![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
As M.2, SATA Express, PCIe, and NVMe solid state drives become more and more commonplace, manufacturers have been dropping the prices of traditional SATA3 SSDs for some time now. One of these manufacturers, Mushkin, has used their Eco2 line of SSDs to target the budget conscious consumer who is looking to get the speed of flash storage without breaking the bank. Today, I will be taking a look at the Mushkin Eco2 512GB solid state drive (MKNSSDEC512GB).
The Eco2 512GB drive is a Newegg exclusive, ringing in at $119.99, making it the lowest-priced SSD with a capacity greater than 500GB. It Features your standard SATA3 interface in a 2.5” form factor, with a 7mm thickness. Differing from the other members of the Eco2 lineup, the 512GB version uses the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller, which is capable of read and write speeds in excess of 540MB/s and 410MB/s, respectively. Mushkin claims that this drive can achieve reads up to 560MB/s and writes up to 305MB/s. The drive comes with a 3 year warranty, which is pretty standard stuff for a low-mid range SSD. Let’s take a closer look.
The packaging is no frills; we have a plastic package similar to what RAM comes in. In fact, Other than the cardstock displaying the SSD info, there is nothing included but the bare drive. Right away, we see that we are dealing with a Newegg exclusive, thanks to their logo residing below Mushkin’s own.
The drive comes in a black aluminum housing, and it looks like any typical SSD. The one label we find atop the drive contains Mushkin’s logo and all of the drive information. Let’s see what’s hiding inside.
Opening the casing is as simple as removing four small screws, and we reveal the backside of the PCB. The back of the board actually contains no components at all. Four more screws and we can separate the PCB from the rest of the casing.
Here we find four chips. Interestingly, we find just two memory chips inside the Eco2 512GB. The markings indicate that these are Mushkin’s own chips, 256GB each. The PCB is likely used in several other Mushkin drives, having the ability to contain 16 memory chips.
Accompanying them is a Nanya Technology 256MB cache chip. Removing the thermal pad reveals the heart of the SSD, a Silicon Motion SM2246EN. If that controller sounds familiar, it's because it is also the controller found inside the Corsair Force LX, the Crucial BX100, and even Mushkin's own Reactor line.
To put things in perspective, The Eco2 512GB costs $35 less than the Reactor 512GB, at the cost of losing 155MB/s worth of write speeds. Claims for read speeds remain the same. I can only guess this is due not to the controller itself, which has proven to provide read speeds in excess of 400MB/s across different configurations, but rather due to the memory Mushkin has chosen to pair with it. Also, the use of just two memory chips may be a contributing factor. So let’s see how it really performs.
TEST SETUP:
To begin, I decided to load the drive with Windows 10 and add about 20GB of files, in order to create a scenario resembling what basic users can relate to. The result is a drive that is 9% full. Testing was done with ATTO version 3.05, CrystalDiskMark 5.1.2, and AS SSD version 1.8.5636.37293.
Up first is ATTO. We see max read speeds of 558MB/s, and max write speeds of 276MB/s, falling short of Mushkin’s claims slightly. However, while the 558MB/s read speeds are respectable, 276MB/s for the write speed is a bit disappointing by today’s standards.
Next up is AS SSD. We see peaks within the sequential test of 499MB/s read, and 254MB/s write.
CrystalDiskMark is the last of the tests, resulting in 547MB/s read speeds and 266MB/s write speeds.
Now, let’s see how it performs with a bit more data on it. I filled it up with 220GB of files, resulting in it being 46% full.
This time, ATTO give us a peak read speed of 562MB/s, and write speed of 277MB/s, an increase over the previous tests, although negligible.
AS SSD gives us reads up to 493MB/s and writes up to 257MB/s.
Finally, CrystalDiskMark results in 557MB/s read speeds of and 272MB/s write speeds of with the drive 46% full, interestingly about a 2% increase in performance.
Value: Like I said earlier, this is the least expensive drive you can get with a capacity greater than 500GB. It gets some brownie points for the low price. However, another $20-$30 would get you an SSD that would outperform this in writes without question. I give it an 8.
Build Quality: Build quality is very good. The casing is basic, and there isn’t much that you could mess up in the first place, but the PCB is excellent in terms of quality, and soldering is top notch. I give it a 9.
Performance: Performance for reads was adequate, but write performance definitely is the weak link of this drive. I give it a 7.
Warranty: 3 years is pretty much the baseline at this point, which is still a good chunk of time, granted, but nothing to write home about. I give it a 7.
Verdict: 8.3
A good drive at a fair price, especially for those who wanting to transition from hard disk drives to solid state drives without giving up performance or blowing their budget.
