Mushkin Chronos MX 120GB SSD Review

Mushkin has long been known for their memory products so it's no surprise when they began producing SSDs like their peers OCZ, Corsair, Patriot, among others. Their current line of Chronos drives all feature the SandForce SF-2281 controller but different NAND configurations that impact performance.
At the bottom of the performance pile is the Chronos, followed by the middle of the road Chronos MX, and topped off by the Chronos DX. Mushkin popped a 120GB Chronos MX in the mail to our SSD lab to put it through our usual battery of tests. Read more...

Mushkin Direct Chronos Deluxe MX 120 GB Solid-State Drive (MKNSSDCR120GB-MX) Price $139.98

ADATA SX900 256GB SSD Review

ADATA has released their XPG series SX900 SSDs based on SandForce, well LSI these days. The XPG (Xtreme Performance Gear) SX900 SSD's use new optimized firmware to utilize greater storage capacity. Combined with sequential read and write speeds of 550/530 MB per second and with maximum random 4k write speeds as high as 85,000 IOPS the new SSD series promises a lot.
ADATA's SX900 series comes with the 2281 series SandForce controller.
According to ADATA that will increase sequential read and write performance to 550MB/s which makes the SX900 the fastest SSDs they have ever produced. Read more...

ADATA XPG SX900 256 GB SATA III 6 GB/sec SandForce 2.5 Inch SSD (ASX900S3-256GM-C) Price $299.99

RunCore Pro V MAX 240GB SSD Review

The RunCore Pro V MAX model that we are looking at today is RunCore's attempt to compete at the high-end. The MAX uses 25nm IMFT synchronous flash just like several other drives on the market. RunCore claims a maximum read speed of 560MB/s and a maximum write speed of 525MB/s. These are up slightly from the claimed performance for most products based on the SF-2281 controller with synchronous flash. The indicated IOPS numbers are 50K random read and 60K random write.
In the standard PCMark Vantage Test the RunCore Pro V MAX ran with the Intel 520 Series SSD and nearly broke into the 80K range.
In order to fully utilize SATA III you need a system with native SATA III support. P67, Z68, Z77 and X79 systems are preferred, but AMD has made advances in their newer SATA III systems as well. Source

ADATA Premier Pro SP900 256GB SSD Review

Today we are looking at the ADATA SP900, another drive with TRIM issues and another drive with IMFT 25nm flash. The SP900 also achieves a Vantage score in the 85K range when fresh.
In ATTO the SP900 delivers an amazing performance achieving a maximum read speed of nearly 560MB/s. The write speed was equally as impressive, just over 532MB/s. The ADATA SP900 starts out strong in our sequential read test across the drive.
The new firmware allows the drive to outperform even the Intel 520 in this test. Source

Plextor PX-256M3P 256GB Solid State Drive Review

As one of the biggest names in the storage industry, Plextor doesn't need much of an introduction. For more than a decade, they've produced some of the best optical drives the industry has seen. Known the world over for their quality, performance, and features, these drives have become favorites among consumers and professionals alike. Today, Plextor continues to lead the way by bringing cutting edge storage technologies to market. Along with a vast assortment of high-performance DVD and Blu-ray drives, the company offers a growing number of NAS devices, external hard drives and solid state drives.
Today we are going to take a look at Plextor's latest Solid State Drive - the PX-256M3P 256GB. This SSD is equipped with 512MB of onboard cache and is capable of delivering up to 540MB/s sequential read and 420MB/s sequential write speeds as well as up to 75,000 random read and 68,000 random write IOPS. Like the PX-256M2P and PX-256M3S, the PX-256M3P SSD is based on Marvel's 88SS9174 controller chip. While not as popular as some of the newer SandForce controllers, the 88SS9174 does have one major advantage in that it performs equally well with both incompressible (0%) and compressible (100%) data.
When tested with ATTO, the Plextor's PX-256M3P SSD read speeds topped out at about 535 MB/s and its write speeds at 425 MB/s. The PX-256M3P performed surprisingly well when doing random reads and writes. In our tests, the drive was able to write at 217.74 MB/s and read at a blazing 146.55 MB/s. This wasn't enough to top the SandForce-based drives when doing random writes with highly compressible, repeating data. However, the PX-256M3P was more than 40 MB/s faster than the SanDisk Extreme and Patriot Pyro SE when writing random data. Source

Crucial Adrenaline 50GB SSD Review

Before we look at the Adrenaline SSD in its intended use, as a cache drive, it is worth taking note of the performance of the drive as a storage/boot drive as it is possible to use it for this function if we wish, possibly using it as portable storage device in the future after an upgrade or two.
When looking at the performance of the Adrenaline we see that the read speeds in Atto are near the limit of SATA 2 devices at 287MB/s. Write operations are a little over 110MB/s which is just above the majority of standard mechanical drives. The comparison with a mechanical drive is more than just maximum Atto MB/s though as the drive is more regularly accessed with smaller read/write operations by the operating system and this is a scenario that Crystal DiskMark looks to emulate. For reference a standard mechanical drive scores around 3MB/s, maximum in this test whereas the Adrenaline is nearing 200MB/s on read operations, 107MB/s on writes.
For performance the on paper specs of 290MB/s read and 110MB/s write are not mind blowing for modern SSDs but they don't need to be. The aim for this product is to offer a simple, automated boost to the performance of a system based on a mechanical drive and on that front Crucial succeed. We see increases in benchmarks and common tasks such as booting the PC and application loading, anything past that very much depends on the tasks each individual user performs. Work with a particular set of files often and the Adrenaline will ensure they are accessed fast, it is as simple as that. As an added bonus the overall responsiveness of the operating system also receives a boost through the use of the Adrenaline with Dataplex software. Source

OCZ Vertex4 SATA III SSD Review

The Vertex 4 6Gbps SSD is available in sizes of 128, 256 and 512GB capacity which is 7% capacity jump from previous Vertex releases and that is a good thing. Performance peaks at 535MB/s read and 475MB/s write for the 512GB version. IOPS are a listed at 95,000 IOPS read and 80,000 IOPS write for the 512GB drive with the other two having 90,000 IOPS read and 80,000 IOPS write.
It wasn’t so long ago that asynchronous NAND flash memory was introduced to the consumer strictly from a value standpoint and SSD enthusiasts stood their ground; they felt it was a step in the wrong direction. In fact, the industry has definitely moved away from the value of performance to that of value in an effort to introduce the consumer to solid state drives.
There just had to be a way to make SSDs mainstream as that would be a definite benefit to all. It seems that we have lost touch with the ideal that there is a definite need for a ‘work horse’ SSD capable of a heavy workload, the type of workload we see in the manipulation and movement of files that consist of highly incompressible data, these being movies, music and photographs. And then came the Vertex 4, an ‘Indilinx Infused’ SSD pushing forward the Indilinx Everest 2 platform.
The SSD is the most important performance component found in a modern system today. Without it you do not even have a performance system.
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Corsair Performance Pro 128GB SSD Review

Corsair Performance Series Pro 128GB Solid State Drive utilises a server-grade Marvell 88SS9174 Controller chip that has proven reliability over the years and recently has been given an update to provide even better performance. Corsair Performance Pro 128GB have 8 toggle NAND chips built by Toshiba, and are 128Gb (16GB) DDR Toggle-Mode 1.0 operating at 133 MT/s. ATTO results were very interesting with nearly perfect performance - maximum read speeds pushed 510 MBps overall, with write speeds hitting 325 MBps. Background Garbage Collection is stunning on this drive, as was to be expected. The Marvell 9174 controller does an incredible job of maintaining performance in almost all conditions. Corsair Performance Pro 128GB SSD is a perfect drive for running RAID or for use with Mac or Linux based operating systems. Source

OCZ Octane 512GB SSD Review

The Octane drives have proven to be a good seller for OCZ, and the latest 1.13 firmware update is meant to offer a noticeable increase in 4kb random write performance. This 512GB solid state drive is rated at 535 MB/s read and 400 MB/s write. Using the latest 1.13 firmware, random write performance has increased from around 16,000 IOPS to around 28,000 IOPS with our test suite. This translates to a 75 percent increase, which is significant. Windows Boot time is much as we would expect, scoring 23 seconds. Anyway, whichever firmware you decide to use, the performance of the Octane 512GB is great. Source

Corsair Performance Pro 256GB SSD Review

So the Corsair Performance Pro sample has arrived in our secret test facility, it's the 256GB version of the drive, which means it's also the fastest compared to the 128GB model.
Initial tests straight away amazed us, this product can keep up with any SandForce SSF-2281 SSD product and Intel's latest and greatest as well.
Once it becomes available in the stores you'll notice two SKUs initially, a 128GB and 256GB 6Gbps SATA interface based SSD. This SATA3 version as such will deliver speeds of up to 515MB/s of bandwidth in read performance and a very nice 440 MB/sec in write performance (sequential).
We immediately have to state though, the 128GB version is a little slower, rated at 500 MB/s read and 340 MB/s sequential writes. More NAND chips equals more useable channels hence the 256GB version is a notch faster.
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