INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The arrival of consumer oriented SATA solid state drives (SSD's) roughly 10 years ago marked the beginning of the end for mechanical drives, or at least that was what all of us believed back then. Over the years solid state drives did introduce blazing fast read and write performance numbers (especially when the first M.2 models made their debut a few years back) but mechanical drives didnt stay still either and so today although the former is the number one choice when it comes to performance the latter are still around (mainly due to their massively better price/capacity ratio) with no signs of going anywhere any time soon. Crucial was among the very first manufacturers to introduce an SSD drive and after many award winning models (and some not so good) today we're taking a look at their brand new MX500 500GB model which was released in December last year.

   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.

   The MX500 line of SSDs is based on Micron's new 256Gbit 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash and is currently available in 250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB capacities for the SATA III interface and 250GB/500GB/1TB for the M.2 2280 interface. In a surprising move (for us at least) Crucial decided to equip their brand new MX500 with the same SM2258 quad-channel NAND controller by Silicon Motion as their with "entry-level" BX300 model (this is actually a first for an MX series SSD since all previous models came fitted with Marvell controllers). Once again the SM2258 quad-channel NAND flash controller features various technologies including NANDXtend (error-correcting with data protection), Static Data Refresh (ensures data integrity), Direct-to-TLC and SLC Caching (algorithms for optimal sustained performance - Crucial uses a dynamic buffer), global wear leveling (algorithm which evens program/erase count and extends SSD lifespan), DevSleep (device sleep - power save), S.M.A.R.T, TRIM, NCQ, TCG Opal and hardware AES 256bit encryption. The MX500 line of SSDs also supports partial power loss protection (Crucial calls it power loss immunity and unlike previous MX models it's based on a combination of firmware improvements and capacitors), is covered with a 5 year limited warranty and features an MTBF (MTTF) of up to 1.8 million hours. Finally Crucial reports a write endurance of 100TBW for the 250GB model, 180TBW for the 500GB model, 360TBW for the 1TB model and 700TBW for the 2TB model.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again this Crucial SSD arrived inside a small white box that has a large product picture at the front along with the capacity and form factor of the drive.

 

 

The bundle contents and contact information for Crucial are both printed at the rear.

 

 

As expected the drive is secured inside a black formed piece of plastic.

 

 

Inside the box you will find the MX500 SSD, 7mm to 9.5mm spacer, Acronis True Image cloning software license and the installation instructions.

 

 

THE MX500 500GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again we see nothing new in terms of enclosure design since we saw the exact same sticker and enclosure on the MX300 a while back.

 

 

A small sticker at the base of the drive contains various details including the installed firmware version, product part and serial numbers, interface and country of assembly.

 

 

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

 

 

The enclosure is held in place with tiny screws easily removable with a small Philips screwdriver.

 

 

It's clear that this empty side of the PCB is populated in the 1TB/2TB models.

 

 

On the opposite side we find 8 TLC NAND flash modules (64GB in capacity each), 256MB DDR3L SDRAM module and the Silicon Motion SM2258 quad-channel controller.

 

 

CRUCIAL STORAGE EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you need more control over your MX500 you can always download Crucial’s Storage Executive software from their website.

 

 

The very first screen shows the available physical (obviously just in case you wish to use their momentum cache technology) and virtual system memory and the drive’s serial number, installed firmware version, used capacity and temperature (unfortunately just like in a past review the software crashed under Windows 10 Pro so this time over in order to feature it in our review we had to boot the system using a Windows 7 Ultimate installation).

 

 

You can also perform an online firmware search for the drive but to date Crucial hasn’t released an update for the MX500.

 

 

The status of the drive can be checked from both the health (easier and faster) and SMART tabs (more detailed).

 

 

If you need to securely delete everything on the drive the sanitize drive tab offers that option with ease.

 

 

Momentum cache uses a small amount of system memory (RAM) to store data prior to moving them to the SSD’s flash memory. Since RAM is faster that should improve performance but since the amount of RAM used is not large (unless you have 128GB or more installed in your system) you’re practically getting a small but rather short-lived boost.

 

 

Via the Over Provisioning tab you can allocate a percentage of the drive (an small amount is pre-allocated but you can increase it significantly from here) to improve system performance and endurance (unfortunately since the flex capacity option is not supported on the MX500 we can’t really comment on it).

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   After over 9 years of testing solid state drives we've 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 10 Pro x64 installation with every update installed up to February 9th 2018.

 

 

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 we get a brand new SSD model with a higher number than the previously released one we see a performance increase and as clearly shown from our charts this is exactly the case with the MX500 500GB drive when compared to last year’s MX300 480GB model. Now in some tests both drives seem to be trading blows but overall it seems that Crucial was right using a Silicon Motion NAND flash controller (and not the brand new SM2290 model aimed towards enterprise and industrial-grade models but the previous consumer oriented SM2280) with their latest MX500 model. Of course since the same SM2280 controller was used in the BX300 line (32 layer vs 64 layer 3D TLC NAND however) we don’t see large performance gaps between the MX500 500GB and the BX300 480GB (these two seem to be trading blows even more often) so we don’t see any real need (other than capacity and endurance – 160TBW/180TBW and 3/5 years warranty) for people who already own the latter to move to the former.

   According to Crucial the goal of the MX500 line of SSD’s is to hit the sweet spot between price and performance and so it’s no surprise that the 500GB model currently retails for just USD134.95 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 130Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). True the MX500 may not be the fastest and most durable SATA III SSD money can buy today but it does come really close and with such a price tag it represents one of the best choices currently in the market and for that it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality / Durability (180TB TBW / 1.8 Million Hours MTBF)
- Very Good Performance
- Features (NANDXtend / Static Data Refresh / SLC Caching / DevSleep/ eDrive Support)
- Crucial Storage Executive Software
- 5 Year Warranty
- Price

CONS

- Small Performance Increase Compared To The BX300