INTRODUCTION

   Lately most storage media manufacturers focus in the production of USB 3.0 compatible flash drives that offer good performance levels and capacities at reasonable prices (targeting the main consumer base is the obviously thing to do). However i do miss the time when manufacturers would focus most of their resources in the design and manufacture of the fastest flash drives possible (remember the kind of performance the first dual and quad channel flash drives delivered?) aimed towards people who could really use the extra boost in performance. This is not to say that there aren't extremely fast USB 3.0 flash drives in the market as we speak but there's always room for improvement, in most cases anyways. The latest USB 3.0 compatible flash drive line released by Mach Xtreme Technology is called the MX-ES ULTRA (MXUB3SES) and promises read/write speeds of up to 200MB/s so as always we just had to take a closer look.

   Mach Xtreme Technology is a newly established Company since January 2010 constructed of a combination of elite professionals who have had years of exceptional exposure and involvement in the IT industry. Our dedicated team has expert knowledge covering all aspects of the IT industry and more specifically in development of innovative products along with aggressive marketing and effective distribution. MX-Technology achieves the highest performance possible through its continuous research & development which ensures rapid advancements of SSD, memory and Flash drives. MX-Technology enables their customers to achieve maximum efficiency with matching performance to make time spent on work more convenient and productive. MX-Technology is the first computer hardware company in the world to join force with renowned world class artist to generate unique and stylish representation of Mach Xtreme. The first artist to work with Mach Xtreme is a genius graffiti artist from Europe named "Does". MX-Technology through their full dedication and commitment, it's users will be able to continually enjoy the latest high performance products with ultimate reliability at a competitive price point.

   To achieve the advertised performance numbers Mach Xtreme is using single level cell (SLC) NAND flash technology (probably using a dual channel 8bit controller) with the MX-ES ULTRA line something which is not really the first time we see although multi-level cell NAND flash (MLC) is more widely used because its lower cost. Mach Xtreme also states that the MX-ES ULTRA line (much like the regular MX-ES one) is fully optimized for use with ASUS mainboards featuring USB 3.0 connectivity something which could be pointing to the improved standard ASUS is using with their mainboards to boost data transfers over USB 3.0 (ASUS Boost Technology). The only thing that might disappoint potential buyers is the very simple looks of the MX-ES ULTRA line (as with the MX-ES) but since we primarily care about performance let's move forward with our review.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE MX-ES ULTRA 32GB

Mach Xtreme used the typical package we see used by most manufacturers so from the front you can see the device through a clear plastic cover along with the main product features listed right next to it (actually this is the wrong package, MX rushed to get the sample over to us so they used the regular MX-ES package instead).

Just the serial number, barcodes and product description are placed at the rear.

The 12g heavy MX-ES ULTRA 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive measures 69.5mm in length, 17mm in width and 8.2mm in height.

To have a better understanding regarding its size we placed it right next to several other USB flash drives.

The model name is printed at the top of the drive.

The rear of the drive is also the activity LED.

Mach Xtreme has placed their logo at the base of the drive.

Unfortunately you will not be able to place the protective cap at the rear of the drive while in use (doesn't fit).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Since flash drives are basically plain storage media devices just like solid state drives and hard disk drives we are using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record the achieved performance numbers. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read / Write speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read speeds), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB-1000MB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 complete with every update until October 28th 2014. As always for comparison purposes in the charts you will also find many other flash drivers which have been tested using the same exact test bench as the one in this review (we really can't keep every flash drive we get forever and also even if we could testing them all again and again would simply not be possible).

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

CONCLUSION

     Mach Xtreme may not be the most popular name in the storage industry but they are behind some very decent products which have won quite a few awards from media around the world. Of course in the case of the MX-ES ULTRA series of USB 3.0 flash drives although their performance levels are on par with some of the fastest drives we've ever received we can't say the same about their design since it reminds us of casual every day models released over a decade ago. Now some say not to judge a book solely by its cover and i tend to agree since no one would ever expect such performance levels by a USB flash drive that looks like the MX-ES ULTRA does (nor would they expect to find SLC synchronous NAND under the hood) but still it's not bad if both the cover and the interior are equally good right? The good news is that quality-wise the housing is quite good so combined with its performance levels we all agree that the MX-ES ULTRA line delivers on everything Mach Xtreme promises.

     It's no secret that SLC based SSDs and USB flash drives cost more than MLC based ones so we didn't expect the MX-ES ULTRA 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive (MXUB3SESU-32G) by Mach Xtreme to compete directly with similar capacity models and with a current price tag set at USD62.97 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and 56.01Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) it doesn't since it costs almost twice as much as some 32GB USB 3.0 drives. The good news is that you're not paying more for nothing since the MX-ES ULTRA line is indeed faster than most of the drives mentioned so if you happen to need the extra performance then the price difference is well justified. On the other hand if performance is not what you're after than you're obviously not looking for the MX-ES ULTRA series. Overall however performance is right up there with the best USB 3.0 flash drives we've ever tested and that's why the MX-ES ULTRA 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Quality
- Excellent Read/Write Performance
- Size & Weight
- SLC Synchronous NAND Flash (Durability & Performance)
- Optimized For ASUS Mainboards
- 5 Years Warranty

CONS

- Design
- Price (For Some)