Intel 750 400GB NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 AIC SSD Review

CrystalDiskMark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3.0 Technical Preview

CrystalDiskMark is disk benchmark software that allows us to benchmark 4k and 4k queue depths with accuracy. Note: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0 Technical Preview was used for these tests since it offers the ability to measure native command queuing at QD4.

Let's focus on 4K QD1 and 4K QD4 because they are the two most important categories. This is where the 400GB 750 has an advantage over the 1.2 TB version. Fewer die counts tend to be faster at low queue depths and this is what we are seeing here. This is our first indicator that the 400GB version may have superior performance in comparison to the 1.2TB version in an OS environment where low QD random read performance has the most impact. We also note that the 400GB 750 has better random read performance at QD32 in this test than the rest of the drives on our chart.

Not surprisingly, the 1.2TB 750 has better write performance than the 400GB 750. Our array has the best random performance and the DC P3700 the best sequential performance.

AS SSD

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.7.4739.38088

AS SSD determines the performance of Solid-State Drives (SSD). The tool contains four synthetic as well as three practice tests. The synthetic tests are to determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD.

AS SSD scoring can be a bit misleading because so much of the score is based on 4k QD64 (4k-64 Thrd) throughput. An OS will rarely reach 64 queues. With our synthetic testing out of the way, let's get to some real-world testing and see how our 400GB 750 Series SSD performs with more realistic benchmarks.