How We Test Plextor's M6e SSD
Our consumer storage test bench is based on Intel's Z77 Platform Controller Hub paired with an Intel Core i5-2400 CPU. Intel's 6- and 7-series chipsets are virtually identical from a storage perspective. We're standardizing on older RST 10.6.1002 drivers for the foreseeable future.
Updates to the RST driver package occasionally result in subtle performance changes. They can also lead to some truly profound variance in scores and results as well, depending on the revision. Some versions flush writes more or less frequently. Others work better in RAID situations. Builds 11.2 and newer support TRIM in RAID as well. Regardless, results obtained with one revision may or may not be comparable to results obtained with another, so sticking with one version across all testing is mandatory.
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| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 3.1 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1866 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V |
| System Drive | Intel S3500 480 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: 0306 |
| Drive(s) Under Test | Plextor M6e 256 GB M.2 PCIe x2, Firmware: 1.00 |
| Comparison Drives | Plextor M6S 256 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: 1.00 |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Plextor M6M 256 GB mSATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: 1.00 |
| Row 7 - Cell 0 | Adata SP920 1024 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Adata SP920 512GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 |
| Row 9 - Cell 0 | Adata SP920 256 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 |
| Row 10 - Cell 0 | Adata SP920 128 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 |
| Row 11 - Cell 0 | Crucial M550 1024 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 |
| Row 12 - Cell 0 | Crucial M550 512 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 |
| Row 13 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 730 480 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: L2010400 |
| Row 14 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 120 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 15 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 250 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 16 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 500 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 17 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 1000 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q |
| Row 18 - Cell 0 | SanDisk X210 256 GB, Firmware X210400 |
| Row 19 - Cell 0 | SanDisk X210 512 GB, Firmware X210400 |
| Row 20 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 530 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: DC12 |
| Row 21 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 520 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 400i |
| Row 22 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA, Firmware: LLKi |
| Row 23 - Cell 0 | SanDisk A110 256 GB M.2 PCIe x2, Firmware: A200100 |
| Row 24 - Cell 0 | Silicon Motion SM226EN 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M0709A |
| Row 25 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 26 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 27 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 28 - Cell 0 | Crucial M500 960 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 |
| Row 29 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 30 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 31 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 32 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q |
| Row 33 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Ultra Plus 64 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: X211200 |
| Row 34 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Ultra Plus 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200 |
| Row 35 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200 |
| Row 36 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q |
| Row 37 - Cell 0 | Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q |
| Row 38 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Extreme II 120 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Row 39 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Extreme II 240 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Row 40 - Cell 0 | SanDisk Extreme II 480 GB, Firmware: R1311 |
| Row 41 - Cell 0 | Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: B660 |
| Row 42 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 30 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 43 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 60 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 44 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 120 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 45 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 46 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 525 240 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi |
| Row 47 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 335 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 335s |
| Row 48 - Cell 0 | Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: PWG2 |
| Row 49 - Cell 0 | OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.25 |
| Row 50 - Cell 0 | OCZ Vector 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0 |
| Row 51 - Cell 0 | Samsung 830 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO3B1Q |
| Row 52 - Cell 0 | Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 000F |
| Row 53 - Cell 0 | Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 1.02 |
| Row 54 - Cell 0 | Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M206 |
| Graphics | MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1 GB |
| Power Supply | Seasonic X-650, 650 W 80 PLUS Gold |
| Chassis | Lian Li Pitstop T60 |
| RAID | LSI 9266-8i PCIe x8, FastPath and CacheCade AFK |
| System Software and Drivers | |
| OperatingSystem | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Drivers | Graphics: Nvidia 314.07RST: 10.6.1002IMEI: 7.1.21.1124Generic AHCI: MSAHCI.SYS |
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| Benchmarks | |
|---|---|
| ULINK DriveMaster 2012 | DM2012 v970, JEDEC 218A-based TRIM Test |
| Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0 | Intel iPeak Storage Toolkit 5.2.1, Tom's Storage Bench 1.0 Trace Recording |
| Iometer 1.1.0 | # Workers = 1, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential, 16 GB LBA Precondition, Exponential QD Scaling |
| PCMark 8 | PCMark 8 2.0.228, Storage Consistency Test |
| PCMark 7 | Secondary Storage Suite |
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