Testing methodology
Test Bench |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz, 8MB cache, quad-core) |
| Motherboard |
Asus Z97-A |
| Memory |
16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro (2x8GB) DDR3 @ 1,866MHz |
| Storage Controllers |
Intel Z97 PCH (SATA 6Gbps, AHCI) |
| Graphics |
Integrated HD 4600 Graphics |
| Power Supply |
Corsair AX760i |
| Operating System |
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) |
Comparison Drive Configurations |
| |
Total Capacity |
Controller |
Firmware |
Interface |
| Samsung 845DC PRO |
800GB |
Samsung MDX |
DXV8AX3Q |
SATA 6Gbps |
| Crucial MX100 |
512GB |
Marvell 88SS9189 |
MU01 |
SATA 6Gbps |
| Crucial M500 |
240GB |
Marvell 88SS9187 |
MU02 |
SATA 6Gbps |
Benchmarks |
| ATTO Disk Benchmark |
The freeware ATTO benchmark provides basic sequential speed results for both read and write operations. Using the default queue depth of four, we record read and write speeds during 1MB transfers. |
| CrystalDiskMark |
CrystalDiskMark provides various storage benchmarks, but we're interested in the returned 32-thread 4K performance numbers to see how well the drives fare when tasked with numerous small transfers. |
| Iometer |
Iometer is an I/O subsystem measurement tool originally developed by Intel. To measure a drive's I/O performance, we set the benchmark to run Database, File Server and Workstation profiles over varying queue depths. |
| PCMark 8 |
PCMark 8's storage test is a collection of workloads that isolate the performance of the PC's storage system. The Expanded Tests dig deeper into performance by looking at how the drives respond when in a degraded, steady and recovery state. |
Notes
We're currently building up comparison drives in our revised SSD-testing suite. The numbers to look out for are those with respect to the Crucial M500 240GB model. One would hope the MX100 be both faster and more resilient to degradation that occurs when it's in a used/dirty state. Offering a benchmark for superlative performance is the Samsung 845DC PRO - a high-quality datacentre drive we reviewed just the other day.
