The Plextor M8Pe (512GB) SSD Review
by Billy Tallis on December 14, 2016 9:00 AM ESTRandom Read Performance
The random read test requests 4kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test spans the entire drive, which is filled before the test starts. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.
The Plextor M8Pe's random read speed cannot match Samsung's 3D MLC-based 950 Pro or 960 Pro, but it is otherwise very good. The 30% lead over the OCZ RD400 is particularly notable given that it uses the same NAND as the M8Pe.
Power consumption is again higher than the rest of the M.2 PCIe SSDs, but given the good performance it does manage to be more efficient than the OCZ RD400.
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It appears that there is a little bit of thermal throttling happening on the M8PeGN in the final phase of the test at QD32, but otherwise it scales well as queue depths increase. Samsung's SSDs mostly saturate at QD16 while the M8Pe continues to scale up, albeit with diminishing returns.
Random Write Performance
The random write test writes 4kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test is limited to a 16GB portion of the drive, and the drive is empty save for the 16GB test file. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.
The random write performance of the Plextor M8Pe is better than the Samsung 950 Pro but falls behind more recent MLC-based PCIe SSDs, and Intel's SSD 750 is still the best.
The M8Pe's power consumption is only slightly worse than the OCZ RD400, but its efficiency is still substantially worse. The Samsung 950 Pro had even higher power consumption and delivered what is now unimpressive random write performance, so the M8Pe isn't the least efficient of the MLC-based SSDs.
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Performance increases relatively slowly for the M8PeY in the second half of the test, and actually decreases for the M8PeGN, indicating thermal throttling as power consumption hits 4 W.
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close - Friday, December 16, 2016 - link
I'm not at all sure how dire the shortage is but there's plenty of online material for this. Of course, the titles might be apocalyptic but you can get a sense that it's not something to shrug off quite yet:http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20161212VL201.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ssd-hdd-shortage-nan...
https://www.custompcreview.com/news/nand-flash-pri...
https://epsnews.com/2016/10/12/supply-shortage-nan...
And this fits perfectly with the price trends for some SSDs. Crucial/Micron is a nice holdout but probably because of the in-house NAND manufacturing.
On a slightly unrelated note, while I consider Samsung's drives to deliver the highest performance (and use them because of this), I wouldn't say they are most balanced because of the price and implicitly the price/performance ratio. I still go with SanDisk and Crucial wherever top range performance isn't critical because I think they offer a lot more value.
jabber - Friday, December 16, 2016 - link
There is always a 'shortage' yet life and sales go on. Just market FUD too manipulate prices. Never seems to push through to retail much.shabby - Thursday, December 15, 2016 - link
Seems like you guys should be comparing every capacity of ssd when doing reviews, if samsung sends you only the 1tb version tell them where are the other two, because clearly they will be slower.Mr Perfect - Thursday, December 15, 2016 - link
Yes, and this could be played the other way, too. When Plextor sends in a 512GB drive, let them know that they'll be benched against a 1TB Samsung and will be at a disadvantage.Bruce427 - Friday, December 16, 2016 - link
The reason for the 1TB Samsung 960 EVO (only) is, at the time that 's all Samsung was shipping. I'm sure reviews on other models will follow soon.Billy Tallis - Thursday, December 15, 2016 - link
In the specific case of the 960 EVO, Samsung sent me a 1TB and a 250GB sample. The 250GB died, but I'm currently writing up the review of the replacement.Most of the companies and PR people I deal with are very understanding of my desire to test the full range of capacities. But for many product launches, the PR departments simply don't get enough supply to satisfy us reviewers. I can't even say that the executives several levels up who make those allocation decisions are wrong. Most of their benefit comes from the initial exposure of having the SSD reviewed at all. Providing a wider range of samples means they'll get mentioned more frequently as a point of comparison in future reviews, but that's a tough sell when it means a retailer like Newegg is more likely to run out before their second shipment comes in.
Some companies have indicated that they'd be open to providing further samples post-launch when supply is no longer constrained. But I'm not in a good position to ask for that when I still have a backlog of drives that haven't gotten a first review.
epobirs - Friday, December 16, 2016 - link
Also, don't be fooled by MSRP. I got the bare version of the Plextor for under $200 from Newegg recently. I wouldn't have been able to justify going PCIe with any other product I examined at the time.aeolist - Wednesday, December 14, 2016 - link
The 512GB M8Pe was $180 on Newegg over Black Friday, which made it a pretty easy choice for me. Keep an eye out over the holidays, I wouldn't be surprised to see it and the RD400 go on sale pretty significantly.icrf - Wednesday, December 14, 2016 - link
I did the same thing. And to clarify, it was the GN model, without the heat spreader. Aside from having a difficult time getting my Linux install copied over and booting properly, been happy with it, but haven't really stressed it yet.sinPiEqualsZero - Wednesday, December 14, 2016 - link
From a real-world perspective, are we at the point where we (meaning "the majority of humans") can tell the difference between an M.2 PCI-E and SATA drive during normal usage?I ask because I'm using a 1 GB ADATA drive that I picked up for $220 last year and it was a decent upgrade over my Crucial M4. I wonder if the jump from SATA to PCI-E is likewise noticeable.