INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Although it's been almost 9 years since i had my first experience with solid state drives (SSDs) and most factory-ready desktop and laptops now come with at least one pre-installed it there are people who are still not aware of their presence in the market. For example a very good friend of mine came to me last week and asked what steps he could take to "optimize" the speed of an 8 year old system he has at work but when i mentioned the possibility of adding an SSD he had no idea as to what that was. In any case SSDs have come a long way since 9 years ago so now consumers can equip their systems with SATA III 480/512GB models for the same amount of money as SATA II 64GB ones did back then that had less than half their read & write performance levels and of course much lower durability/endurance levels. Crucial just released their first 3D TLC NAND SSD model in the market called the MX300 750GB Limited Edition and we're here to test it out.

   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.

   It's been roughly 2 years since Samsung launched the 850 Pro SSD line based on 3D TLC NAND and Crucial is so far the 2nd manufacturer to hit that milestone. Of course the MX300 model which we have here with us today is aimed at the mainstream market segment much like Samsung's 850 EVO line so we don't expect it to be much of a "threat" to the 850 Pro. The 32-layer 3D TLC NAND flash used by Crucial in the MX300 750GB SSD (and the rest of the soon-to-be line) utilizes four planes (quad plane) to communicate with the NAND flash processor and features FortisFlash technology for Dynamic Write Acceleration (through an emulated SLC layer). The NAND flash controller Crucial used with the MX300 750GB is the 4-channel Marvell 88SS1074 which features partial power loss protection, active garbage collection, redundant array of independent NAND (RAIN), LDPC error correction code (ECC), adaptive thermal protection, data-path protection, multistep data integrity algorithm and fully supports DevSleep (power save), TRIM, SMART, AES 256-bit hardware encryption, TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (fully compatible with Microsoft's eDrive). In terms of endurance crucial rates the MX300 750GB for up to 220TB TBW (roughly 120GB of writes per day for 5 years), gives it an MTTF of 1.5 million hours and as usual covers it with a 3 year limited warranty.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crucial packs the MX300 750GB inside a box that has a product picture at the front, their logo and the included drive capacity.

 

 

The bundle contents and company information are printed at the rear of the box right over several certification and warning logos.

 

 

Typically the drive is placed inside a formed piece of plastic.

 

 

Along with the MX300 750GB limited edition you will also get a 7mm to 9.5mm laptop adapter and a key for Acronis True Image HD cloning software.

 

 

THE MX300 750GB LIMITED EDITION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exterior of the drive is identical to that of the previous MX lines so again nothing new to see here.

 

 

At the rear of the drive Crucial has placed a sticker with the serial and part numbers, barcodes, connectivity, PSID key, capacity, electrical requirements and installed firmware.

 

 

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

 

 

Crucial has used a clip-on (clamp) design for the enclosure so opening it is not hard.

 

 

There are 4 NAND flash modules on the top side of the PCB each 96GB in capacity.

 

 

On the opposite side we find 4 more NAND flash modules (again 96GB in capacity each) along with an array of capacitors (power-loss protection), 1GB LPDDR3 1333MHz DRAM package (again by Micron) and the Marvell 88SS1074 4-channel controller.

 

 

You can also download Crucial’s Storage Executive software from their support page to monitor the drive and have more control over some of its features (you can check this page for more details on the software).

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   After roughly 9 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 have made inquiries about our charts in the past 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 July 27th 2016.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Like we already mentioned in the intro page the MX300 line is a direct competitor to the 850 EVO line by Samsung and after running all our tests we have the first getting in front of the second in only 2 out of 10. Since these two models however are very similar in terms of features (although the MX300 comes with a higher write endurance number) the difference they have in read/write performance should not be enough to discourage potential buyers if the price Crucial asks for their latest SSD is right. Also we need to take into account that the MX300 is faster than many TLC based models out there and that we should also see some performance gains with new firmware updates as production increases.

   We are just 2 days from entering August 2016 and at this exact moment in time the MX300 750GB Limited Edition SSD will set you back USD184.97 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 179Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). This price tag places the MX300 750GB Limited Edition roughly 25-30% over the 850 EVO 500GB and 45-55% beneath the 850 EVO 1TB so we think that Crucial has the price just about figured out. All said and done the Crucial MX300 750GB Limited Edition SSD may not be as fast as its direct competitor the Samsung 850 EVO but it’s more durable (220TB vs 150TB TBW), shares the same features, is faster than most TLC based models out there and is priced right which is why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality / Durability (220TB TBW)
- Very Good Overall Performance
- Features (Dynamic Write Acceleration / DevSleep / eDrive Support)
- Crucial Storage Executive Software
- 3 Year Warranty
- 750GB Capacity
- Price

 

CONS

- Not As Fast As The Samsung 850 EVO