Crucial MX500 1TB Performance Results
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Comparison Products
Crucial MX300 (1050GB)
Crucial BX200 (960GB)
Samsung 850 EVO (1TB)
We have the Crucial MX500 1TB in for testing. We expect the other capacities to arrive in the coming weeks. We’ve brought in two previous-gen 1TB-class products from Crucial to use as comparison points. The first is the outgoing MX300 with first-gen Micron 3D NAND. Crucial didn’t release a 1TB-class BX300, so we reached back to the BX200, a very popular model for budget builds in 2015 and most of 2016.
The Samsung 850 EVO 1TB is both the performance leader and the bestselling SSD of all time. We’re testing the newest 850 EVO with 48-layer V-NAND. Samsung shipped 850 EVO products in both 32-layer and 48-layer flavors, but the latter is slightly faster in many workloads. Crucial hopes the MX500 can break into EVO-class performance, but at a substantially lower price.
The Corsair Neutron XTi, SanDisk Ultra 3D, Toshiba VX500, and WD Blue 3D all join the comparison group. The Ultra 3D and Blue 3D are nearly identical barring any price differences due to the target market. They compare well to the 850 EVO’s performance and often sell at a lower price.
- Crucial MX500 1TB (SSD) at Amazon for $61.99
Testing Notes
This is our first review with new synthetic workloads that we designed specifically to measure pure burst performance. This helps to isolate the fastest portion of the SLC buffer in write tests and also combats thermal throttling. Most consumer workloads are bursty by nature. The new synthetic workloads give us an accurate look at what most users will see during normal use.
We still measure sustained write performance in some of our carryover tests.
Sequential Read Performance
To read about our storage tests in depth, please check out How We Test HDDs And SSDs. We cover four-corner testing on page six of our How We Test guide.
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We’ve hit a brick wall in basic workload performance courtesy of the SATA bus. Sequential reads are the easiest of the basic four-corner tests (sequential read/write, random read/write) and most of the drives saturate the SATA interface.
Sequential Write Performance
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The sequential write tests find most of the drives grouped at higher queue depths (QD). We find a bit more variation in this test at the all-important lower QD, but most of us will not see a meaningful difference moving just a few files that fit within the SLC layer.
Sustained Sequential Write Performance
Crucial made several meaningful changes to the new 64-layer NAND and controller firmware..jpg)
The net result is a significant improvement in sustained write performance. The MX500 1TB has native TLC sequential write throughput of roughly 400 MB/s.
Random Read Performance
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The MX500 breaks our previous random read QD1 performance record for SATA with a blistering 12,000 IOPS measurement. This is in part due to our new test methodology, but the MX500 also surpasses 10,000 IOPS in our older tests and is slightly faster than the 850 EVO.
This is the most meaningful measurement that carries over to your user experience, so this is an important win for Crucial.
Random Write Performance
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The Crucial MX500 1TB falls in the middle of our 4KB random write test at low queue depths. To a large extent, SSDs provide more random write performance than most of us can use. The SLC buffer does a very good job of absorbing this incoming data with very low latency. Slight improvements here often don’t carry over to the user experience if the drive doesn’t experience excessive performance loss during sustained write workloads.
70% Mixed Sequential Workload
We describe our mixed workload testing in detail here and describe our steady state tests here.
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Mixed workloads are better for measuring real-world performance. Your PC is constantly reading and writing data at the same time due to ever-present background activity. SATA is only capable of reading or writing data at once; the protocol doesn’t allow both actions to happen at the same time. Native command queuing allows the drives to stack commands and even reorder the processes to make the events more efficient.
The MX500 takes second place behind the Toshiba VX500 in the important QD2 measurement.
70% Mixed Random Workload
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The MX500 1TB performs very well in both mixed workload tests, but it raises the bar with random data. This comes from the MX500’s very high random read performance, which easily beats the previous-gen MX300. The new firmware for the SM2258 controller and the new 64-layer flash get credit for the turnaround.
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Crucial’s parent company Micron has greatly improved its second-gen 3D NAND technology. The performance improvements shine through during the sequential steady-state test.
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Micron’s TLC NAND is only slightly more consistent compared to the first generation, but it does deliver higher performance. The new SSD provides 9,000 random read IOPS, which is a big jump over the MX300’s 7,000 IOPS.
PCMark 8 Real-World Software Performance
For details on our real-world software performance testing, please click here.
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The MX500 closes the wide gap we measured between the Samsung 850 EVO and the MX300. The 850 EVO is the target for every consumer SSD vendor, but catching the beast is more difficult than many predicted.
Application Storage Bandwidth
The Toshiba VX500 1TB provides slightly better application bandwidth than the MX500, but it has an issue with pricing (currently $369.
99). Crucial’s pricing gives the MX500 an advantage in this capacity.
PCMark 8 Advanced Workload Performance
To learn how we test advanced workload performance, please click here.
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The Crucial MX500 1TB trailed the 850 EVO slightly during very light conditions in the previous series of tests. The gap widens after a heavy workload. We focus on the recovery stages in this series. These stages provide five-minute idle periods that allow the drives to recover partially. The MX500 doesn’t recover as well as the EVO, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. All consumer and enterprise SSDs are moving to TLC NAND, so the race is on to find suitable products for heavier workloads. The MX500 outperforms the EVO during the steady state stages of the test, proving it’s a contender.
Total Service Time
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The service time results show us that Crucial has made the right changes to get back into the performance SSD market.
The BX200 and MX300 suffered nearly debilitating latency during heavy use. The new MX500 solves the latency problem that came to a head with Micron’s 16nm planar TLC and first-gen 3D TLC NAND.
Disk Busy Time
The disk busy time tests measure how long the drives were active during the workload. We can see how far Crucial got off track over the last few years and how the new MX500 with 64-layer NAND brings the company back into competition.
Responsiveness Test
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Responsiveness is another way of measuring the user experience. In this test, we get our first and only look at the Crucial MX500 with the RAM-caching Momentum Cache software.
The MX500 is close enough to the Samsung 850 EVO that you will not be able to tell the difference during a typical office workload. Momentum Cache closes the gap even more, but it’s less effective than we hoped. Enabling the system memory to cache storage IO also increases power consumption (DRAM uses more power than NAND).
Increasing the amount of DRAM activity consumes more power even when the same amount of data passes through the system.
Notebook Battery Life
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The MX500 is not the best product for notebook users searching for long battery life. Crucial’s latest trails all of the other drives during the battery life test. We often see inverse power/performance results when a drive consumes more power. The power must go somewhere, and it’s often used to provide superior performance under the restricted bus conditions. That wasn’t the case with the MX500.
We suspect Crucial’s Dynamic Write Acceleration algorithms may play a role in our power consumption results. Even when the cache is full, data still passes through the SLC and then fold back into the TLC NAND. This process adds to the amount of background activity, which consumes power. Crucial is also using new flash management techniques that could play a role in the results.
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Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom’s Hardware US.
He tests and reviews consumer storage.
Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal SSD | CT250MX500SSD1
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All Benefits
Product Specifications
| SSD series — MX500 |
| Interface — SATA (6Gb/s) |
| Capacity — 250GB |
Form factor — 2. 5-inch (7mm)
|
| Sequential Read — 560 MB/s |
| Sequential Write — 510 MB/s |
| SSD Endurance (TBW) — 100TB |
| Warranty — Limited 5-year |
Product resources
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Fly through everything you do
Start your system in seconds, load files almost instantly, and accelerate the most demanding applications with the Crucial MX500. Our dynamic write acceleration technology uses an adaptable pool of high-speed single-level cell flash memory to generate blistering speeds.
Store up to 4TB of data
2
Save massive amounts of photos, music, and videos comfortably and securely. With fast access to your media, creations, and designs, you’re ready to share at the speed of your life.
Enjoy the efficiency of Micron 3D NAND
Our cutting-edge components are engineered from start to finish for efficiency. As a result, the Crucial MX500 uses only a minimal amount of power and still delivers a high price-to-performance ratio — without needing a financing plan to pay for it. Experience a faster, cooler, and quieter computer in your home or business. You’ll wonder how you ever put up with a hard drive.
Upgrade with a drive you can count on
Backed by thousands of hours of pre-release validation, dozens of qualification tests, and a heritage of award-winning SSDs, the Crucial MX500 has been thoroughly tried, tested and proven. Secure your most important files on a drive with established dependability and the advanced features MX500 SSDs are known for.
Install with confidence
For many people, opening a computer and transferring data seems terrifying. That’s why we’ve made it easy in the step-by-step Crucial SSD Install Guide. Check it out before you buy, then install your own SSD quickly with everything transferred over successfully and hassle free.
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The Crucial returns policy
It’s rare for customers to return Crucial products, but we offer a 45-day money-back period. If the problems exists after this period we are still here to help.
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Test and Review: Crucial MX500 4TB CT4000MX500SSD1 — Evolution of a Classic
Over the past four years, the Crucial MX500 has been quite popular, although it never made it to our test lab. We are correcting this oversight by getting a new 4TB model for testing, which is equipped with an upgraded controller and NAND memory.
However, Crucial has slashed the DRAM cache. Let’s see how the new version of the MX500 performs in practice.
Crucial, Micron’s consumer brand, has opted for evolution over revolution as it continues to upgrade its highly popular MX500 line. Most recently we tested the P5 Plus, a pretty decent SSD that is also an upgrade of the P5 based on a more modern PCI4 controller and the latest NAND. The same is true for the MX500 4 TB: externally, we have the same SSD that has been available in retail in recent years, except that the capacity has doubled. But compared to 2017, Micron installed a new controller, modern NAND memory, but cut DRAM. Performance specifications have not changed: read speed is limited to 560 MB / s, write — 510 MB / s, which is quite typical for SATA.
Let’s move on to the specifications of the test sample.
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| Model | Crucial MX 500 4 TB CT4000MX500SSD1 | Silicon Motion SM225 2 TB: 700 TB 4 TB: 1 PB |
| Processing time for refusal (MTBF) | 1.8 million hours | 5 years old |
| Price | from 85.300 ₽ |
Crucial MX500 in detail
As you might expect from a SATA SSD, the MX500 has a 2.5″ format. But after opening the Crucial case, it is clear that the entire volume is not needed even for four terabyte The PCB is quite comparable in area to an M.2 SSD in 2280 format.4TB models are rare in the consumer segment, mostly due to controller limitations.Our test unit used a Silicon Motion SM2259H, which is different from SM2258 in «old» MX500 drives.
Looking at the specs, there’s another difference: Crucial previously installed 1GB of DRAM per terabyte of capacity, the new 4TB SSD only has 512MB of cache available.
Micron cites cost savings as the reason, and the performance hit due to the smaller cache is only seen in a limited number of scenarios. Judging by our experience, synthetic benchmarks react poorly to smaller amounts of DRAM, since the DRAM cache is not intended for caching data, as many people mistakenly believe, but for storing lookup tables. This results in lower latencies since DRAM is accessed noticeably faster than slower NAND. But in everyday scenarios, a DRAM-free SSD can stutter from time to time when it needs to load tables with slow NAND.
Unfortunately, Micron did not provide information about the memory used. Micron must have upgraded the old 64-layer 7TA22 NW925, since the 1TB drives use the more recent 96-layer NAND memory. The IKE2D NY135 chips on our test sample are probably also 96-layer, but here we are waiting for confirmation. The most advanced Micron NAND memory, which was installed on the previously tested P5 Plus, already has 176 layers.
But in this case, it is still redundant.
We tested the performance of the Crucial MX500 4 TB SLC cache during continuous writes to the SSD. The results are excellent, the drive worked at a speed of about 480 MB / s for 140 seconds, after which it reduced the write speed to 400 MB / s, which is still quite a lot. Compared to the current SATA leader Samsung SSD 870 EVO, the performance is still lower. The latter writes data at 500 MB/s throughout the test, while the MX500 initially gives a lower level.
There were no problems with throttling either, as expected. The drive did not get above 30°C at any point in the tests, which is well below the critical level. There will be no problems even in systems with poor ventilation, since the 2.5″ drive case already has a decent volume.
The
Crucial provides a five year standard warranty if the TBW write load is not exceeded.
It is 1 PB for our 4TB model, which is quite a bit, considering even other Crucial SSDs. Even the Samsung SSD 870 QVO, which has the technical disadvantage of QLC NAND due to its lower reliability, is advertised with a higher design write load. However, ordinary users are unlikely to be able to scoop out such a level of TBW during the warranty period.
PB
PB
4 PB 
44 — 2.88 PB 023
600 TB
8 PB
20020 TB
9002 9002
9002 9002 9002
0
0
0
0
0
0
0 TB TV
0
0
0 TB TV
2 PB MORP
We recommend that we familiarize ourselves with our SSD choice. When choosing an SSD for a computer, you will have to deal with many technical subtleties: the specifications indicate the controller, interface, type of flash memory, reliability characteristics, and much more. Therefore, inexperienced users can easily get confused in such information. In our guide, we will look at the most important characteristics and differences, talk about current technologies, interfaces and form factors. We also provide expert advice.
We’ve put together a guide to choosing the best SSD for your money for the current quarter. It will help you navigate the whole variety of drives and choose the best option.
<>Test and review: Crucial MX500 4TB CT4000MX500SSD1 — the evolution of the classic
Test configuration and test method
Type of SSD drive.
SSD cache
Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Crucial MX500 M.2 2280 1TB)
HMB (Host Memory Buffer)
Solid state drives/SSDs with DRAM flash memory use high-speed RAM as a buffer/cache. Performance is faster than non-DRAM SSDs that use slower NAND flash or system RAM (HMB).
This is an NVMe SSD
✖Crucial MX500 M.2 2280 1TB
✔Samsung 980 1TB
NVMe SSDs use the PCIe interface, which has a higher bandwidth than the SATA interface. This results in much faster read/write speeds compared to SSDs using the SATA interface.
built-in memory
1000GB
1024GB
Built-in memory is the built-in space for storing system data, applications, and user data in the device.
With more internal storage, you can store more files and apps on your device.
Storage type SSD
Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Crucial MX500 M.2 2280 1TB)
The storage type determines how many bits of data are written to each memory location. These storage types include SLC (one bit per cell), MLC (two bits per cell), and TLC (three bits per cell). The fewer bits written to each cell, the higher the speed and reliability.
PCI Express (PCIe) version
Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Crucial MX500 M.2 2280 1TB)
PCI Express (PCIe) is a high speed expansion card standard that is used to connect a computer to its peripherals. Newer versions support higher throughput and provide better performance.
Controller channels
Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Crucial MX500 M.2 2280 1TB)
The controller is the processor that controls the functions of the SSD.