Mushkin Intros Its First 6Gbps SSD, Powered by SandForce

Mushkin has just announced the introduction of the company's first series of 6Gbps solid state drives, which is known as Chronos and is powered by the high-performance SandForce SF-2281 SSD processor.

The drives are available in two versions, the Chronos and the Chronos Deluxe, and the main difference between the two is the type of NAND Flash installed.

The higher-performance Chronos Deluxe model will use faster synchronous NAND, while the more budget-friendly Chronos SSD will use asynchronous NAND.

However, both are based on an unthrottled firmware, which enables the Deluxe version to achieve up to 560MB/s read and 530MB/s write throughput as well as 90,000 IOPS when tested with 4K random write transfers.

For starters, the Chronos SSDs will be available with 120GB and 240GB of storage capacity.

The SandForce SF-2281 SSD processor was introduced in late February 2011 and was used for powering a wide variety of solid state drives, including OCZ's flagship Vertex 2 units.

“This new series of SSDs is the latest in Mushkin's long history of solid state storage products,” said Brian Flood, Mushkin director of product development.

“This is an area in which we have made great strides and our Chronos SSD line will continue this tradition.

“Users who are ready for SATA 6 Gb/s now, or are planning to upgrade down the road, will not find a better drive in terms of performance and price," concluded the company's rep.

Mushkin hasn't revealed any information regarding the prices of these drives, but the company did say they will be highly competitive at the performance levels they are going for.

Both the Mushkin Chronos and Chronos Deluxe SSD are expected to become available later in June 2011.