Plextor M6V SSD Review

Value-oriented shoppers in the market for an SSD don't have to settle for TLC-based drives. Plextor found another way to reduce prices with two-bit-per-cell MLC: just use flash with smaller cells.

By Chris Ramseyer
published

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Real-World Software Performance

PCMark 8 Real-World Software Performance

For details on our real-world software performance testing, please click here.

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In many of our real-world software tests, Plextor's M6V finishes just behind the Crucial MX200 and Samsung 850 EVO. Some of the other drives sneak past the M6V at times, but Plextor's MLC-based SSD is never far behind.

Total Storage Bandwidth

After we average all of the results, Plextor's M6V settles in just under the 250GB MX200 250GB 850 EVO. However, the performance gap is wider for the top-tier drives than the lower-end contenders. In the real-world applications that most of us use every day, the M6V is only marginally better than TLC-equipped SSDs already on the market.

PCMark 8 Advanced Workload Performance

To learn how we test advanced workload performance, please click here.

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Under heavy load with everyday software, Plextor's M6V shows the competition how it's done (though it still can't touch more premium SSDs like SanDisk's Extreme Pro). When we limit our scope to the low-cost models out there, the M6V delivers the best heavy-use performance.

Without an emulated SLC layer to sustain its momentum, the M6V trails several other SSDs when the workload eases, allowing them to recover. With so many solid-state drives available, you can see how it'd be easy to pinpoint a model able to address your specific use case.

Latency Test

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It might seem logical to link throughput to latency, but that's not the case. While Plextor's M6V dominates the heavy-workload throughput tests, it, along with Samsung's 850 EVO, suffers through high latency. The variable not shown in these charts is drive busy time, which refers to how long it takes a task to complete.

This metric combines latency (time to start) and throughput. It's possible to see very high throughput numbers and still take longer to start the requested task. Personally, waiting for an operation to start is as unnerving as waiting for it to complete.

Notebook Battery Life

For more information on how we test notebook battery life, click here.

The M6V is a good solid-state drive for mobile warriors who count on lots of battery life during long trips. It also delivers slightly better performance when the platform dials back bus speeds and clock rates. Some drives handle power-saving profiles better than others, and the M6V demonstrates one of the best scores we've seen.

Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews consumer storage.
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    Man I remember when Plextor was the name when it came to CD burners. You wanted a great burner? You got a Plextor.

    How times have changed....
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    17039348 said:
    Man I remember when Plextor was the name when it came to CD burners. You wanted a great burner? You got a Plextor.

    How times have changed....

    Yeah I still have my B940 that I use for backups and as long as that still works I will continue to use it.
    Reply
  • Quixit
    Man I remember when Plextor was the name when it came to CD burners. You wanted a great burner? You got a Plextor.

    How times have changed....

    They have to sell something, not much money in burners these days.
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    When Plextor handed over burner manufacturing to LiteOn things went down hill. You could buy the same model with LiteOn branding and flash it to the Plextor firmware and same a few dollars. I still have all of my Plextor hardware going back to the old SCSI 50-pin units.

    Remember bit to bit copying that would write the copy protection to the new media?
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    Quixit, I get that. It is just me reminiscing about the good ol days.

    17039993 said:
    When Plextor handed over burner manufacturing to LiteOn things went down hill. You could buy the same model with LiteOn branding and flash it to the Plextor firmware and same a few dollars. I still have all of my Plextor hardware going back to the old SCSI 50-pin units.

    Remember bit to bit copying that would write the copy protection to the new media?

    I do. Was one of the things that made Plextor great, as well as their very fast burning speeds. They were able to burn more reliably at higher speeds than the competition which is what made them truly great.

    It is too bad that their new field is not the same, I would buy a Samsung Evo or Intel SSD over this any day.
    Reply
  • qlum
    We use quite a decent amount of them at work as the 120gb ones are quite cheap and at their price you otherwise only get old low end models you generally don't want.
    Reply
  • kalmquist
    I agree that the M6V is too expensive. (As I write this, the 256GB model is $97 on Amazon.). The 240GB Sandisk Extreme Pro, which outperforms most other SATA SSD's at high queue depths and has a 10 year warranty, is now $95 on several sites (including Amazon). The 256GB Mushkin Reactor, which uses the same controller as the M6V, is selling for $80 on Newegg, and that's high because the 250GB Samsung 850 EVO is selling for $78.
    Reply
  • Nintendork
    For consumer grade use, high queu depths means nothing, most the use as an OS-gaming drive revolves around QD 1-4.

    The 850EVOs offer twice the total written capacity (and it can be more than that).
    Reply
  • TbsToy
    Oh boy, another questionable sata SSD to chase around:)!
    Walt Prill
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    Yet another pointlessly expensive lesser grade SSD. The 256GB M6V is 81 UKP here, whereas the 850 EVO 250GB is less than 60. Why on earth would anyone buy an M6V?

    Ian.

    Reply