Mushkin Releases SandForce-Based Callisto SSD Series

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by Ian Cutress on 5/12/2010 4:00:00 PM
Posted in SSDs

The name 'Mushkin' may no longer be familiar to you. A few years ago, they were big players in terms of DDR performance memory - but have not always kept up the pace with hardware development. In 2010 however, alongside OCZ, SanDisk, Intel, Corsair, and other SSD manufacturers, they are diving head first into a highly competitive arena.

Earlier this year, Mushkin released their Io series of SSDs, using the Indilinx 'Barefoot' controller, and received favourable reviews in all areas, except the price. Today, Mushkin are releasing three drives - a 60GB model, a 120GB model, and a 240GB model - all backed by a three year warranty. Featuring the Sandforce SF-1200 controller, published speeds are up to 285MB/sec read, and up to 275MB/sec write. If this is indeed based on the standard SF-1200 then its performance should be similar to the OCZ Agility 2 we recently reviewed.

Current prices on the Mushkin website are as follows:

MKNSSDCL60GB – 60GB Callisto™ SSD - $218.49 (MSRP. $240.49)
MKNSSDCL120GB – 120GB Callisto™ SSD - $369.99 (MSRP. $406.99)
MKNSSDCL240GB – 240GB Callisto™ SSD - $666.49 (MSRP. $733.49)

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:O by numberoneoppa on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

This is great for Mushkin, and if they perform as well as other SF-1200 SSDs, also great for consumers. =)

numberoneoppa

RE: :O by numberoneoppa on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Also, these are the same sequential speeds advertised by the Vertex 2 which is also on the SF-1200 controller (albeit modified, but not relevantly). Hence, I don' t think there's any extra special sauce in these giving them the speeds advertised. Price - These seem to be in line with the other SandForce drives on the market, if not cheaper.

:)

numberoneoppa

I don't get this by KaarlisK on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

In the article about the new AMD CPUs, it was explained that unsubstiated/potentially wrong speculation would be a very serious mistake, hence the reprints of press releases.

So why the completely unsubstantiated mention of possible internal RAID? Not to mention that, as the other poster said, speeds are the same as for Vertex 2. And it would take less than a MINUTE to check that.

This is Anandtech. Please keep the serious mistakes at bay, and please add some content of your own. Otherwise, there are a dozen other sites your readers could visit (and already do, and they are better at this kind of articles, while their long-and-analytical articles are usually sub-par).

KaarlisK

RE: I don't get this by tejas84 on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

@Kaarlisk

Wow you have some massive personal vendetta against Ian Cutress. Give the guy some slack he is new and doing a fine job.

You on the other hand are acting like a jilted douchebag...

tejas84

RE: RE: I don't get this by KaarlisK on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

It's not personal, it's against the type of articles that are appearing here much too often.

There's no doubt that Anandtech could use more articles, but those articles should be Anandtech-like - deep, careful, loving, detailed and interesting research, instead of simply interesting news.

And yes, I am a douchebag. I just am not good at explaining my thoughts in a PC manner, but I don't feel that I could stay quiet in this case, either :D

KaarlisK

RE: RE: RE: I don't get this by Ben90 on Thursday, May 13, 2010

I completely agree, these news articles are pointless and are starting to get annoying. Do we need an article on every little thing that gets released or could be released? I have nothing against Ian, but if we took out all of his articles the front page of Anandtech would be a lot more informative.

Ben90

The True Manufacturer ? by ClagMaster on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

@Ian

Who manufactured these drives?

Certainly not Mushkin. Mushkin is a middle-man.

These are way too expensive and I could do much better with OCZ or Intel

ClagMaster

RE: The True Manufacturer ? by numberoneoppa on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Yes, they're a bit more expensive than the almost-guaranteed-to-perform-the-same OCZ Agility 2 per unit space, but not by a ridiculous amount. $3.84/GB for the 50GB OCZ and $4.02/GB from Mushkin, and I have always been very happy w/ my products from Mushkin in the past. Good (albeit unorthodox) support, too.

numberoneoppa

RE: RE: The True Manufacturer ? by ClagMaster on Thursday, May 13, 2010

So OCZ manufactures these drives without their exclusive SandForce Firmware ?

ClagMaster

RE: RE: RE: The True Manufacturer ? by numberoneoppa on Friday, May 14, 2010

Unless I'm mistaken, Agility 2 comes with the mass production Sandforce firmware and the Vertex 2 comes with the "special sauce" pre-production firmware. See Anand's last SSD article for more on this.

numberoneoppa

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