Micron P420m SSD Review: 1.4 TB Of PCI Express-Attached Storage

Results: Sequential Performance

As we've seen from our previous read tests, the P420m is a beast. There really isn't much more to say. Micron's latest delivers class-leading performance that even more expensive drives have a hard time matching.

Do you remember back to the specifications page, where we mentioned the curiously low sequential write performance? This is where it rears its ugly head. Really, the only positive thing to say is that the P420m reaches its maximum speed at small transfer sizes. Once you get past 32 KB blocks, the competition leaves Micron's P420m in the dust. Even Intel's SSD 910, which up until now posted 50% of the P420m's performance, nearly triples its sequential write speed.

Our only guess as to why the P420m has such low sequential write speed is that Micron tuned the firmware predominantly for small block, random performance, compromising sequential write performance.

  • merikafyeah
    Seems like enterprise non-volatile storage is finally starting to approach the speeds of comsumer ram drives:
    http://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews/romex-fancycache-review-ssd-performance-at-13gbs-and-765000-iops-in-60-seconds-flat/

    Considering that the cost/GB of RAM is about $7/GB, it may not be such a bad idea to use RAM storage + backup generators instead of traditional non-volatile flash nand.
    Reply
  • BasslineJunkie
    Take my money!
    Reply
  • rezzahd
    Maybe once the price drops I would pick one of these up, but I think we all know it will be a while before that happens.
    Reply
  • BasslineJunkie
    11507252 said:
    Maybe once the price drops I would pick one of these up, but I think we all know it will be a while before that happens.
    Same here. I love the concept but price/gb isn't where it should be. But i do have some extra pci express slots that need filled!
    Reply
  • utomo
    It is good to see good competition like now. keep comparing like this and hope soon we will get the good mature technology. now the SSD still have many improvement ideas. manufacturer need to work harder to win the market which is big.
    Reply
  • ACTechy
    Awesome. Later down the road, when the price falls, these are going to be the thing to have. Really like PCI based SSD.
    Reply
  • urbanman2004
    TL;DR. I could benefit from something like this saving space on my system. It must have a hefty price
    Reply
  • hakesterman
    i Don't think paying around 600 Dollars for a storage card is feasible.
    Reply