Silicon Power Extreme E25 128GB Review

Earlier this year, Silicon Power introduced their newest members of the Extreme family, the E25 series of solid-state drives. The new E25 line is a bump up from the year-old E20 models, and more than likely flew under the radar for a vast majority of readers. It was announced close to CES 2012 and released just a few months after, but one of the primary reasons for the aforementioned lack of hype is that it is a SATA 2 only SSD, a standard in decline these days. Silicon Power does have a SATA 3 chain of SSDs, but decided to refresh their SATA 2 E20 drives.

We should expect to see close to rated performance for the 128GB E25 drive that we are testing, with little-to-no hiccups, as by now new SATA 2 SSDs should be achieving maximum results. Unfortunately, the E25 series is a tad inconspicuous, as there are no listed specifications for the SSD, thus the benchmarks will emerge as the primary source of validation. Suffice it to say, the E25 series is meant for the budget crowd that want a cheap upgrade, as it comes in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB flavors.

EXTERIOR AND SPECIFICATIONS

The packaging for the Silicon Power Extreme E25 128GB SSD is one of the more colorful ones I have seen. I do not mind a dominantly dark color palette, but having a nice meld of vibrant colors is pleasing to look at:

As with most 2.5″ SSDs, the drive has its brand sticker at the front, and is void of such on the back. The entire drive has a clean black finish to it:

Aside from the Extreme E25 128GB SSD, the packaging comes with a quick installation guide and four small screws for mounting the drive, which is all completely protected in a plastic shell; unfortunately a 2.5″ to 3.5″ mounting bracket is not included: