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FRONTPAGE Crucial 256GB M4 Review

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With prices falling, SSDs are rapidly becoming mainstream and are included in a vast number of new builds. The Crucial RealSSD M4 series of SSDs are the newest drives from Crucial, available in 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB models. Crucial have kindly supplied a 256 GB unit for review, along with a data transfer kit.

OC-M4-1-640x449.png

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Nice review, David.

I don't think I saw it mentioned, but I believe that the [write] performance gains from the Sandforce 22** series really show up when using compressible data vs non-compressible, and with non-compressible they are about the same. Do you know if/which of the different benchmarks use which type of data?
 
Any word of long-term reliability? Only reason I didnt buy an SF drive is how poorly my agility II did and since returned. In spite of the obvious performance benefits I went with a pair of intel drives instead.
 
Got to ask is the transfer cable that comes with it now just USB 2.0 or USB 3.0?

It does come in handy if you need a fast portable drive (SSD that is) to carry around if it comes with a USB 3.0 interface. I know the one I got sadly was just a USB 2.0 interface a while back with my 128Gig drive. Still nice for those situations where you need an adaptor though wish it was of the faster type that is out there.
 
Nice review, but something looks wrong on the 4K Iometer graph

David,

Nice summary on the M4. Great work translating all the test runs to the visual graphs for comparison. It makes looking at your two separate reviews easier to compare.

Do you have an error in your final graph that shows the results for the Iometer 4K runs? It says sequential reads and writes, but I think the 4K tests are random. Therefore I assume the graph shows the random reads are significantly lower for the M4 compared to the OCZ Vertex 3. Am I somehow reading that wrong?
 
Thanks for the comments guys . Just a quick reply for now as I'm on a phone.
I'll check which benchmarks use compressable data - I suspect those where the Vertex is clearly better.
I think the cable is usb2 unfortunately, but I'll check when i get home. My desktop has USB 3.
Not sure about reliability from first hand experience - only had it a few weeks. I've heard no complaints thus far, lookking on the web.

The graph axis has a mistake - it's 4k random. I'll fix it tonight or tomorrow .

Cheers,
D
 
Excellent review David!

Im not sure off the top of my head but my V3 240GB review does mention which is which I believe.
 
Very nice review David. I take it that the OCZ Veritex has the Indilix controller? Which is faster?
 
I believe only the new OCZ (Octane) drives have the Indilix controller
 
Vertex 3, Vertex 3 Max IOPS, and Agility 3 are all sandforce 2281 with the difference between them being the type of NAND used. They use sync, toggle, and async in the order previously mentioned.

The new octane used the first new indilix controller to see retail in something like three years.

Any word of long-term reliability? Only reason I didnt buy an SF drive is how poorly my agility II did and since returned. In spite of the obvious performance benefits I went with a pair of intel drives instead.

Many buy the M4 specifically due to its reliability vs the faster sandforce 2281 drives that have a few issues.
 
Excellent and useful information in the featured article and this thread. Thanks guys. :)
 
Very nice review, David! Looks like a very solid offering! Thanks for bringing up the point that different sizes will get different performances due to number of chips. As I recall, for fixed drive sizes, performance can go down between generations due to the decreased number of chips.

Reliability concerns have also sent me to an Intel 320 (120gb), like Sentential. Thanks for the extra info, BossBorot!
 
Lookin' good.

One minor concern, the Crucial M4 is just that - Crucial M4. The RealSSD brand was for the C300 drives :)
 
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