Mushkin's ECO2 SSDs Bring Fast Storage To Small Budgets
Hey, it looks like there's a new, very cheap SSD on the block, courtesy of Mushkin.
If there's one thing Mushkin is good at, it is making cheap SSDs – really cheap SSDs. Today, the Texas-based company struck again by announcing the availability of its ECO2 line of SSDs, which are some of the least expensive SSDs money can buy.
Of course, to keep the price of these SSDs as low as possible, sacrifices have to be made on the hardware side, which is probably the reason why Mushkin hasn't immediately disclosed what brand of flash memory it used. All we know is that it is MLC-based. We also know that the drives use a SandForce SF-2200 controller, which may be a bit dated.
The units aren't slow by any means, though. All of the capacities will read sequentially at up to 550 MB/s, and they will write at speeds between 485 and 530 MB/s, depending on the capacity. Random 4K write IOPS also range from 32,000 through 87,000 IOPS. Fortunately, they also support TRIM commands, so performance should remain consistent.
All the ECO2 SSDs are built in a 7 mm thick 2.5" enclosure and have a backwards-compatible SATA3 6 Gb/s interface.
Pricing for the units range from $39.99 through $159.99, which is for capacities ranging from 60 GB through 480 GB. Yes, that's right, the 480 GB variant will bring you storage at just 33 cents per gigabyte. Convincing that friend of yours who's been stuck using his hard drive to get an SSD just got a whole lot easier. Mushkin's ECO2 SSDs are exclusively available through Newegg, with all the units listed here.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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Swordkd Wow! If the performance is even halfway on par with the Crucial MX100 I know what I'm upgrading my system with. I'm only using 290gb's out of my 640gb so I'll just opt for the 480gb model and use an SSD as my only drive. Was planning the standard 240/256gb SSD and 1TB HDD route before this though.Reply -
eesanchezr79 I really hope they hace solved their reliability problems, I has a 120 gb Chronos a few years back and it only lasted 6 months and my pc kept hanging up until I replaced it forma another brand... Go to any forum and check about the reliability and you'll find out why they come so cheap...Reply -
alextheblue Replyhell of a lot faster than HDD's and 480gb for 159.99 is a great price.
True, that is an amazing price, especially on the 480GB model. I'd like to see how they perform, and as Andy said endurance and warranty are important too. -
shrapnel_indie Now all we need is a good review of these units (pro and reputable source) for the clincher. Was thinking a 256GB SSD for a new build supported with a 4TB HDD (developer ideas) but perhaps might reconsider in light of this.Reply -
g00fysmiley with the 500GB Samsung 850 EVO being $190 right now on Amzon... I am not sure the $160 for a budget SSD is a good enough savings to take the hit on reliability and speed.Reply