INTRODUCTION

   Every single time i think about how much our storage capacity needs have increased compared to even just 10 years ago i can't help but to wonder what the future has in store for us especially when we finally get digital content in 4k resolution (not to mention the upcoming 6k and 8k standards). The most "troublesome" part however is portable storage since although we've even seen some 4TB portable hard drives when it comes to USB flash drives not even a single manufacturer has released anything over 1TB (at least not in the consumer market). For now however even 128/256GB USB flash drives are considered "overkill" for the majority of consumers (most people i know still carry around 8/16GB models with them) and since Mushkin just released their IMPACT line (first unveiled in this year’s CES) we just had to get our hands on the highest capacity model for a review.

   For nearly 20 years, Mushkin has been dedicated to helping overclockers, gamers, IT managers, digital artists and mobile professionals enhance their computing experience by providing reliable, high-performance products. Mushkin products include a line of Flash Memory-based products and complete selection of memory upgrades for desktops, notebooks and servers. Since the company’s founding in 1994, Mushkin has received numerous awards and commendations for quality, reliability and technical excellence.

   Unlike several other manufacturers i was surprised (in a good way actually) to see that Mushkin has yet to "rename" their latest USB products to USB 3.1 Gen1 so the IMPACT is marketed as yet another USB 3.0 flash drive. Under the hood things are quite interesting since the IMPACT is basically a tiny SSD that uses the Phison PS2251-08 dual-channel ultra-high-speed USB 3.0-to-Flash micro-controller chip (supports wear-leveling for increased durability) and Toshiba MLC flash. This isn't the first time we've seen such specifications, as a matter of fact most high-performance flash drives lately follow the same path (for example the HyperX Savage and the Ventura Ultra drives) so although usually we know just what kind of performance to expect the compact size of the IMPACT drive and its high capacity are two aspects that make things far more interesting.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Mushkin is one of the very few manufacturers that ship their products in reusable clear plastic packages and yes we like that quite a bit.

At the rear of the package we see a 2D barcode (it takes you to the official product page), the product serial number and contact information about Mushkin.

The 10g heavy IMPACT features an aluminum enclosure that measures 56.7mm in length, 17.6mm in width and 6.5mm in height/thickness and as you can see it was alone in the package.

THE IMPACT 256GB

As usual we placed the UFD in our hands right next to some of the ones we have here currently so you can have a better idea about its size.

At the top of the drive Mushkin has placed its name and capacity while at the rear we find the lanyard hole (beneath this plastic part there's a red activity LED).

The company logo is printed on the other side of the drive.

The IMPACT features a removable cap design and just like with most flash drives the cap can be mounted at the rear.

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 March 21st 2016 (UASP compatible models are tested using a fresh Windows 8.1 installation on a Plextor m6e). 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

   There’s no denying that USB flash drives have come a long way even compared to the very first (and not so old) USB 3.0 models which could hardly break the 80MB/s read mark. Of course with performance levels that now can even compete with those of regular sized SSDs the real question is just how many consumers out there actually need and can make serious use of such drives. In the end however why get a slower USB flash drive when you can get a blazing fast one like the IMPACT 256GB? In the end it all boils down to price so let’s see what Mushkin asks for the IMPACT 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive.

   While I type these lines the IMPACT 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive by Mushkin retails for just USD88.06 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 97.56Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which currently places it among the lowest cost 256GB UFDs in the market. Overall we simply can’t find anything wrong with the IMPACT 256GB UFD. Certainly as you can see from our charts it’s not the fastest UFD in the market (take the T1 and the T3 SSDs by Samsung for example) but nothing can beat its price/performance/capacity ratio and for that it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Aluminum Enclosure)
- Top Of The Charts Performance
- 256GB
- Overall Size & Weight
- Price/Performance Ratio

CONS

- None