Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
Plextor brings an SSD series to the market that is more competitive towards the Samsung PRO line, the big guns from, OCZ and the high end range from Intel. One note that I have to make is about the 128GB model in specific, less NAND ICs are being used alongside with a smaller DRAM cache, this results into write performance of roughly 300 MB/sec. While that is still fast it does however result into more mainstream SSD writes. The 256GB, 512GB and 1TB obviously have blistering fast writes.
Architecture & Performance
When you focus a little closer on performance you can see that Plextor can keep up with that competition comfortably albeit the advertised numbers are overall a hint slower. The usage of Synchronous toggle A19nm NAND from Toshiba does work well for them and over time the usage of that dual-core Marvell 88SS9187 controller has helped them out greatly as well. It shows as the firmware seems to be very well developed. This results into very good IOPS performance. Our primary read trace testing shows slightly less than expected results, other than that the 64-bit work and game load trace runs show overall good numbers. Overall the results with the SSD are simply very good. So sequential and sustained writes did not disappoint, copying an ISO or MKV file of 4 GB takes merely a few seconds to write to the SSD. Performance and features wise the SSD series is on par with enthusiast class SATA3 SSDs.
Software
Alongside the SSD comes the Plextor Toolbox, which is a handy utility alright. The tool will check for available firmware and updates it trouble free, 9 out of 10 times it can flash your drive non volatile and thus keep your data intact. The software will also allow you to erase your drive and check out some functions. Fun is the second-generation RAM caching software called PlexTurbo, the numbers shown are trivial though as it remains to be a cache, popular files (hot data) will be loaded from it, and on a FIFO basis writes will be dealt with the same. Your SSD still will write that info at advertised NAND performance.One tip for Plextor, downloading of software is a difficult task at the Plextor website. Plextor needs to make the downloads much more friendly as currently their website is a maze to find stuff in.
Overall SSD Usage
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, if you copy a vast amount of compressed data, then the OCZ Vector will perform seriously fast in performance. Make no mistake, replacing a 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 SATA3 offers these days is simply a massive difference and probably the best upgrade you can make for your computer anno 2014.
SATA Controllers
Some overall recommendations then. Should you be in the market for a SATA 3 SSD then we have a couple of hints though. First and foremost if you have a SATA2 controller only on your motherboard, then you'll get limited at roughly 270 MB/sec read and writes. SATA3 (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 towards 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) integrated SATA 6G controller over anything else available in 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 chipsets also offer fantastic performance. The more recent Asmedia controllers we spotted lately on motherboards are also offering 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.
Pricing and Warranty
Plextor M6 pro SSDs are backed by a five-year warranty. As mentioned on the first page of this review, we looked up the street prices at some online etailers here in the EU. Currently all three models are listed. Currently three models are listed in the pricewatch engines:
- Plextor M6 Pro 128GB at € 81 = €0,632 per GB
- Plextor M6 Pro 256GB at € 144 = €0,562 per GB
- Plextor M6 Pro 512GB at € 293 = €0,572 per GB
Concluding
The M6 Pro is once again a step forward for Plextor. Transitioning towards 19nm NAND from Toshiba (Toggle Synchronous) brings down the prices a notch but also allows them to offer a bit more performance. And let's be realistic here, the product itself offers very good performance. Next to the RAM caching software and low power consumption (0.25 Watt mobile mark measured) the Plextor M6 Pro is also very suited for mobile products. So if you are on the lookout for an upgrade in your laptop, this drive can make all the difference. The final factor is of course pricing, and Plextor is being rather aggressive here though entrance build SSDs are overall 20% more costly over the cheaper brands like Micron. You pay roughly 0.50 to 0.60 (EUR) per Gigabyte depending on the model that you purchase, and that is very close to what Samsung is asking for their 850 Pro series. We have no hesitation recommending you the Plextor M6 Pro SSDs. We do suggest the 256GB or higher volume version over the 128GB model as the larger volume size helps out in write performance. These are great builds and very fast SSDs at a competitive price level. Armed with 5 years warrant you really can't go wrong here. We give it our recommended award as it is well deserved.
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