Strontium Matrix Series 120GB Solid State Drive Review

Introduction

Frequent followers of our SSD reviews have already been introduced to Strontium, a SSD manufacturer from Singapore. Our first review of the company's product was the Gamma Series 115GB published last week. The Gamma Series is Strontium's entry level SSD that uses a SandForce SF-1200 controller and pairs it with 25nm IMFT flash. The Matrix Series drive that we are looking at today is based on a Marvell controller and for the most part is a rebadged Micron C400 SATA III SSD.

As you may know, Micron has their hands in many jars and is the M in the IMFT joint flash production partnership with Intel. Micron also manufactures and OEMs SSDs for other companies with Strontium being just one of them. The largest partner receiving Micron C400 drives is Crucial, a division of Micron and reseller of the Crucial m4 products that we've already reviewed in the past.

After learning of this inside info, many may feel the need to turn tail and call the Strontium a Crucial m4 and close this review, but I promise to make things interesting. The Strontium Matrix shipped to us with the latest Micron firmware, something we haven't tested yet on a Crucial m4. Of course, Strontium adds their own bit of flavor to the Matrix Series, so stick around and let's see what it's all about.