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Crucial m4 And Intel SSD 320: The Other SSD Competitors

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Two more SSDs recently landed in our lab. We cover the "Postville Refresh" Intel SSD 320 and Crucial’s new m4, and stack them up against Intel's SSD 510 and OCZ’s Vertex 3. If you're shopping for an SSD, read this comparison before you make your choice.

Test Setup And Benchmarks

Test Hardware
ProcessorsIntel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge), 3.3 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Power-savings enabled
MotherboardAsus P8P67 Deluxe (LGA 1155) Intel P67/ICH10R, BIOS 1502
MemoryKingston 8 GB (4 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600, KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX
Hard DriveIntel X25-M 160 GB SSDSA2M160G2GC, SATA 3Gb/s (System Drive)
Intel SSD 510 250 GB SSDSC2MH250A2K5, SATA 6Gb/s
OCZ Vertex 3 Pro 200 GB Beta Sample, SATA 6Gb/s
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB Beta Sample, SATA 6Gb/s
Crucial C300 256 GB CTFDDAC256MAG, SATA 6Gb/s
OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G, SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware 1.32
OCZ Agility 2 120 GB OCZSSD2-2AGTE120G, SATA 3GB/s, Firmware 1.32
Crucial m4 256 GB MTFDDAC256MAM-1K1, SATA 6GB/s
Intel SSD 320 300 GB SSDSA2CW300G3
Intel X25-M G2 160 GB SSDSA2M160G2GC, SATA 3Gb/s
GraphicsAMD Radeon HD 4850
Power SupplySparkle 1250 W, 80 PLUS
System Software And Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
Graphics DriverAMD Catalyst 11.2

Benchmarks
Performance MeasurementsCrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64, set to read and write random data to drivePCMark Vantage 1.0.2.0
I/O PerformanceIOMeter 2008.08.18, default configuration, not reading/writing random dataFile server Benchmark, Web server Benchmark, Database Benchmark, Workstation BenchmarkStreaming Reads, Streaming Writes4 KB Random Reads, 4 KB Random Writes

SSDs are secure erased prior to testing, and attached to the 6 Gb/s ports on our Asus P8P67 Deluxe motherboard. At the request of several readers, results from testing the 3 Gb/s ports have been added for comparison.

33 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rainwilds 28 March 2011 21:23
    Oooo, Crucial or Vertex? Decisions, decisions!
    Reply
  • 28 March 2011 22:28
    Could you expand on the Full Disk Encryption capabilities of the Intel 320?
    If you can actually use hardware FDE on that drive (rather than just secure erase), that's a winner for me.
    Reply
  • bto 28 March 2011 22:31
    Why does the Intel 510 250GB appear to have two scores in crystalmark? (469.4 and 259.7) on the top benchmark on page: "Benchmark Results: CrystalDiskMark Streaming Performance" the specs are identical for both.
    Reply
  • poppasmurf 28 March 2011 22:42
    Great lil tidbit, wonder what the difference will be between other SSD's with different interface connections other than physical appearance and the interface connection. More on the lines of pro's and con's between the SSD interface connections I'm referring to the OCZ PCI-e drives vs. SATA 6GB just a thought to stir up the hoop la of ssd's :P
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky 28 March 2011 23:13
    I am beginning to wonder if we haven't reached the point where the human eye and brain are finding it harder to differentiate performance among ssd's. Some mainstream benchmarks seem to suggest that. Some of the benchmarks in this review seem to indicate the same. There are some very tight groupings.
    Reply
  • henryvalz 28 March 2011 23:49
    At the speed points that SSDs are functioning, I'm beginning to think that durability and reliability might be the best basis for decision. I would also really like to see some boot times from Windows 7, or loading time for games.
    Reply
  • kev_stev 29 March 2011 00:13
    Does anyone know when the vertex 3 and M4 are going to actually be available? I have heard rumors that the vertex 3 will be released "any day now" since mid march...
    Reply
  • iamtheking123 29 March 2011 02:35
    I'll go SSD in my next build, probably in a year and a half. Right now I'm satisfied with Raid 0-ed 1TB Caviar Blacks.
    Reply
  • foscooter 29 March 2011 03:19
    No mention of a release date. When will they be "in stores?" Q2 isn't exact enough.
    Reply
  • zerapio 29 March 2011 03:20
    Alert! Spelling police is coming and their PISSED

    (yes, it was intentional)
    Reply