The Mach Xtreme Technology DS series is built around a SandForce SF1222 controller, whose reputation is now assured. Lets see what performance it can give in practice.
A particularity of this controller is that it has no cache memory and uses the storage memory instead. This is why a good number of SF1222 drives offer lower storage capacities than drives which use other controllers. The MX DS is therefore available in 50 GB, 100 GB, 200 GB and 400 GB versions... but this will soon translate to 60 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB (see inset).
Pure performance
The first tests show not only good levels of performance but also, and above all, breathtaking write performance. It breaks the 120 MB/s barrier on large files (sequential accesses) and even random accesses on 512 KB files. Wow!
A particularity of this controller is that it has no cache memory and uses the storage memory instead. This is why a good number of SF1222 drives offer lower storage capacities than drives which use other controllers. The MX DS is therefore available in 50 GB, 100 GB, 200 GB and 400 GB versions... but this will soon translate to 60 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB (see inset).
Pure performanceThe first tests show not only good levels of performance but also, and above all, breathtaking write performance. It breaks the 120 MB/s barrier on large files (sequential accesses) and even random accesses on 512 KB files. Wow!
The AS-SSD tests confirm these good results:
Write access times (0.33 ms) however are higher than on competition drives such as the Intel X25-M (0.15 ms); no doubt down to the SandForce SF1222 controller and the fact that there's no cache.
Performance in practiceWe were expecting groundbreaking performance in practice but the MX-DS 100 in fact gives just average speeds when importing to the Windows photo gallery and when using the Windows Media Center. It remains nevertheless an excellent drive with an average score of 30136:
In purely practical tests, results are excellent and even outdo those of the Intel X25-M:
Pros
- Excellent speeds, particularly writes
- Numerous capacities available
- Very good management of NCQ to optimise speeds
- Comes with a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch adaptor
Cons
- Access times for writes are down on access times for reads
- Update expected and necessary to benefit from more standard capacities (60, 120, 240 and 480 GB)
Conclusion
An SSD offering excellent performance, particularly writes, and which handles NCQ commands well.
OUR SCORE
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