Mach Xtreme MX-DS Turbo 120GB SSD Review

1. Introduction2. Mach Xtreme MX-DS Turbo 120 GB SSD3. Mach Xtreme MX-DS Turbo 120 GB SSD (Super High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. CrystalDiskMark6. ATTO Disk Benchmark7. AS SSD8. PCMark 79. IOMeter10. Real World Testing11. Closing Thoughts12. View All Pages

The Mach Xtreme MX-DS Turbo 120 GB is yet another high performance drive based on the Sandforce 2281 controller. As expected, compressible data performance is first class, delivering over 550 MB/s read and 500 MB/s write with some synthetic sequential benchmarks.

This particular drive however is weak when it comes to writing incompressible data, producing a lackluster score with AS SSD and the standard data mode in CrystalDiskMark. Thankfully, in the real world this doesn't dramatically affect overall performance, although we noticed it was sometimes slightly slower than other Sandforce 2281 powered drives which we have tested in recent months.

IOMeter performance is also slightly disappointing (23840 IOPS w/ 4kb random write), especially when compared against the Corsair Performance Pro and Samsung 830 Series drives which we recently reviewed. Other Sandforce 2281 powered drives such as the Pyro SE and Wildfire are significantly faster scoring 63167 IOPS and 56258 IOPS respectively.

This drive is difficult to trace in the UK right now, but we managed to find it at a store called systo.co.uk, and it is priced at £153.77 inc vat. When this is compared against the ADATA S510, which retails at £129.98 inc vat, it is going to be a very tough sell indeed. If we find any more stores in the UK we will update this page, but as it stands, we find it hard to recommend at the top of our list.

You can also buy it direct from Caseking for 159,90€ with a 13,90€ shipping charge to the UK. This works out around £150 inc vat, all in. This makes for a slightly better deal, although we would like to see it priced around £20 less @ £130 inc vat.

Pros:

• Great compressed data performance.
• decent bundle.

Cons:

• weak incompressible data throughput.
• hard to find.
• If it was £130 inc vat, would be better value.

Kitguru says: With so many quality Sandforce 2281 powered drives on the market, this is a tough sell at the end of the year.

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