INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Even up to 3-4 years ago none of us here expected to see a time (at least not as fast) when manufacturers would be able to release solid state drives (SSDs) with really good performance levels that would cost as low as USD0.35 per Gigabyte. Of course back then we also didn't expect to see SSD models (at least not for many years to come) that would be able to max-out the SATA III (6Gb/s) standard so i have to say that things turned out much better than we'd hoped (still i think they could had been even better). Further price reductions however as we speak seem to be the primary goal most manufacturers have so more and more models land around the price/capacity mark mentioned earlier in an effort to attract even casual users to the world of SSDs. Crucial just recently released their BX100 and MX200 lines and since we last tested the entry-level BX100 250GB model today we'll be testing their high-end MX200 250GB model.

   Crucial.com is a leading online retailer specializing in computer memory (RAM) and solid state drives (SSD), and is operated by a subsidiary of Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of computer memory products. Crucial.com offers more than 250,000 compatible products for nearly every computer system: home and business, old and new, PC and Mac® computers. Utilizing a suite of easy-to-use, free online tools, including the Crucial® System Scanner and the Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool, crucial.com makes it easy to find a compatible upgrade to improve computer performance and restore system reliability.

   Unlike the BX100 and most SSDs released by Crucial to date the MX200 can pretty much cover every consumer in the market since it currently is available in 2.5" (250/500GB and 1TB), mSATA, and M.2 flavors (250/500GB) something which we don't see much in the market by other manufacturers. Also again unlike the BX100 the MX200 makes use of the Marvell 88SS9189 NAND flash controller (same as the in the MX100 just with several firmware updates) and features an MTBF of 1.5 million hours, AES 256-bit encryption, TCG Opal 2.0 & IEEE-1667 (eDrive is supported) and support for DevSleep (power saving). The 250GB variant which we're testing today also features 80TBW (8 more compared to the MX100 250GB) and the latest Dynamic Write Acceleration technology by Crucial (the higher capacity models don't seem to need it) which basically makes use of a small amount of NAND as SLC write-cache to increase write performance levels. So we all know how the BX100 performs but what about the MX200?

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just like with the BX100 the box of the MX200 has a large product image at the front with the company logo and capacity of the drive.

 

 

At the rear of the box Crucial lists the contents of the bundle along with several certification logos.

 

 

The box contains the MX200 SSD, a 7mm to 9.5mm bracket and a voucher via which you can download the Acronis True Image HD 2014 cloning software for data migration.

 

 

THE MX200 250GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we exclude the color of the sticker placed at the top of the drive and the initials corresponding to the different models the MX200 is yet another 2.5", 7mm drive just like the BX100.

 

 

The large sticker at the rear of the drive provides you with information regarding the drive such as barcodes, serial number, part number, capacity, electrical requirements, connectivity, country of manufacture and of course several certification and warning logos.

 

 

The typical SATA III power and data connectors are placed at the rear of the drive.

 

 

As you can see the 250GB leaves the front of the PCB empty (the 500GB and 1TB Versions make use of it).

 

 

On the other side however we find eight 16nm MLC NAND flash modules by Micron, one 128MB LPDDR2-1066 DRAM module and the Marvell 88SS9189 NAND flash controller.

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   After roughly 6 years of testing sold state drives i have concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts. Also as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately due to the time required for these tests we repeat them a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people made inquiries about the charts ever since the last comparison so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation with every update installed up to March 21st 2015.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – AS SSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – IOMETER SNIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   When Crucial announced the MX100 they promised a very good price/performance ratio which they really delivered so when we received the MX200 we hoped it'd turn out to be just as good and why not even better. Now Crucial did use the same NAND flash controller by Marvell and the same 16nm flash modules by Micron for both the MX100 and the MX200 but the second not only features an updated firmware for the controller but it also features their latest Dynamic Write Acceleration technology which clearly does make a difference in write performance. Are the MX100 and MX200 worlds apart? Certainly not and you can easily tell that just my looking at our charts. Still the MX200 is better and although we'd hoped for a higher capacity model (we may get one later on) to have a better idea on what this line is capable of the 250GB model surpassed our expectations.

   With all the new SSD models in the market price plays a much more important role than it did several years ago so we were quite curious to see what policy Crucial followed with the MX200 line. Luckily as we speak the 2.5" version of the MX200 250GB retails for just USD119.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 132Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) and although competition is very hard at around that price point still we feel Crucial is doing a great job. Of course the MX200 doesn't represent the best SSDs (durability/performance) in the market but it does very well in terms of performance, comes with many features (features we didn't find with the BX100) and is priced right that's why we're giving it our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Overall Performance
- Features (eDrive Support/Dynamic Write Acceleration technology)
- Available In 2.5"/mSATA/M.2
- 3 Years Warranty
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- None