Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60GB - MKNSSDCL60GB-DX Review

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...omeycarlos.png


About <Mushkin
Founded in 1994, Mushkin Enhanced is best known for producing memory modules. Located at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado, Mushkin Enhanced provides performance computer products to users worldwide. Exceptional quality, enhanced performance and unparalleled customer support are what make our products the best in the industry.

Mushkin Enhanced products include power supplies, digital storage devices and a complete selection of memory upgrades for desktops, servers and notebooks – we offer something for everyone; from business user to gamer. Our memory products are available in several performance categories from standard to extreme, with our REDLINE™ series in a class of its own. Our power supplies offer superb regulation and ripple characteristics, modularity and plenty of power to supply the most demanding systems.

With customers including Apple Computer, NASA and Rockstar Games, and a user base ranging from casual users to programmers, Mushkin Enhanced knows what is important to customers - superior performance with uncompromised quality. With Mushkin Enhanced, you Get more.™


Over the past few days I have been testing these super fast SSD Drives

The Callisto Deluxe 60GB - MKNSSDCL60GB-DX

Images
Retal box
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s.../SSDimage1.jpg

The retail packing also contains a 3.5” to 2.5” converter for easy case fitting
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...d/SSDimage.jpg

The Drives
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...5092010958.jpg

Rear
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...5092010959.jpg

Here is the interface end of the SSD it contains SATA port and POWER port
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...5092010960.jpg


Specifcations

• Capacity: 60GB

• Dimensions: 99.88mm x 69.63mm x 9.3mm

• Temp. Range: 0-70ºC

• Read Speed: up to 285MB/sec

• Write Speed: up to 275MB/sec

• Shock Tolerance: 1500G

• Vibration: 20G Peak, 10-20kHz, 3 axis

• MTBF: 2 million hours

• Controller: SandForce SF-1200

• Warranty: 3 years limited

• IOPS: Up to 50,000 IOPS with 4kb Random Write

• Optimal Data Flow
• Optimized for reliable caching and data flow

• SandForce Driven™
• Approved by the elite SandForce Driven™ quality program

• Shock-Resistant
• Designed for continued reliable function, even when things get a little rough

• TRIM Support
• TRIM Support when used with compatible operating system

Testing rig specs
Mushkin Ridgeback 6GB PC3-12800 6-8-6-24 (998826) (Ram)
I7 975 @ 3.728ghz (Cpu)
xpower x58 (Mobo)
480gtx (Gpu)
850w (Psu)

Testing of the drives were in the order of x1 x2 x3 x4
X1 AHCI
X2 raid0 (ich10r)
X3 raid0 (ich10r)
X4 raid0 (ich10r)

The hdd/ssd benchmarks used to test the SSD speeds were:

• HDDtune

• ATTO

• Crystal Disk Mark

Results
Single drive

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s.../1xhddtune.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ddtunerite.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ssd/x1atto.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ssd/x1cdm1.jpg

Dual drives (Raid 0)

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s.../2xhddtune.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ddtunerite.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ssd/x2atto.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...0ssd/2xcdm.jpg

Triple drives (raid 0)

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s.../x3hddtune.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ddtunerite.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ssd/x3atto.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...0ssd/x3cdm.jpg

Quad drives (raid 0)

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s.../x4hddtune.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ddtunerite.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ssd/x4atto.jpg

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...0ssd/x4cdm.jpg



With the testing done you can see that a single drive has a read/write speed way up in the 250+ range, nearly touching the 300mb/s mark.

With 2 drives installed and running in RAID 0 through the Intel ICH10R
you can see the drive speed has pretty much doubled rolling up at 550mb/s read with near perfect scaling.

The 3 drives in RAID 0 produced a whopping 660mb/s write and 774mb/s read when tested with ATTO Disk mark.

4 Drives. Well this is where it gets interesting, as you can see from the 4 drive test images when 4 drives are installed its actually slower than with 3 drive’s. This is to be expected with the Intel ICH10R as it has a so called speed limit and 4 drives is clearly hitting this limit.

This speed limit can be unlocked with a aftermarket RAID card where I believe near or over 1000mb/s would be attainable.

In any combination 1 -2 -3 or 4 drive’s you can guarantee a complete system speed increase not only for you OS but also your Games and Programs they will all load much much faster.

The cost of the Callisto Deluxe 60GB at the time of writing is
$190usd

More info here http://www.mushkin.com/Digital-Stora...CL60GB-DX.aspx

At this point i would like to thank Mushkin for support and for sending the drive's for testing

And also thanks for looking :)

With mushkin you "Get more"

Wow good review Callisto Deluxe 60GB @ RAID x3 :up:

cool review carl thanks

Really nice review and performance!:slobber:

Nice review mate - those drives are quite sexy, let-aside the performance ;)

very impressive performance

thanks for the comments guys :)

i have re run the single drive test and got better performance
265mb/s Write 286mb/s Read
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...sd/x1atto2.jpg

yes very good performance

Nice results man, these better then the c300's??

how about on Amd's southbridge 850?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Johnny87au

Nice results man, these better then the c300's??

---

i belive the c300s are sata3(6gb) at default and a bit faster read speed but lack the write speed

these ssd's are sata2 (3gb) and pack a punch for both read and write :)

cant say i have tested a c300 yet to give comparison tho

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tbone8ty

how about on Amd's southbridge 850?

---

AM who? lol

sorry i dont have a amd mobo or cpu

Great Review Evo, and I love your lamp too :)

I'll compare these with C300 shortly, but I've got to buy a phase setup first - unless someone would be willing to lend me a Callisto.

Nice review...if I could I would get 2x 9260-8i's and 16x of these bad boys and RAID 0 them.

Congrats on a kickass review! Wanted to ask if using a lga1156 platform maybe will yeld performance scaling with 4+ drives. Judging by this block diagram in theory it should.

Very nice review!
Do you need special utility for this SSD to benefit from TRIM like the Intel Toolbox utility for Intel SSD's?

@boldenc: nope:)

No need for utility for TRIM to work. Just the right firmware and a TRIM-enabled OS ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Parad0x

Congrats on a kickass review! Wanted to ask if using a lga1156 platform maybe will yeld performance scaling with 4+ drives. Judging by this block diagram in theory it should.

---

thanks

i have not tested on 1156 but i can do a camparison later today but wiht the p55 having a ich10r onbored i cant see there will be much diffrence

Good reviews compare to ocz vertex 2 same speed.

thinking to have one for my rig, thanks Carl for an exel. review :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by EvoCarlos

thanks

i have not tested on 1156 but i can do a camparison later today but wiht the p55 having a ich10r onbored i cant see there will be much diffrence

---

Any updates? What stripe size you used btw?

Thanx!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Parad0x

Any updates? What stripe size you used btw?

Thanx!

---

hey bit more testing done trying to get a hold of a 8port raid card

the stripe was the default set by the intel rapid software

the update
some one requested pcm05 runs

x1
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...0ssd/pcm05.jpg

x2 raid 0 (ich10r)
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...sd/pcm05-1.jpg

x3 raid 0 (ich10r)

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...sd/pcm05-2.jpg

x4 raid 0 (ich10r)
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...sd/pcm05-3.jpg

and while having some fun with the drives i set out to find the max write speed of the ich10r many say 650mb/s

well with 3 drives in raid 0 and a i7 975 @ 4.5ghz on air pci-x @ 120mhz
the jump is massive from the intial run i did

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...o120pci-x3.jpg

880mb/s peck!!!

Managed to get four 40gb Callistos and obtained very similar results. link

That's very nice performance at raid0x3...
Great review to these great discs...

holy! ~1GB per sec performance ! Great job man, thanks for this :up: