CONCLUSION

   When Mushkin announced the availability of the Helix-L line of M.2 NVMe SSDs they told us that they represented the best their company had since it ticked the three most important boxes for the majority of the consumer base, price, performance and capacity. Today and after putting the Helix-L through our rather exhaustive testing methodology we can verify their claims, at least when it comes to performance. Granted the Helix-L does fall back in some of our tests (especially in IOmeter – just like with several other NVMe models thermal throttling is evident in the 12 hour endurance test) compared to some higher-end models like the CORSAIR MP510 or the Silicon Power P34A80 but for a DRAM-less model it does extremely well (not to mention that most consumers will never be able to tell the difference). Having to use the latest versions of Windows 10 to enjoy the Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature did seem a bit odd to us at first but chances are that if you install them from scratch when you get a new SSD so that shouldn’t be a problem for anyone (and installing Windows 7 for example wouldn’t make much sense). Endurance numbers are also very good and so with 600TBW for the 1TB capacity variant we reviewed today it has nothing to be jealous from many far more expensive models.

   Being aggressively priced was yet another claim Mushkin made for the Helix-L line of M.2 NVMe SSDs many months back and with a current price tag set at USD108.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 117.01Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) it seems they were correct about that too. Still with the higher-end Pilot-E model (review soon) being just 20% more expensive we expect some potential buyers to take that path instead. Regardless however the Helix-L 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD by Mushkin does combine performance, capacity and price and for that it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Overall Performance
- Endurance Numbers (600TBW For The 1TB Model)
- 3 Years Limited Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Thermal Throttling (Evident In Our SNIA Tests)