SSD Summer Slam: 12 New 2.5" And 1.8" Drives Rounded-Up

Asax Leopard Hunt II T2 2.5” (256GB) And T2 1.8” (64GB)

Asax Leopard Hunt II T2 2.5” (256GB)

Asax was pretty much unknown to us when we received a review request from this Chinese vendor. The domain asaxssd.com forwards here, which is where we found product information. The firm focuses on mainstream 2.5” SSDs as well as various 1.8” options with different interfaces, such as ZIF for ultra-compact devices.

Leopard Hunt II is Asax’s performance series. We looked at the 256GB 2.5” model and a 64GB 1.8” drive. Both units utilize the Indilinx controller and feature 64MB cache memory. Asax doesn’t tell customers about the controller, but it does reveal Samsung as the source of its flash memory.

Thanks to the Indilinx device, the Leopard Hunt II is quite a predator. In fact, it’s the fastest SSD drive in this review according to our desktop performance index. This index weighs throughput at 50%, I/O at 25%, and PCMark performance at 25%. However, four other SSDs are extremely close. The Leopard Hunt II would also be fastest in our enterprise performance index—based on 60% I/O, 20% throughput, and 20% PCMark performance—if not for Intel’s new X25-E 34nm drive, which is miles ahead of all others.

Asax Leopard Hunt II T2 1.8” (64GB)

The second Asax SSD did similarly well, although it did not keep the pace of its bigger 2.5” 256GB brother.

The 1.8” drive is available in capacities up to 256GB, although our review sample was the 64GB model. This 1.8” device is suitable for ultra-portable, high-performance notebooks based on more compact form factors.

Still, the 1.8” device appears like a shrunk version of the 2.5” design, with performance differences owing more to specifications than physical dimensions.