Mushkin Launches Source SSDs: 3D TLC NAND, SATA, from $39 to $110
by Anton Shilov on March 30, 2018 2:00 PM EST
Mushkin has announced its new family of affordable SSDs primarily aimed at users who would like to upgrade their PCs featuring HDDs. The company’s Source drives use inexpensive 3D TLC NAND memory as well as a proven controller from Silicon Motion, allowing the company to start pricing at $39.
Mushkin’s Source family of SSDs includes three models featuring 120 GB, 250 GB, and 500 GB capacities. Mushkin says that 1 TB model will be included into the lineup at a later date, but does not elaborate. The drives come in a 2.5-inch/7mm form-factor and use a SATA interface, making them straightforward upgrades for existing desktops and mainstream laptops that use DFF storage devices. Muskin also plans to ship a M.2-2280 version of the Source family for ultra-thin notebooks sometimes in April. Mushkin’s Source drives are based on Silicon Motion’s SM2258XT controllers and 3D TLC NAND from an unnamed supplier, a combination that is frequently used by various SSD makers for their entry-level models these days.
On paper, the performance of Mushkin’s Source drives is comparable to other inexpensive SATA SSDs: up to 560 MB/s sequential write speed and up to 520 MB/s sequential write speed. As for random speeds, the manufacturer declares up to 75K 4K read IOPS as well as up to 81K write IOPS, which is somewhat lower than what we've seen in other 3D TLC-powered devices. Keep in mind that low-capacity SSDs usually perform slower than their higher-capacity counterparts, so for exact numbers check out the table below.
| Mushkin Source Specifications | ||||
| Capacity | 120 GB | 250 GB | 500 GB | 1 TB |
| Model Number | MKNSSDSR120GB | MKNSSDSR250GB | MKNSSDSR500GB | ? |
| Controller | Silicon Motion SM2258XT | |||
| NAND Flash | 3D TLC NAND | |||
| Sequential Read | 510 MB/s | 560 MB/s | ? | |
| Sequential Write | 440 MB/s | 515 MB/s | 520 MB/s | ? |
| Random Read IOPS | Up to 29K IOPS | Up to 54K IOPS | Up to 75K IOPS | ? |
| Random Write IOPS | Up to 79K IOPS | Up to 81K IOPS | Up to 81K IOPS | ? |
| Pseudo-SLC Caching | Supported | |||
| DRAM Buffer | No | |||
| TCG Opal Encryption | No | |||
| Power Management | DevSleep | |||
| Warranty | 3 years | |||
| MTBF | 1,500,000 hours | |||
| MSRP | $39 | $63 | $110 | ? |
The Source family of SSDs from Mushkin is the company’s fourth series of drives based on various types of 3D TLC NAND and Silicon Motion’s SM2258/SM2258XT controllers. Mushkin’s lineup already includes Triactor 3D, 3DL, and 3DX products, featuring capacity points ranging between 80 GB and 2 TB. It is noteworthy that based on the numbers from Mushkin’s product catalogue, its Triactor-series drives are faster when compared to the Source drives, but real-world performance of such SSDs isn't likely to be dramatically different.
All Mushkin Source SSDs are rated for 1.5 million hours MTBF and come with a three-year limited warranty. The drives are available now in the U.S.: the cheapest 120 GB version is priced at $39, the 250 GB flavor costs $63, whereas the 500 GB SKU is sold for $110. Keeping in mind that formally the Source family of SSDs are Mushkin’s lowest-end drives, expect their pricing to be very flexible.
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Source: Mushkin
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Samus - Saturday, March 31, 2018 - link
NVMe is essentially the “SATA 4” spec. SATA is dead because it will be a decade before consumer HDD’s exist that can transfer 500MB/sec. We are only now getting close to 300MB a second on enterprise SAS drives.And in a decade I doubt you will see magnetic storage on any consumer device, unless cassette tapes make a comeback like they are rumored too lol!
Lolimaster - Saturday, March 31, 2018 - link
People don't really care about sequential speeds on their daily usages, you should care about sequential when you work moving huge chunks of data or at editing tools (where you would go NVME). Vendors need to forget about it.What makes an SSD or any other memory based storage FASTER than an HDD is random 4k QD1-QD2 performance and LATENCY.
Lolimaster - Saturday, March 31, 2018 - link
Not worth when the way superior Crucial MX500 is $130. Cheap out on components or performance is not the way to and it seems it doesn't work for SSD's like HDD.They need to multiply the amound of nand capacity per stack while this stack start costing less and less to near the same level of two stack for the same initial capacity, rinse and repeat after some time.
Lolimaster - Saturday, March 31, 2018 - link
What I wish is an MX500 4TB @$999Samsung 860 line of 2-4TB are just a scam.
sonicmerlin - Saturday, March 31, 2018 - link
Buy a micron 2 TB. Heck I used that eBay spring coupon code and got one for under $300Valantar - Sunday, April 1, 2018 - link
Does anyone have any experience using DRAMless SSDs for game storage on consoles? I'm looking for something to bring down loading times on my PS4, but I'm not willing to/can't afford to spend much on it. My Xbox One already has my old 840 Pro attached to it (after I was silly enough to splurge on a 960 Evo for the gaming PC), so the PS4 is the next one up.Lolimaster - Monday, April 2, 2018 - link
Just get a Crucial MX500, you pretty much save nothing will getting a really shitty SSD, way lower endurance in the long run.piroroadkill - Monday, April 2, 2018 - link
Nice, we're slowly getting there. I want a SATA 3 4TB SSD that's dirt cheap to hold all my games...Currently using 2× 2TB Seagate hybrid drives in RAID 0 for that purpose... so I can wait.
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