Sequential Read Performance

For full details of how we conduct our Iometer tests, please refer to this article.

Iometer - 128KB Sequential Read

Sequential read performance hasn't been a strength of Crucial's Marvell based SSDs and the MX200 doesn't change that. 

Iometer - 128KB Sequential Read (Power)

Power efficiency isn't too good either because the performance is low, yet the power draw is quite average.

Crucial MX200 250GB

The scaling graph reveals why: the performance at QD1 and QD2 is simply terrible compared to other drives. Most drives max out the SATA 6Gbps interface at QD2 by providing over 500MB/s, but the MX200 requires QD4 before it reaches its full potential.

Sequential Write Performance

Iometer - 128KB Sequential Write

Fortunately sequential write performance is much better. The 250GB does leave a bit to be desired with its SLC cache, but compared to competing drive in the same capacity class it does well.

Iometer - 128KB Sequential Write (Power)

Power efficiency is also decent.

Crucial MX200 250GB

Again the full SLC cache shows its impact, but now the slowdown starts at QD2 already (sequential writes are faster than random, so the cache is filled quicker). The larger capacities scale well and reach their maximum throughput at QD2.

Random Performance Mixed Read/Write Performance
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  • KAlmquist - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link

    I'm hoping that once other companies get 3D NAND into production we will see some interesting competition for Samsung.
  • austinsguitar - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link

    I love how they post this but not the mx100 tests.... whats the FKING POINT in testing than?
  • Ryan Smith - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link

    I'm not sure I follow. The MX100 is in our graphs.
  • earl colby pottinger - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link

    Question about the hardware encryption.

    Where does the key come from? Can I set my own key?

    The reason I ask is, if all the drives have the same key from the manufacturer then it is like there is no key at all. As if you know one key you know them all.

    If it is made by a random number generator, how do we not know there is a pattern from the generator so a hacker only needs to do a few thousand (million?) tests to break the encryption?

    If on the other-hand we can set the key, is it easy to do? Is the key such that we can write it to the drive but it is hard to read out?
  • Vinchent - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link

    Wow I just purchased the MX200 250GB a couple of days ago.
    If I had read this article before, I wouldn't have bought it.
    btw, thanks for this great article, AT :)
  • RandUser - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link

    Lol, same for me here. Should have gotten a BX100. The MX200 performs without problems though, so no point returning it, just it's not the best value for money.
  • MrSpadge - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link

    If you don't fill it in a sudden rush, it's still a fine drive. Not the best choice, but not terrible either.
  • PaulBags - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link

    The Samsung 850 pro 1tb is missing from most charts, disappointing.
  • Sejong - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link

    No comments on the NAND being 16nm? Is this not an issue? I am reluctant to buy MX100, 200 and BX100 when there is M500 still in stock (the price seems to be rising).

    Another review request : Intel`s new SSD 535 (this seems to use hynix 16nm NAND memory).
  • MrSpadge - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link

    No, it's not an issue. Even with "just" the guaranteed endurance it's going to last a long time. And very probably a lot longer, as in any SSD which is not under continous sustained use (which would cause very high write amplification).

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