Crucial MX300 2TB SSD review

Memory (DDR4/DDR5) and Storage (SSD/NVMe) 367 Page 19 of 19 Published by

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Final Words & Conclusion

Final Words & Conclusion

While the MX300 series cannot be located in an enthusiast class SSD series based solely on write performance, we also have to acknowledge that its lower write performance is incredibly relative. Would you really notice the difference in-between 400 and 500 MB/sec writes? Perf wise I will still class this SSD as high-end, but not enthusiast class. The read performance is excellent for a SATA3 unit, writes are plenty fast for normal and PC gaming usage and then there are three extras to consider. You will have noticed massive array of ceramic capacitors on the PCB we pointed out, e.g. with a power fail the SSD would still be able to write data and prevent data-loss. We adore the implementation of it, however it is not exactly enterprise class as the data inside the DRAM cache would be lost in the event of power loss. But Crucial is doing something that most others do not and we certainly applaud that. Secondly, the sheer volume size is just downright impressive. Thirdly, this SSD is rated a 400TBW, thus guaranteed at 400 Terabyte written 400 TB I mean ... if you write say 20 GB a day / 365 days a year that would be 7.3 TB per year. That could be over 50 years of lifespan, easily even. The last factor of course is price, you'll be able to spot this unit at roughly 25/26 cents per GB, and that makes this unit the cheapest SSD available on the market. So again, it'll remain to be a mid-range SSD if we look at it solely from a performance point of view, but mid-range these days is last year's high-end performance. And with this kind of performance you overall remain in the high-end segment on SATA3. Typically we often see TLC NAND issues with linear and sustained writes, e.g. after writing a couple of GB the performance drops. Crucial here applied a SLC cache and next to that has a big 1024MB SDRAM cache. During our tests it'll write fast up-to roughly 50GB written at 475 MB/s, after that number the perf likely will starts to drop to say 280 MB/s. That SLC cache does the trick as it is by far big enough to avoid any write issues. Again, how often do you write so much data at once? I do not see it as an issue whatsoever.

Performance

This SSD writes and reads serious amounts of tiny files in a fast enough fashion. You can notice a drop-off point once the caches really run out of stamina, but you will need to have written many GBs before that happens, and even then you are still looking at a "slow" 280 GB/sec. IOPS is not something you as a consumer should worry about too much unless you are doing a lot of database related work or create similar workloads on your PC, but this SSD certainly ranks high within this aspect. Trace testing - we think by far the best test in our entire benchmark suite is PCMark Vantage 64-bit. This is a trace test and can emulate what you guys do on your PC but then multiply it by a factor of 100, this test puts more focus on read performance opposed to writing though. The outcome of the results with the CRUCIAL MX300; sustained read / write performance, again fine. Zoom in at both IOPS and trace performance and you'll notice that the SSD can manage serious workloads without breaking so much as a drop of sweat. So whether you write lots of small files, copy big MKV movies or do it all together, the MX300 remains a solid performer on all fronts.
  

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 Overall

Right, an SSD is enjoyable. Very much so. If you put a drive like this into your SATA 3 compatible laptop or SATA 3 compatible PC, you'll have no idea what is about to hit you. We very much enjoy the grand sustained performance of this SSD series. Make no mistake, replacing an HDD with an SSD in your desktop PC or laptop eliminates the random access lag of the HDD head, it is no longer mechanical. That, combined with the performance SATA 3 offers these days, is simply a massive difference and probably the best upgrade you can make for your computer anno 2016.

Controller

Some overall recommendations then. Should you be in the market for a SATA 3 SSD then we have a couple of hints. First and foremost if you have a SATA 2 controller only on your motherboard, then you'll be limited at roughly 270 MB/sec read and writes. SATA 3 (6Gbps) will free you up from that allowing the SSD to perform in the 500 MB/sec range. It is, however, important that you connect your SSD to the proper controller. We absolutely prefer the performance of the Intel Series 6 and 7 (H67/P67/Z68/Z77/H77/Z87/X79/H97/Z97/X99/H170/Z170/Z270) integrated SATA 6G controller over anything else available on the market. If you run the SSD from a 3rd party controller like, say, a Marvell 6G controller, you will see lower performance. The new AMD 85X and 900 chipsets also offer fantastic performance. The more recent Asmedia controllers we spotted lately on motherboards also offer good performance, albeit still 20% ~ 25% slower than Intel's controllers. Also make sure you run your drive in AHCI mode, it does make such a difference in performance, a big difference.

Price point

Crucial is able to keep the prices very competitive as this product is made 80% in-house as Crucial is owned by Micron.

  • 750 GB costs € 199 / € 0.26 per GB
  • 2050 GB costs € 520 / € 0.26 per GB

A mainstream price for a way above average class performing SSD with excellent endurance. With the MX300 comes a three year carry-in warranty, which we feel is an OK warranty policy. The prices could even come down a bit more in the Christmas season, though we expect new 3D NAND types this year. The industry last year moved from 32 towards 48 layers, it seems bigger volume size SSDs are coming as 64 Layer 3D NAND Technology is launching this year. The next generation 3D NAND technology, BiCS3 has 64 layers of vertical storage capability. 

 
 
 

Concluding

You know, I have noticed some reviews classing the MX300 being an entry level product. While I understand the classification & explanation, I do tend to disagree as last year's high-end performance apparently this year is entry level. The overall performance the MX300 offers is plenty fine for your normal PC user and PC gamer. For the money you are receiving a lot of SSD storage and performance with this 2 TB SSD, it is a lot of capacity. Also on the endurance side (yes even with TLC) we cannot complain as the unit is rated at a very comfortable 400 TB written (and typically they will last even much longer). And to some extend there even is power loss protection, less for hot-data though. The SSD offers a lot of value, volume and decent performance. We'll state it once more, your read performance is comparable and up-to snuff with the competition in the 500 MB/sec range. Its writes are plenty fast up-to the point where you need to write huge and massively sized multi-GB files for long extended periods. You'll noticed that after 50GB written (sustained) the write performance dropped from 470 MB/s towards 280 MB/s. That is the caveat and Achilles heel of TLC written NAND. But again, that is after your SDRAM cache and SLC cache thus are depleted. If a perf drop after 50GB written is an issue for you, you will need to spend more money on an SSD with another NAND flash write type. But let me ask you again, how often do you write such HUGE workloads? At roughly 26 cents per GB this is a marvelous SSD with immense storage. Concluding, the MX300 2050 GB model with its massive volume size and rated 400 TBW and three years guaranteed under warranty feels pretty good. The warranty plan itself is fine really, simple carry-in. So, if your workload lines up towards PC gaming and/or regular usage on an internet PC, then we have to admit, this is looking to be a great SSD to work with, frankly speaking it's fine. The Crucial MX300 2TB offers value SSD at respectable performance and as such comes recommended by Guru3D.com For the eager PC user we just cannot grumble about the MX300, it offers excellent value for money and performance levels with a lot of endurance with a colossal capacity.

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