Super Talent's 512 GB SSD is Nearly $1,500

By Marcus Yam
published

Super Talent has let loose its new MasterDrive RX family of Solid State Drives in capacities up to 512 GB.

While many computer enthusiasts are looking towards the top-end CPU or GPU as the best upgrade to make their system faster, we’re of the opinion that an SSD could be the most meaningful performance booster to any rig. Using an SSD instead of the average HDD helps to alleviate one of the biggest bottlenecks in your system -- fetching data from storage.

Of course, like all the other high-end upgrades, going for a quality SSD isn’t cheap. In fact, an SSD that’s comparable in capacity to what you have right now could run a bill that’s the cost of your entire computer. But hey, you gotta pay to play.

Case in point: Super Talent’s 512 GB MasterDrive RX retails for $1,449. Of course, it has smaller siblings, which also uses MLC NAND, in sizes of 128 GB and 256 GB. The MasterDrive RX MLC drives feature a sequential read speed of 230 MB/s and a sequential write speed of 160 MB/s.

Those who demand more speed (and have the cash) will have to look to Super Talent’s SLC MasterDrive RX, which come only in 128 GB and 256 GB versions with read/write of 230 MB/s and 200 MB/s, respectively.

The 512 GB MasterDrive RX is already available for sale, but the rest of the line has yet to be released or priced.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Dmerc
    Wish I could afford one. Wonder how long it will take for the price to come down?
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    Fast but I wonder if computer bottleneck will slow it down. Notebook always seems slow even after I upgraded the HDD to 7200 rpm from 5400 rpm.
    Reply
  • sot010174
    What I don't like about SSD's is those DATA TRIM, Cell recycle problems. I don't want to pay US$1500,00 for a thing that degrades performance over time. I think your best bet is to get one 64GB Intel SSD and install your OS on it, and have all the other type of data on a proven, old, slow spinning platter drive. How much for a 1.5TB disc today? 100 bucks? And if I keep it for, say, 2 years, and run a defrag on it, it will perform just like new, not requiring a full format. But thats just me. And then 512GB for 1500? I prefer buying 10 discs and run them in Raid 10 lol...
    Reply
  • christop
    I want it when the price comes down....
    Reply
  • coopchennick
    The data trim thing is almost a non-issue now considering a good sdd would still be many times faster than a spinning hdd, and windows 7 will supply this TRIM feature, meaning (with updated firmware) the only time you could conceivably see the slow down would be during large deletes.
    Reply
  • martin0642
    Computer bottleneck? Interfaces are 300MBps currently and random read speeds are no where near that. PCIe is 250MBps for a 1x lane, 4GBps for a 16x lane, RAM is usually above 5GBps, and the processor cache is usually in excess of 40GBps. I don't see another bottleneck. Sequential read speed is a useless metric unless you spend all day coping a DVD back and fourth.
    Reply
  • zedx
    Not only is the price too high but they are not so mature too.. I'll wait at least 3 - 4 years.
    Reply
  • will this use the garbage JMicron controller or something else?
    Reply
  • dark_lord69
    seriously how many are they going to sell at that price point?
    If these companies weren't so dumb they would mass produce a 256GB SSD with high speeds and a VERY affordable price. Like $100. At that price point every person that knows anything about computers would run to a store to get one (or 2). Why sell 100 at $1,500 when you can sell millions at 100? I'll tell you why, because companies have no marketing concept. They are all trying to make the most PER UNIT, not really looking at the big picture. Plus this company would make a big name for them selves.
    Reply
  • disavowed
    dark lord
    i believe your marketing concept is a little flawed
    It is actually a tried and true marketing tactic; to introduce a desired product with a high price, create a demand, and then slowly start to taper the price until the supply/demand match. If they issued this product at $100 right now, I would not jump out of my seat to go buy it. It would be a common product that, even at its highest price, i can always afford. Besides, i do not think this type of interface is marketed toward average consumers/gamers. I am pretty sure they will sell thousands of units at $1,500; for companies that will utilize its function to, in turn, make money. If a company with say, 100 computers, works at full efficiency to create 100 amount of y; with this ssd they would be able to double, maybe triple their production of y with the same number of computers and workers. Enthusiasts and gamers are a small portion of the marketed group when it comes to high end products like these.
    Reply