Silicon Power Extreme E25 128GB Review

REAL-WORLD TESTS

Moving on to the real-world tests, we see that the Phison chip is more than capable of boosting overall productivity. The file copy results are pretty quick for duplicating and moving around data:

AS-SSD file copy tests are pretty solid as well, with an average of ten seconds per test:

Load times on a clean system are really darn fast, and typically the norm:

REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

I find it odd that there is no information on the Extreme E25 SSD series, and strangely not even on Silicon Power’s own website. It is as if it never existed to begin with, which is a shame since the E25 128GB SSD is a great entry-level disk.

The great thing about the Extreme E25 is that it is consistent. Even after burning it in in and running tests, it still achieved the exact same results every time (save AS-SSD), and even had identical numbers for the vast majority of runs. After going through multiple stressful tests, there is no indication of deterioration with it.

Without a doubt then, the problem is the Phison PS3105-S5 controller, as it is clearly holding the E25 back. To elaborate, the write speed should be symmetrical to the fully saturated SATA 2 read speed of 275MB/s, and the 4k access performance should be at least twice as fast…but this is not the case for either of the results. While it is a vast improvement to what we saw with the Torqx 2, it should honestly be a lot faster, especially when comparing to modern drives and controllers such as SandForce.

Market conditions are going against this SSD, chiefly considering that now SATA 3 SSDs retail for close to the same $120 price point of the Silicon Power Extreme E25 128GB drive, and are easily more than double the performance it can dish out. For Silicon Power to really appeal the drive to a larger audience, they should consider dropping the price well below the $1/GB ratio, and retain the three-year warranty.

Ultimately, a year ago the E25 would have made a bigger splash, but as it stands I would only recommend it as a drive for the mainstream user who wants that first step into SSD technology. Simply put, the E25 SSD series is a very solid performer, but a little rough around the edges which holds it back going from good to exceptional.