Mushkin Reactor 512GB SATA III SSD Review

Mushkin's Reactor 512GB rolls excellent components and performance into a low-cost package, which is perfect for those venturing into the SSD universe.

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Manufacturer: Mushkin
15 minutes & 25 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 87%
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The Bottom Line

If you are looking for a super low-cost SSD with quality flash and excellent performance, Mushkin's Reactor fits the bill nicely.

Introduction, Drive Specifications, Pricing and Availability

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The Mushkin Reactor Series SSDs are designed to appeal gamers and to those making their first move to solid-state storage. The Reactor is appealing for two reasons: price and MLC flash. As far as pricing goes, the Reactor is about the most cost effective SSD on the market. The 512GB model we have in the lab for testing can be had for about $150. More importantly, the Reactor is equipped with quality 16nm Micron MLC flash packaged in-house by Mushkin.

The move to TLC flash is in full swing, but with mixed results. So far, Samsung's TLC flash is the only Triple Level Cell flash that is capable of generating performance that is on par with MLC. Aside from Samsung, the rest of the TLC flash out there has all been very low performance. With that in mind, it's great to see an MLC SSD with TLC-level pricing.

Mushkin is a long time SandForce partner and this is the first consumer based Mushkin SSD we've seen that breaks with that tradition. To power the Reactor, Mushkin is implementing what has become today's most popular controller, the Silicon Motion SM2246EN. The SM2246EN is a surprisingly powerful little 4-channel controller with a proven track record of reliability. The SM2246EN is a low power, cost effective solution that is capable of delivering performance that is on par with most 8-channel controllers.

To keep pricing low, Mushkin sells the Reactor as an SSD only product. You don't get an adapter, management software, or a spacer, but all of those so called "Value Adds" are really more of a luxury than a necessity. Cases these days are designed with integrated SSD mounting, so an adapter is usually not used anyway. Aside from flashy DRAM caching software that is available for some SSDs, a software suite is something we don't typically even install. Windows takes care of TRIM, CrystalDiskInfo takes care of health monitoring, and Parted Magic secure erasing. SSD only is just fine by us when it saves us a little money.

The Reactor is one of the few SSDs out there that are not directly competing with the 850 EVO and MX200 in pricing. The Reactor is priced far enough below those two drives that it provides a compelling option capable of delivering performance that isn't a massive downgrade in comparison to the EVO and MX200. Good controller, excellent flash and a low price, the Reactor is looking like an attractive option, now let's check out how well the drive actually performs.

Specifications

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The Reactor SATA III 2.5" x 7mm FF SSD is available in three capacities: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Sequential read performance for the Reactor is listed as up to 560 MB/s. Sequential write performance is listed at up to 460 MB/s. Random 4K read performance is listed at up to 71,000 IOPS, random 4K write performance at up to 75,000 IOPS. MTBF comes in at 1.5 million hours. Mushkin backs the Reactor with an industry standard three-year warranty. No TBW is given.

Drive Details

Mushkin Reactor 512GB SATA III SSD

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The Reactor retails in simple clear plastic blister packaging. The front of the blister pack displays the green and black themed drive directly.

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The rear of the clear packaging displays a printed insert that informs us that the Reactor is a high-performance storage device with a three-year warranty.

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The front facing of the drives enclosure is covered with an attractive black and green themed label. The label advertises the drives capacity and model number.

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The back half of the drive's black brushed aluminum enclosure has no labeling.

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Both halves of the drive's enclosure are formed from stamped aluminum. The PCB attaches to the bottom half of the enclosure with four screws.

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The drive's SM2246EN controller and eight of the drive's 16 flash packages are located on this side of the full length PCB. Mushkin employs a thermal pad to wick heat from the controller. We like this feature, it's something we don't always get from a SM2246EN controlled SSD.

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This side of the PCB is populated with the remaining eight flash packages and a single Samsung DRAM package.

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A close-in view of the 4-channel Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller that powers the Reactor. We were unable to get a clear shot of the controllers laser etched labeling.

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A close-in view of one of the drive's sixteen 16nm 128Gb die 32GB flash packages.

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Finally, a close-in view of the drive's 512MB DDR3-1600MHz Samsung DRAM package.

Test System Setup and Properties

Jon's Consumer SSD Review Test System Specifications

We would like to thank ASRock, Crucial, Intel, Corsair, RamCity, IN WIN, and Seasonic for making our test system possible.

Drive Properties

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The majority of our testing is performed with our test drive as our boot volume. Our boot volume is 75% full for all OS Disk "C" drive testing to replicate a typical consumer OS volume implementation. We feel that most of you will be utilizing your SSD's for your boot volume and that presenting you with results from an OS volume is more relevant than presenting you with empty secondary volume results.

System settings: Cstates and Speed stepping are both disabled in our systems BIOS. Windows High Performance power plan is enabled. Windows write caching is enabled, and Windows buffer flushing is disabled. We are utilizing Windows 8.1 64-bit for all of our testing except for our MOP (Maxed-Out Performance) benchmarks where we switch to Windows Server 2008 R2 64 Bit. This is our last consumer review running on Windows 8.1, going forward we will be using Windows 10 Pro for all of our consumer SSD reviews.

Synthetic Benchmarks - ATTO & Anvil Storage Utilities

ATTO

Version and / or Patch Used: 2.47

ATTO is a timeless benchmark used to provide manufacturers with data used for marketing storage products.

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Sequential read/write transfers max out at 562/459 MB/s. Keep in mind, this is our OS volume 75% full.

Sequential Write

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Overall, the Reactor is delivering the best performance of the drives in our test pool. The Trion delivers higher numbers from 4K and above, but the Reactor is delivering twice the performance of the Trion at transfers up to 2K.

Sequential Read

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The Reactor is outperformed by both 8-channel S10 controlled drives on our chart; the Ignite and Trion. The rest of the drives in our test pool are all 4-channel controlled and of those, the Reactor and the TeraNova are delivering the best performance.

Anvil Storage Utilities

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1.0

Anvil's Storage Utilities is a storage benchmark designed to measure the storage performance of SSD's. The Standard Storage Benchmark performs a series of tests; you can run a full test or just the read or write test, or you can run a single test, i.e. 4k QD16.

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Scoring

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Anvil's scoring gives a good indication of a drive's overall performance. The Trion is the only drive in our test pool with TLC flash, and it shows. The rest of the drives in our test pool put up similar performance with the Ignite delivering the best performance.

(Anvil) Read IOPS through Queue Depth Scale

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The Reactor and the BX100 are equipped almost identically and their performance is pretty much the same. The rest of the drives in our test pool are delivering better performance.

(Anvil) Write IOPS through Queue Scale

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Again, I will point out the Trion with its TLC flash. This is the problem with TLC flash, and why the Reactor is such a great bargain because it's priced in the same range as the TRION, however, the Reactor is equipped with quality MLC flash that delivers superior performance and endurance.

Synthetic Benchmarks - CrystalDiskMark & AS SSD

CrystalDiskMark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3.0 Technical Preview

CrystalDiskMark is disk benchmark software that allows us to benchmark 4k and 4k queue depths with accuracy. Note: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0 Technical Preview was used for these tests since it offers the ability to measure native command queuing at QD4.

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The Reactor delivers the best sequential performance of the drives on our chart. Its twin, the BX100, delivers slightly better 4K read performance.

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This is a win for the Reactor. Overall, it is able to outperform the rest of the drives in our test pool when writing data. The TeraNova with its 20nm flash delivers slightly better 4K QD1 performance, but the Reactor with its newer flash technology outperforms the TeraNova in the rest of the categories.

AS SSD

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.7.4739.38088

AS SSD determines the performance of Solid-State Drives (SSD). The tool contains four synthetic as well as three practice tests. The synthetic tests are to determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD.

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All of the SM2246EN controlled drives score about the same. The Trion and Ignite both score higher due to their superior read performance.

Benchmarks (Trace Based OS Volume) - PCMark Vantage, PCMark 7 & PCMark 8

Moderate Workload Model

We categorize these tests as indicative of a moderate workload environment.

PCMark Vantage - Hard Disk Tests

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.2.0.0

The reason we like PCMark Vantage is because the recorded traces are played back without system stops. What we see is the raw performance of the drive. This allows us to see a marked difference between scoring that other trace-based benchmarks do not exhibit. An example of a marked difference in scoring on the same drive would be empty vs. filled vs. steady state.

We run Vantage three ways. The first run is with the OS drive 75% full to simulate a lightly used OS volume filled with data to an amount we feel is common for most users. The second run is with the OS volume written into a "Steady State" utilizing SNIA's guidelines. Steady state testing simulates a drives performance similar to that of a drive that been subjected to consumer workloads for extensive amounts of time. The third run is a Vantage HDD test with the test drive attached as an empty, lightly used secondary device.

OS Volume 75% Full - Lightly Used

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OS Volume 75% Full - Steady State

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Secondary Volume Empty - FOB

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There's a big difference between an empty drive, one that's 75% full/used, and one that's in a steady state.

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The important scores to pay attention to are "OS Volume Steady State" and "OS Volume 75% full." These two categories are most important because they are indicative of typical of consumer user states. When a drive is in a steady state, it means garbage collection is running at the same time it's reading/writing. This is exactly why we focus on steady state performance.

At 75% full and lightly used, the TeraNova delivers the best score of our test pool. Empty secondary scoring is almost meaningless, so let's focus on steady state performance. The ADATA SX930 with its binned flash is the clear winner in a steady state, despite having the lowest empty score. The Reactor performs quite well when compared to the Trion and Ignite.

PCMark 7 - System Storage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.4.0

We will look to Raw System Storage scoring for an evaluation because it's done without system stops and therefore allows us to see significant scoring differences between drives.

OS Volume 75% Full - Lightly Used

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Here we see another win for the Reactor. It outperforms the rest of the test pool, delivering an excellent score of 6,725.

PCMark 8 - Storage Bandwidth

Version and / or Patch Used: 2.4.304

We use PCMark 8 Storage benchmark to test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and a selection of popular games. You can test the system drive or any other recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 8 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.

OS Volume 75% Full - Lightly Used

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PCMark 8 is the most intensive moderate workload simulation we run. With respect to moderate workloads, this test is what we consider the best indicator of a drive's performance. This test shows just how capable the SM2246EN controller is. The Reactor, TeraNova, and the BX100 are all SM2246EN controlled SSD's and easily outperform the other three drives in our test pool. The Trion, again, displays the performance inferiority of non-Samsung TLC flash.

Benchmarks (Secondary Volume) - Max IOPS, Disk Response & Transfer Rates

Iometer - Maximum IOPS

Version and / or Patch Used: Iometer 2014

We use Iometer to measure high queue depth performance. (No Partition)

Max IOPS Read

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Max IOPS Write

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Mushkin's specified 71,000 read IOPS for the Reactor is very conservative to say the least. The Reactor is only outperformed by the Ignite in write IOPS. Looking at read IOPS, the BX100 has the edge for the SM2246EN controlled drives.

Iometer - Disk Response

Version and / or Patch Used: Iometer 2014

We use Iometer to measure disk response times. Disk response times are measured at an industry accepted standard of 4K QD1 for both write and read. Each test runs twice for 30 seconds consecutively, with a 5-second ramp-up before each test. We partition the drive/array as a secondary device for this testing.

Avg. Write Response

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Avg. Read Response

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Response times are quite respectable. Slightly better write response than its twin the BX100, but the BX100 has the edge with better read response. There is likely a firmware difference between the two drives. The SM2246EN can be implemented using canned firmware or custom firmware. This is just one of the reasons the SM2246EN is today's most popular third-party controller.

DiskBench - Directory Copy

Version and / or Patch Used: 2.6.2.0

We use DiskBench to time a 28.6GB block (9,882 files in 1,247 folders) composed primarily of incompressible sequential and random data as it's transferred from our DC P3700 PCIe NVME SSD to our test drive. We then read from a 6GB zip file that's part of our 28.6GB data block to determine the test drives read transfer rate. Our system is restarted prior to the read test to clear any cached data, ensuring an accurate test result.

Write Transfer Rate

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Read Transfer Rate

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The Reactor and the BX100 deliver the best performance of the drives in our test pool, with a slight edge going to the BX100 in write transfer speed. This is probably the best illustration of the abysmal performance of non-Samsung TLC flash. It is also probably the best illustration of why we like the Reactor so much. Priced like TLC, but so much better.

Benchmarks (Secondary Volume) - PCMark 8 Extended

Futuremark PCMark 8 Extended

Heavy Workload Model

PCMark 8's consistency test simulates an extended duration heavy workload environment. PCMark 8 has built-in, command line executed storage testing. The PCMark 8 Consistency test measures the performance consistency and the degradation tendency of a storage system.

The Storage test workloads are repeated. Between each repetition, the storage system is bombarded with a usage that causes degraded drive performance. In the first part of the test, the cycle continues until a steady degraded level of performance has been reached. (Steady State)

In the second part, the recovery of the system is tested by allowing the system to idle and measuring the performance after 5-minute long intervals. (Internal drive maintenance: Garbage Collection (GC)) The test reports the performance level at the start, the degraded steady-state, and the recovered state, as well as the number of iterations required to reach the degraded state and the recovered state.

We feel Futuremark's Consistency Test is the best test ever devised to show the true performance of solid-state storage in an extended duration heavy workload environment. This test takes on average 13 to 17 hours to complete, and writes somewhere between 450GB and 14,000GB of test data depending on the drive. If you want to know what an SSD's steady state performance is going to look like during a heavy workload, this test will show you.

Here's a breakdown of Futuremark's Consistency Test:

Precondition phase:

1. Write to the drive sequentially through up to the reported capacity with random data.

2. Write the drive through a second time (to take care of overprovisioning).

Degradation phase:

1. Run writes of random size between 8*512 and 2048*512 bytes on random offsets for 10 minutes.

2. Run performance test (one pass only).

3. Repeat 1 and 2 for 8 times, and on each pass increase the duration of random writes by 5 minutes.

Steady state phase:

1. Run writes of random size between 8*512 and 2048*512 bytes on random offsets for 50 minutes.

2. Run performance test (one pass only).

3. Repeat 1 and 2 for 5 times.

Recovery phase:

1. Idle for 5 minutes.

2. Run performance test (one pass only).

3. Repeat 1 and 2 for 5 times.

Storage Bandwidth

PCMark 8's Consistency test provides a ton of data output that we use to judge a drive's performance.

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We consider steady state bandwidth (the blue bar) our test that carries the most weight in ranking a drive/arrays heavy workload performance. Performance after Garbage Collection (GC) (the orange and red bars) is what we consider the second most important consideration when ranking a drive's performance. Trace based steady state testing is where true high performing SSDs are separated from the rest of the pack.

The SX930 with its binned flash is the clear winner of this test. The Reactor and the BX100 perform a little differently than each other and we suspect this is due to difference in firmware and / or OP. The Reactor posts the lowest steady-state bandwidth of the drives in our test pool. After five minutes of idle time, the Reactor outperforms the BX100, after five 5 min intervals, the BX100 has the edge. The TeraNova has the advantage of 20nm flash and outperforms both the Reactor and BX100.

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We chart our test subject's storage bandwidth as reported at each of the test's 18 trace iterations. This gives us a good visual perspective of how our test subjects perform as testing progresses.

Total Access Time (Latency)

We chart the total time the disk is accessed as reported at each of the test's 18 trace iterations.

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Disk Busy Time

Disk Busy Time is how long the disk is busy working. We chart the total time the disk is working as reported at each of the tests 18 trace iterations.

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When latency is low, disk busy time is low as well.

Data Written

We measure the total amount of random data that our test drive/array is capable of writing during the degradation phases of the consistency test. Pre-conditioning data is not included in the total. The total combined time that degradation data is written to the drive/array is 470 minutes. This can be very telling. The better a drive/array can process a continuous stream of random data, the more data will be written.

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20nm flash wins again. The TeraNova runs away with this test metric. The difference in firmware and / or OP between the Reactor and the BX100 is showing again with the BX100 able to write a significant amount more random data than the Reactor in the same amount of time.

Benchmarks (Secondary Volume) - 70/30 Mixed Workload

70/30 Mixed Workload Test (Sledgehammer)

Version and / or Patch Used: Iometer 2014

Heavy Workload Model

This test hammers a drive so hard we've dubbed it "Sledgehammer". Our 70/30 Mixed Workload test is designed to simulate a heavy-duty enthusiast/workstation steady-state environment. We feel that a mix of 70% read/30% write, full random 4K transfers best represents this type of user environment. Our test allows us to see the drive enter into and reach a steady state as the test progresses.

Phase one of the test preconditions the drive for 1 hour with 128K sequential writes. Phase two of the test runs a 70% read/30% write, full random 4K transfer workload on the drive for 1 hour. We log and chart (phase two) IOPS data at 5-second intervals for 1 hour (720 data points). 60 data points = 5 minutes.

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What we like about this test is that it reflects reality. Everything lines up, as it should. Consumer drives don't outperform Enterprise-Class SSD's that were designed for enterprise workloads. Consumer drives based on old technology are not outperforming modern Performance-Class SSD's, etc.

The results of this test reinforce what we saw from our PCMark 8 Extended testing. The BX100's OP and / or firmware is more conducive to heavy workloads in a steady state than the Reactor. The Reactor is able to outperform the Ignite and the Trion, but again 20nm flash is the clear winner with the TeraNova outperforming the test pool with heavy workloads in a steady state.

Maxed-Out Performance (MOP)

This testing is just to see what the drive is capable of in an FOB (Fresh Out of Box) state under optimal conditions. We are utilizing Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit for this testing. Same Hardware, just an OS change.

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Final Thoughts

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For the money, the Mushkin Reactor 512GB is hard to beat. The Reactor is currently the low price leader for MLC based SSD's. It's even priced lower than the majority of TLC drives on the market. In addition, you are getting a full 512GB from the Reactor which is more capacity than you can get from any competing TLC SSD, even the 850 EVO.

We like that the Reactor is typically priced significantly lower than the 850 EVO and the MX200, and this is big because the Reactor is not in direct competition with either of those drives. If it were, there would be no compelling reason to purchase a Reactor because both the EVO and MX200 outperform the Reactor. We have recently seen non-Samsung TLC drives hit the market with pricing that puts them into direct competition with the 850 EVO and the MX200, which is mind boggling to say the least.

Looking back at our benchmarks, what clearly stands out the most is our transfer testing where the Reactor shows well over 2.5x the write transfer rate of the TLC equipped TRION. And guess what? The Reactor and the TRION are currently retailing for the same price at the time of writing. Additionally, when you consider the Reactor gives you 32GB more capacity, the choice becomes crystal clear.

We will conclude by saying we recommend the Mushkin Reactor 512GB SATA III SSD without reservation, because it's full of MLC goodness and priced like TLC.

Pros:

  • Quality 16nm Micron MLC Flash
  • Exceptional Value
  • Full 512GB Capacity

Cons:

  • No accessories
  • Low performance with Heavy Workloads
TweakTown award
Performance 85%
Quality including Design and Build 85%
General Features 85%
Bundle and Packaging 85%
Value for Money 95%
Overall 87%

The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a super low-cost SSD with quality flash and excellent performance, Mushkin's Reactor fits the bill nicely.

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Jon joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new storage products. Jon became a computer enthusiast when Windows XP launched. He was into water cooling and benching ATI video cards with modded drivers. Jon has been building computers for others for more than 10 years. Jon became a storage enthusiast the day he first booted an Intel X25-M G1 80GB SSD. Look for Jon to bring consumer SSD reviews into the spotlight.

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