Specifications, Pricing and Availability

With the first Phoenix we found some issues that didn't go over too well in our testing. The first was the use of Samsung's older M-Die flash that caused the drive to pull more power than SSDs using IMDF flash. The Phoenix Pro takes care of the power issue and now uses IMDF flash that costs less and lowers the power draw.

At first we expected G.Skill to discontinue the Phoenix, but instead G.Skill has revised the Phoenix and supplemented it with the higher capacity. Now there is the Phoenix and Phoenix Pro with the only difference being the High IOPS programming and price.

The price is where things get interesting. G.Skill is now in the position that we like to see them at. The original Phoenix, now with extended capacity programming, at 120GB costs 299.00 and is the lowest priced SandForce SSD in this capacity at Newegg. The 120GB capacity Phoenix Pro that we are reviewing today has a small price premium, but is still at a very low 289.99. At 289.99 the Phoenix Pro shares some competition, but many of those competing products don't share the same High IOPS programming and have the "base" SandForce programming configuration. This means G.Skill is the current price leader in two categories; base and high performance.

In addition to being the low cost solution, G.Skill is now including a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter bracket with the Phoenix Pro. This adds additional value to the Pro Package.