.11.2013 11:51 #12

pmshah

This is for all the doubters of Toshiba memory products. I have with me 4 32 mb Toshiba made SD cards (supplied by Casio) which I use as replacement for bootable floppy disks, mainly to install boot managers. Also use if for Stinger antivirus tool. I have had these for more than 15 years now and have ha more than 100o insertions into readers as well as hundreds of writes and rewrites. Till date these have n=been the most reliable cards I have used, bar none.

I don't know who the real manufacturer of Toshiba HDD is but many might be surprised to learn that quantum drives, certain range, were made by Panasonic who never sold any under their own brand.

30.11.2013 13:02 #13

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by Jemborg: I've had the impression lately that Acer had picked up their game. If you find them reliable I'll keep them in mind too.

If your doing video, yeah, you'd want lots of ram. Conversely, I built a gaming rig for someone with only 8 gig in it the other day... it was 2400mhz cas 10 RAM though. :) Yes for gaming it is more important to go with very fast RAM and 8 gig is perfect, but you don't need as much since your video card will be the main work horse, a 2GB or larger video card makes a huge performance break as well as of course more cuda cores or streams depending.

30.11.2013 18:01 #14

Jemborg

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by Jemborg: I've had the impression lately that Acer had picked up their game. If you find them reliable I'll keep them in mind too.

If your doing video, yeah, you'd want lots of ram. Conversely, I built a gaming rig for someone with only 8 gig in it the other day... it was 2400mhz cas 10 RAM though. :) Yes for gaming it is more important to go with very fast RAM and 8 gig is perfect, but you don't need as much since your video card will be the main work horse, a 2GB or larger video card makes a huge performance break as well as of course more cuda cores or streams depending. This rig only has a couple of 780s in it.

:P

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

1.12.2013 02:30 #15

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by Jemborg: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by Jemborg: I've had the impression lately that Acer had picked up their game. If you find them reliable I'll keep them in mind too.

If your doing video, yeah, you'd want lots of ram. Conversely, I built a gaming rig for someone with only 8 gig in it the other day... it was 2400mhz cas 10 RAM though. :) Yes for gaming it is more important to go with very fast RAM and 8 gig is perfect, but you don't need as much since your video card will be the main work horse, a 2GB or larger video card makes a huge performance break as well as of course more cuda cores or streams depending. This rig only has a couple of 780s in it. :P ONLY! Sweet, very nice.....

1.12.2013 11:42 #16

Jemborg

It gets worse than that... And all crammed into a this box!

It's my finest work to date. The modding etc... "Fully sick man" :). Thinking of doing a breakdown on YouTube.

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Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

1.12.2013 13:08 #17

Mr-Movies

Nice,I too am working smaller as well these days, you just don't need a huge case for most projects.

2.12.2013 10:34 #18

Jemborg

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Nice,I too am working smaller as well these days, you just don't need a huge case for most projects. Nothing that a drill and a soldering iron can't handle!

Let us know about your next micro project, we might exchange ideas.

The above rig is a 3rd gen board (Z77)! I just managed to score it b4 the move to 4th gen. The Z87 mATX boards do not SLI in a micro box (side by side 2-slot stock cards). You have to go to a X79 (socket 2011pin) mATX for that config now.

So, I suppose to keep this tread on track... apart from a 3T Barracuda HDD for data that rig supports a 128GB Sammy 840 pro for the system and a 500GB Sammy Evo purely for game installation.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

3.12.2013 14:32 #19

Mr-Movies

The Sammy 840 is a great SSD and that make sense that the X79 would be the way to go. Great input Jemborg thank you much!

3.12.2013 22:03 #20

Jemborg

Actually the 500gb Evo probably tops the 840, at least in read.... unless you mean the 840 PRO MM. There's a difference... strange labelling, don't you think? The Evo is great bang-for-buck anyway.

If you did go for the X79 then for a gaming rig the i7-4820K would be perfect. Four cores are plenty. Turn the hyperthreading off too... it just gets in the way imo.

Old board but updated cpus:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_IV_GENE/#overview
http://ark.intel.com/products/77781

================================================================

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

4.12.2013 02:05 #21

Jemborg

Oh yeah MM, I want to ask your opinion on something. Gaming PC... large page file or small one?.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

4.12.2013 05:34 #22

Mr-Movies

Yes, I agree with you on the EVO but you are correct I was thinking the Pro definitely.

I actually turn off the page file these days even with the use of graphical editing but especially for gaming it just isn't needed and can actually slow your system down. I thought it would cause issues with all of the bloatware I use but in fact it hasn't and I don't have to worry about tweaking it from time-to-time when using multiple programs at once. The big plus is you add 30GB of usable HDD space by turning it off, or at least I do with my usage.

The ASUS Rampage IV Gene is the route to go for a mATX, there are some people I converse with though that won't touch an ASUS board but I'm not one of them and that processor can be pushed to 5GHz pretty easily so that would make a lethal combination on top of two or three super video cards.

4.12.2013 07:05 #23

Jemborg

Sigh... every brand has let me down at some point. At least with that ASUS mobo it's been out for a while and a bit of online research will tell you if it's unreliable by now. Plus, if "You get what you pay for" is anything to go by... well, that mofo ain't cheap. :)

If someone thinks that there's a better one then goodo. That rig's above was an ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M with a OCed i5-3570k. Not at all shabby for it's pricing... the punter had to draw the line somewhere so he invested in the 780s. Perhaps I should have persuaded him to go the extra mile. He's just running a 1080p projector lol. He'll graduate to a 4k projector one of these days maybe. Heh. He'll be ok.

I've been compromising, leaving a fixed non-managed 400mb page file for precaution. It's really interesting you just turn it off. The Sammy SSD software wanted to make a huge pagefile under a related "Performance" OS profile and it made me wonder if I missed something. I consider page filing a hangover from when ram wasn't as plentiful and it perplexes me why Windows still insists on a lot of it by default. More ram should mean less of it not more right?.... or am I in topsy-turvy land?

What sort of cooling would you use with that 5GHz OC on the 4820k in a mATX case?

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

4.12.2013 11:03 #24

Mr-Movies

Microsoft isn't always the smartest when it comes to programming, not that they don't have good programmers but more that their management is horrible.

As to cooling in a micro case, it would really depend on where the space was in the case. If I could I'd have a 140mm fan over the CPU/chipset. If I had space for 40/80mm fans I'd utilize quiet fans and use as many as I could. If I had extra space in the front of the case I might use H2O, some of the micro cases I've used I could get the radiator mounted internally to the upper-front of the cover. So I would really have to pick the case for what I'd want to do since they vary greatly. There are a couple of InWin's I like (Slim mATX);

IN WIN BL641.300TBL Black Steel MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W Power Supply
IN WIN BL631.300TBL Black Steel MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W Power Supply
IN WIN BL672.300TB3LF Black Steel / Plastic MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case
IN WIN BL647.300TBL Black Steel MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W Power Supply

4.12.2013 18:55 #25

Jemborg

Well I guess that explains MS but why did Samsung's software insist on the page file being set to roughly 1.5 times the RAM size for their recommended OS "Performance" setting??

Nice slim cases, and their 300w PSUs with 32A over two +12v rails ain't bad for lower to mid-end HTPC builds. Front usb3?

If I was going with a thin cardless micro rig I suppose I'd go AMD... Intel's "HD" graphics are sh*tty still imho.

I recommend you also have a look at the Silverstone range MM. They have a wide range of performance SSF chassis that allow you to use a standard power supply if you want to. And some interesting cooling solutions. I've built a couple from the Sugo series that employ an optional heatsink here (or here) that exploits the PSU's cooling fan. (See the Flash splash at the page top.)

The above is a GD-05 from the Grandia series. It has 3 x 120mm filtered fans generating positive pressure inside the case. I installed a couple of ugly Noctua NF-R8s in the back. It has an optional fanless heatsink here that I crafted ducting for in a brilliant move, if I do say so, to force the air in that section through/over the heatsink fins and exiting enjoying the benefit of the full surface area of the exhaust fans. I'll point it out in the YT vid if I ever get off my duff to make it. The Noctuas are cpu temp controlled by the BIOS. It's beautiful. Not H2O but you get a pretty respectable OC from it.

I have no compunction getting the soldering iron out now. The above rig has an Antec 900W HCG with a whopping 160A over four rails. Perversely, as you would know, these things run cooler than lower powered PSUs. It's not worth paying the extra $$$ for a modular PSU. And you absolutely have to hack the cables anyway to get 1. air passage and 2. an idealised plug configuration. You can also get another couple of SSDs in this case without compromising air flow ....It's all part of the fun isn't it? :)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

6.12.2013 09:03 #26

Mr-Movies

I do like the Silverstone better, you're right on that. I guess I'm not aware of the Samsung software, it might be suggestion, but I'll bet if you turn off paging things will run just fine. I also agree with AMD but if you are going higher end the 220w egg heaters might be much for a small case unless you water cool it and when I say that I mean both the CPU and NB since the north bridge gets too hot as well. Again you hit it on the modular PSU's they aren't always the bomb. I've been looking at 5.25in bay conversions that allow 6 2.5in HDD's this could be utilized well in this type of venture, there are other conversions that fit 3.5in bays too.

It is fun and there are many ways to achieve the same goals which makes if even more exciting.

6.12.2013 19:03 #27

Jemborg

Apart from the 120mm side fans blowing air directly across the mobo components (and cpu cooler), I'm completely confident that the minimal ducting that I made, which radically alters the dynamics of airflow inside the GD-05 chassis, also provides plenty of extra air flow assist for the cooling of the "North Bridge" (such as it still is) for decent OCing. And after examining the above ASUS X79 mATX mobo I'm even more so. There's no room in this case for an internal H2O solution either, he's got a BR reader in it, and he wants it to be a self contained unit.

At the moment it's OCed to turbo 4.2 and I'm certain he could do better if he wanted to put the tweaking time into it. It would be similar for the i7-4820K.

But with all due respect MM, apart from the exercise, there's no practical purpose to wildly OCing a games PC imo. After all, they're written to run on a laptop CPU... albeit a decent one. As you pointed out above, "your video card(s) will be the main work horse".

Re extra SSDs: yeah, I had similar ideas. Here's a very simple, very cheap, but very effective kit I used to provide accommodation for a second and third SSD in a 3.5" bay (it also came with all the little screws). http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/150774187724 You will need to drill four holes.

A special note: apart from your usual care in cable placement, the power cabling for the gfx cards has to be arranged and flattened around the plugs very bloody carefully ...and it's still a gentle controlled squeeze to get the GD-05 lid back on.

Cheers.

PS: I never meant to suggest Silverstone was better MM, just worth a look. But I'm glad to have introduced them, if I did. :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

7.12.2013 23:43 #28

Mr-Movies

That's the problem with tight cases and H2O cooling but it sound like you have it covered so good job. I didn't mean to say that you thought the SilverStone was better but I do like those cases and in some circumstances I think they are better then the InWin's, but possibly not always. I like the InWin's because they are decent cases, some with good channeling for cooling air, they are cheap, and they look OK.

I also fully agree with OC'n, plus it you don't you are more likely to get a better MTBF so I don't OC as a rule. I did just build a 3.5MHz 8 core AMD for my sister and with the Gigabyte FX990 UD3 board I was able to quickly OC it to 4.o GHz with a stable platform. She runs Creative Suite 6 plus some other hog programs so this did help her loading times as well as other stuff.

Ya I use those conversion rails too, I have a ton of them from when I was building PC's and severs professional, they work well and are simple.

Yes the video card can be damaged easily if getting carried away, right on...

Keep up the great work Jem. ;D

8.12.2013 00:24 #29

Jemborg

O shit, I hope I didn't sound patronising before lol. I was mostly bragging :)

Yeah a light OC'n gives you a bit of overhead. And it's not like the manufactures aren't saying "Hey! Overclock this whydoncha?!"

I am having a closer look at AMD in the future as that sounds pretty reasonable.

Roger Wilco!

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

8.12.2013 06:54 #30

Mr-Movies

No you were not, no worries mate!

Yes bang for the buck AMD is the way to go but for power per clock cycle Intel is better and if you don't mind the extra money and less cores it is the way to go. Also like anything Intel works better for some gaming then AMD does typically but that does work both ways. Most games are optimized, I believe still, for Intel but some are for AMD especially since AMD delved into the video card way back when.

I'm using a i5 at the moment but but for most of what I do, the 8 core AMD processors tend to perform much better. Just an FYI

Jem, I apologize for our differences politically in the past as you sure are a good guy and I've really enjoyed our conversations.

8.12.2013 10:08 #31

Jemborg

Forget about it MM... the feeling is mutual comrade. ;)

Thanks. All the best.

(Starting to realise that some of the mid and even upper-level rigs I built for clients in the past would have been better served by AMD maybe. Perhaps I'll stick to Intel now for gaming only, unless otherwise instructed. Ah, 20/20 hindsight!)

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

12.12.2013 01:43 #32

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