Introduction
Have you ever wonder how does a sub $40 budget SSD perform? Well, I got the chance to try out 128GB Maxsun SSD MS128GBA6L from GearBest. SSD is getting cheaper each day. And I can’t find any reason for not using it to replace existing mechanical HDD on both PC and laptop. How does it perform? Let’s find out…
Special Thanks
This review is possible thanks to below companies. Be sure to check them out too…
- GearBest for this 128GB Maxsun SSD MS128GBA6L
- Kingston for Kingston SSDNow UV400 SSD
Package Content & Design
Maxsun MS128GBA6L SSD comes in an anti-static plastic bag. Well protected as you can see. And there are 4 screws and user manual in Chinese included. No worry, you don’t need that to install SSD. Installation is pretty simple and if you really don’t know. Lot of guides on Internet to help.
Build quality is top notch thanks to all metal housing. As usual, it is lighter than common 2.5″ HDD which is a plus for notebook or other mobile device. And there are some information about it at back and the standard SATA interface.
Performance Result
Just like other SSDs, Maxsun MS128GBA6L is shock and vibration-resistant as well. Perfect for notebook and other mobile computing devices because mechanical HDD will stop function or files might get corrupted if keep on spinning when there is shock. In addition, it has much faster access time. You can really see the different when trying to read / write multiple files at once. Much better applications loading time too. Same apply to boot up time too. Yup, your Windows PC can boot up within 30 seconds (or even faster) on SSD. And TRIM function is working fine so you will get the same performance over time. Same apply to S.M.A.R.T.
Alright, let’s have a look on its performance. Maxsun MS128GBA6L is loaded with SMI enterprise-grade controllers. And using quality NAND flash memory as well. CrystalDiskMark will give you the big picture. It performs well on sequential Q32T1 test with 548 MB/s read and 200 MB/s write. Hmm… Writing speed is average but we are talking about budget SSD here.
ATTO Disk Benchmark is getting the same result for both read and write tests like CrystalDiskMark.
Same apply to AS SSD Benchmark. Do check out SSD access time in this benchmark. You won’t get that on normal HDD. It is 0.05 ms (0.18 ms for read) only compare to 14 ms that you usually get from HDD. IOPS result is much better than HDD too.
Maxsun MS128GBA6L performs well in HD Tune Pro. I am getting consistent performance on both reading and writing. Unlike Kingston SSD that I own, Maxsun MS128GBA6L has plenty of SSD caching write buffer to keep on writing large files. Great for those who need to write a lot of files into SSD.
Anvil’s Storage Utilities has everything that you need to know from response time to IOPS. And it also provide the system information that been used for this benchmark. Again, results are align to other benchmarks here.
Maxsun MS128GBA6L is 13X faster than 7200RPM hard drive in PCMark 8 storage bandwidth test. FYI, my 3TB HDD scores 11.20MB/s only while Maxsun SSD is getting 130MB/s here.
Advantages
- Up to 548MB/s read & 200MB/s write
- Shock & vibration-resistant
- Excellent build quality
- 3 years warranty
- Value in price
Limitations
- Average writing speed
Conclusion
Still using normal mechanical HDD? It’s time for you to speed up your PC / laptop with SSD. And 128GB Maxsun MS128GBA6L SSD is a great choice for those who looking for a budget yet performing SSD. What are you waiting for? Get yours at GearBest like I did now.
