Plextor M5 Pro 256GB SSD with Xtreme 1.02 Firmware Review

CrystalDiskMark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3.0 Technical Preview

Developer Homepage: http://crystalmark.info

Product Homepage: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html

Download here: http://crystaldew.info/category/software/crystaldiskmark

CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software that allows us to benchmark 4K and 4K queue depths with accuracy.

Key Features:-

* Sequential reads/writes

* Random 4KB/512KB reads/writes

* Text copy

* Change dialog design

* internationalization (i18n)

Note: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0 Technical Preview was used for these tests since it offers the ability to measure native command queuing at 4 and 32.

It's amazing how far 4K read and write speeds have went up over the last three years. When SSDs first started making it to mainstream users, 20MB/s of 4K read performance was enthusiast class. Now, 40MB/s is the magic number everyone is shooting for (as measured in this test, IOMeter results are a little lower).

The new firmware gives a slight performance increase in 4K writes. The increased performance scales well as queue depth is increased.