Dukutek.com - The consumer SSD market is quite similar to the DRAM market. There are
only a handful of NAND manufacturers (most of which make DRAM as well)
but there are dozens, if not hundreds of SSD OEMs. Compared to DRAM
there are obviously more components involved because on top of the NAND
you'll also need a controller and possibly DRAM as well. Thanks to
Marvell, Phison and especially SandForce you don't need a huge team of
engineers to make an SSD because you can buy and license everything from
third parties. Even manufacturing can be outsourced so basically what
you're left with is distribution and marketing. That, of course, is if
you choose the easiest route, which isn't necessarily the ideal option
because there are already plenty of other companies using the exact same
strategy.
MyDigitalSSD is one of the not-so-well-known SSD companies. They don't
have a presence on NewEgg or many of the other major online stores,
though you can find some of their products at Amazon.
Since MyDigitalSSD doesn't have the resources it takes to build their
own controller or firmware, they are left with using commercial
controllers, SandForce and Phison in this case. Unlike many other SSD
OEMs, MyDigitalSSD's aim is to provide something for everyone.
Typically
SSD OEMs, regardless of how big they are, only offer a few products
that are almost without exception 2.5" SATA drives. MyDigitalSSD's
approach is totally different as they offer SSDs ranging from standard
2.5" SATA drives to PATA SSDs and half-slim SATA SSDs. We don't often
see such form factors used but there are laptops that rely on some of
these uncommon SSD solutions. Of course if you're buying in volumes big
enough (like Apple), then anyone will build you whatever you like; that
makes finding upgrade parts difficult, so MyDigitalSSD is specifically
targeting that market.
MyDigitalSSD sent us their 256GB SATA 6Gbps mSATA SSDs in for reviewing. Complete specifications are in the table below:
| SMART | BP3 | |
| Capacities (GB) | 64, 128, 256 | 32, 64, 128, 256 |
| NAND | 25nm synchronous MLC (IMFT?) | 24nm Toshiba Toggle-Mode MLC |
| Controller | SandForce SF-2281 | Phison PS3108-S8 |
| Sequential Read | 550MB/s | 560MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 530MB/s | 470MB/s |
| 4KB Random Read | 35K IOPS | 30K IOPS |
| 4KB Random Write | 86K IOPS | 45K IOPS |
MyDigitalSSD's SMART SSD is a standard SF-2281 based mSATA SSD and
there are other OEMs such as Mushkin and ADATA offering similar
products. What is more interesting (at least from a novelty standpoint)
is the BP3 ("Bullet Proof 3"). It uses a new SATA 6Gbps controller from
Phison, a company that's more known for their USB flash stick
controllers. Our first encounter with Phison was with Crucial's v4 SSD,
which wasn't very pleasant as the v4 was one of the slowest SSDs we
have reviewed in years. As far as the specs go, the PS3108 seems to
provide a much needed improvement to the random IO performance segment;
we'll see how the PS3108 holds out in real world in just a second.
There aren't all that many commercially available mSATA SSDs because
most are sold directly to OEMs, so most SSD manufacturers have chosen
not to have a retail mSATA SSD lineup. MyDigitalSSD doesn't have
presence at NewEgg or other major online resellers, but they do have
their own store called MyDigitalDiscount which is also at Amazon. I took MyDigitalSSD prices from MyDigitalDiscount whereas the rest are from NewEgg:
| Price Comparison (1/21/2013) | |||
| Capacity | 60/64GB | 120/128GB | 240/256GB |
| MyDigitalSSD BP3 | $65 | $100 | $180 |
| MyDigitalSSD SMART | $85 | $140 | $270 |
| Crucial M4 mSATA | $70 | $115 | $185 |
| Mushkin Atlas | $95 | $110 | $210 |
| ADATA XPG SX300 | $80 | $125 | $260 |
In terms of pricing, the BP3 is very appealing. It's easily the
cheapest mSATA SSD that I could find and by a fairly large margin. The
SMART, on the other hand, is one of the most expensive mSATA SSDs so
MyDigitalSSD is clearly trying to position the BP3 at the low-end while
offering the SMART for the high-end.
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