Super Talent Technology today launched a new line of MasterDrive SX SSDs that incorporate 128MB of DRAM cache and reach new performance levels in high performance laptops. The MasterDrive SX is based on an advanced new 8-channel controller and MLC NAND Flash. Its 8-channel architecture combined with a hefty 128MB of DRAM cache takes full advantage of the 3Gbps SATA-II bandwidth. The MasterDrive SX is capable of sequential read speeds up to 220 MB/sec and sequential write speeds up to 200 MB/sec. MasterDrive SX SSDs are available now in capacities up to 256GB through NewEgg. Street prices for the 128GB drive are around $359.

A great advance in the MasterDrive SX is its power efficiency. The drive sips a mere half a watt of power in read mode, and 0.15 watts while idle. That's considerably lower than typical notebook hard drives, and even lower than the vast majority of 2.5-inch SSDs. The benefits to users are less fan noise and longer battery life.