G.Skill Titan 128GB
Before looking at the G.Skill Titan SSD drive we had a brief encounter with their first generation SSD drives. The standard G.Skill 128GB SSD "FM-25S2S-128GB" is one of the cheapest 128GB SSD money can get you. However, these original G.Skill SSDs have one critical flaw in its JMicron 602B controller. This controller features a tiny on-die cache, whereas more recent controllers use an on-board cache that is as big as 64MB.
It's widely known at this point that the lack of a proper cache can translate in poor write performance, particularly when dealing with small files, 4KB or below. Many users complained about a problem described as shuddering (second-long pauses).
Today we are checking out the Titan version of this drive, which G.Skill claims is not only faster but also shudder-free. The quoted read speed has been increased by 29% at ~200MB/s, while the write speed has been boosted by 78% to 160MB/s.
The G.Skill Titan comes in two capacities, 128GB and 256GB. The 128GB version is not much more expensive than the original, with a current retail value of $270, while users can expect to pay quite a bit more for the 256GB version which is selling for $530.
The drive weighs 90 grams and is compatible with the 2.5" form factor, making it possible to use this high-speed SSD in a laptop. The physical dimensions are 69.6 x 99.8 x 9.3 mm, which is slightly thicker than some of the SSDs that we have seen before, but still thin enough to conform to the standard. The drive is locked away in a complete metal housing, making it very durable and ideal for storing data safely.
G.Skill gives the Titan a MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of 1.5 million hours, which we believe is quite a wild guestimate. Furthermore, the manufacturer states that the 128GB Titan will last 11 years if 50GB of data is written per day, and I doubt many of you will go nearly that on a sustained basis.
While operating, G.Skill states that the Titan can handle as much as 20G of vibration, 1500G of shock, and work at an altitude of 60,000 ft. Since the average jets fly between 30,000 and 40,000 feet, and even the Concorde never really went much above 50,000ft, exceeding 60,000ft probably won't happen unless you are taking your G.Skill Titan to outer space.