Crucial M225 128GB
Test Setup and HD Tune
Published: 6th January 2010 | Source: Crucial | Price: £282.80 |
Test Setup
The Crucial M225 was sent to us to review as a notebook replacement storage solution, therefore we took the not too difficult decision to test using a notebook and see how much benefit a SSD can have.
Model : Compaq Presario V6500
CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 @ 1.9GHz
RAM : 2GB
Graphics : NVIDIA GeForce 7150M
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate
Chipset : AMD 780G
Storage on Test : Crucial M225 128GB. Western Digital 320GB
HD Tune
HD Tune is not perfect for testing Solid State Drives but there is no doubting it's capability to produce very friendly results with a wealth of information available in an easy to read format. The graphs produced are very simple to understand and if anything demonstrates the ability of an SSD to be quick no matter where the data is held, this is it. Defragmenting is a thing of the past.
Firstly we'll take a look at the graphs produced by HD tune. On the left is the Crucial M225, and on the right the WD320. As you can see the Western Digital is very poor indeed at small sizes, and only really gets up to any useful speed once we deal in 1mb chunks. It also suffers from the standard HD problem that the further to the edge of the platter you go, the slower the revolutions and therefore the slower the transfer rate.
The Crucial however is only mildly poor at 64kb, but this is a common thing with Solid State Drives, and then blazingly fast at anything above that. 240MB/s read speed on a drive marketed as a notebook one is amazing and certainly up there with the very best SSDs available.
Starting with a 64kb cluster.
And now the 512kb cluster
And finally a 1mb cluster.
Although we ran the full range of File Transfer benchmarks, the results mirrored those of the read above, so we'll show one of them to prove this, and also take a look at the random access times.
As you can see, actually accessing files matches very closely the synthetic results of the benchmarks above. Extremely small files are pretty poor on both systems but the moment the size matches something you'd actually use, the speeds plateau very quickly. With very large files the drop off on the WD320 is huge, whereas the Crucial on test today barely skips a beat.
Random access times, as would be expected from a SSD, are blazingly fast. So fast that timing them in a meaningful manner is almost impossible. It's here that the real benefits to the overall speed of your system are felt, and it made a huge difference in the usability of our Compaq Presario.
So with the synthetic benchmarks out of the way, let's take a look at some real world improvements and see if the Crucial M225 can breathe new life into your notebook.
Most Recent Comments
Looks good nice consistent speeds compared to some i have seen
Great review.
£283 >.<
We're about to be on the crest of drives with controllers capable of bursting over 300mbs as an average, one would hope that they take over the £2/G mantle, whilst the ""slower"" <280mbs existing drives head towards £1.5/G (atleast! ) To that extent, it still doesn't look good.
Think with all the reviews of ssds OC3D has under it's belt, we could throw some comparisons charts together.
Can't mock the performance tho.
£283 >.<
We're about to be on the crest of drives with controllers capable of bursting over 300mbs as an average, one would hope that they take over the £2/G mantle, whilst the ""slower"" <280mbs existing drives head towards £1.5/G (atleast! ) To that extent, it still doesn't look good.
Think with all the reviews of ssds OC3D has under it's belt, we could throw some comparisons charts together.
Can't mock the performance tho.
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Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'
Great review.
£283 >.< We're about to be on the crest of drives with controllers capable of bursting over 300mbs as an average, one would hope that they take over the £2/G mantle, whilst the ""slower"" <280mbs existing drives head towards £1.5/G (atleast! ) To that extent, it still doesn't look good. Think with all the reviews of ssds OC3D has under it's belt, we could throw some comparisons charts together. Can't mock the performance tho. |
As for the graphs- The crucial was tested in a notebook, so it can't really be compared with all the other SSD's which were tested on a desktop IIRC.
For me, the costing is merely "what can we get away with". I understand sourcing and practical supply/demand studies, but in practice it rarely seems to be the case.
Gonna copyright that phrase one of these days. wcwgaw ?
Gonna copyright that phrase one of these days. wcwgaw ?
Huh? Considering it's basically memory chips and a controller, try and get 128GB of RAM for £300 and let me know how you get on.
Really, they're quite cheap.
Really, they're quite cheap.
They are going to have to drop quite a lot more to become appealing to the masses though. For the price of one of these you could have 5TB's of HD space, perhaps more which when run in raid will match/better this speed. However, this is not the case with notebooks.
Great review Bry. What were the write speeds like btw?
Great review Bry. What were the write speeds like btw?
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Originally Posted by name='VonBlade'
Huh? Considering it's basically memory chips and a controller, try and get 128GB of RAM for £300 and let me know how you get on.
Really, they're quite cheap. |
U ofc can't buy a 128g strip for £300, but where that argument breaks down is that the actual price of the 128g strips is grossly disproportionate to buying the memory chips seperately, or 2x 64g etc. The price of a 128g strip, again, is wcwgaw - 1000s I have no doubt, and there is no way in hell that it would cost half the price to make it. Think Samsung and some1 else are selling them atm.
At the end of the day Rasta its business, without profit there would be no advances in the industry. We all moan about new tech prices, mainly because we want them but cant afford them. Your argument about the price they pay is irrelevent, thats like saying Dell pay next to nothing for their screens from Samsung so we shouldnt pay the price they want for them.
What we must remember though is you could spend £300 extra on a cpu or any other speed upgrade and it would not create an impact like an SSD would. You could yes of couse raid up loads of mechanical drives, but that also requires space and power. I was gobsmacked what a difference an SSD had on my rig, when all the TRIM and Firmware issues are ironed out so the drives perform at top speed for months and months I would recomend these to every user. For now though its an enthusiast item, and a very good one at that.
What we must remember though is you could spend £300 extra on a cpu or any other speed upgrade and it would not create an impact like an SSD would. You could yes of couse raid up loads of mechanical drives, but that also requires space and power. I was gobsmacked what a difference an SSD had on my rig, when all the TRIM and Firmware issues are ironed out so the drives perform at top speed for months and months I would recomend these to every user. For now though its an enthusiast item, and a very good one at that.
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
At the end of the day Rasta its business, without profit there would be no advances in the industry. We all moan about new tech prices, mainly because we want them but cant afford them. Your argument about the price they pay is irrelevent, thats like saying Dell pay next to nothing for their screens from Samsung so we shouldnt pay the price they want for them.
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The advance in technology is moving at a snail's pace and has been for maybe 2 decades. It is a very poor representation of cash, and profits made, versus advances.
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
What we must remember though is you could spend £300 extra on a cpu or any other speed upgrade and it would not create an impact like an SSD would. You could yes of couse raid up loads of mechanical drives, but that also requires space and power. I was gobsmacked what a difference an SSD had on my rig, when all the TRIM and Firmware issues are ironed out so the drives perform at top speed for months and months I would recomend these to every user. For now though its an enthusiast item, and a very good one at that.
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But I do disagree that these are aimed at enthusiasts. These are, and have been for a few years (as it's not new tech), at businesses and the like of people who would buy a top end mbp just to read email.
U could argue for the likes of enthusiasts that buy Alienware products. But to think for the period of time these have been out, that enthusiasts in the main, such as OC3D members, are the target of these devices is crazy. If u took a poll of allthe members, I would be impressed if over 10% had one.
EDIT: I'd even give some leaway on that and say that the SSDs could be of any size from the "cheapest" to the most expensive.
New tech will always be expensive, just like the ATI 5000's and most probably the green offerings when they arrive. Its always the same, and people will always moan. Some of us however accept these facts as life, release we can moan all we like and it will make no difference because others among us will shut up, save up and buy it anyways.
And that's exactly why the UK get the prices they do. UK people h8 to complain with a face, the majority will just bend over and take it.
A prime example is the ATI 5000 series, what did we see so many months ago, a uk store selling a card for £596. AND they would be sold out I'm sure. Whereas parts of the populous would say no and still save for it at £150 less.
The old supply and demand donut ? Not when elsewhere they're selling it at the same figure in a different currency.
A prime example is the ATI 5000 series, what did we see so many months ago, a uk store selling a card for £596. AND they would be sold out I'm sure. Whereas parts of the populous would say no and still save for it at £150 less.
The old supply and demand donut ? Not when elsewhere they're selling it at the same figure in a different currency.
The same figure in a different currency is a pita, but mainly we have our wonderfull banking system to thank for the price stupidity atm.
Some people just want new tech, its ALWAYS been the same, it will never change. I seem to remember the price of 8800GT's being insane when first released as Nvid cleverly hadnt let many out the door. ALL companies do it, not only does it keep prices up but all the forums are buzzing with people waiting to get there hands on them, or like you moaning about the prices.
Its just the same old s..t, just a different product range.
Some people just want new tech, its ALWAYS been the same, it will never change. I seem to remember the price of 8800GT's being insane when first released as Nvid cleverly hadnt let many out the door. ALL companies do it, not only does it keep prices up but all the forums are buzzing with people waiting to get there hands on them, or like you moaning about the prices.
Its just the same old s..t, just a different product range.
Bankers ? That's an interesting channel of blame. It has ofc been the case that things as simple as books have been $24 and £25, as I can remember the 3" thick Amiga Rom Kernel Reference Manual in the 80s. Something that, in fairness would cost u an absolute fortune to mail to the states, and a few dollars to mail back - which also still exists.
They charge what they feel they can get away with. It's as simple as that. And that aint a moan, it's a statement of the facts as they're seen.
Pretty unnessary swipe at the nvidia camp. I can't remember any insane pricing that dramatically fell. I can remember the very high price of the 8800GTX/Ultras, especially Kemp getting one by methods, which dropped by £50 or so about a month later, as they do with nearly all their products. And that they remained at the high price even tho there were equiv newer cards out a few years l8r. Also a dramatic change in performance at the time, including api, Dx9->10 which is nothing like 10->10.1->11.
Recognizable trend there tho aye
They charge what they feel they can get away with. It's as simple as that. And that aint a moan, it's a statement of the facts as they're seen.
Pretty unnessary swipe at the nvidia camp. I can't remember any insane pricing that dramatically fell. I can remember the very high price of the 8800GTX/Ultras, especially Kemp getting one by methods, which dropped by £50 or so about a month later, as they do with nearly all their products. And that they remained at the high price even tho there were equiv newer cards out a few years l8r. Also a dramatic change in performance at the time, including api, Dx9->10 which is nothing like 10->10.1->11.
Recognizable trend there tho aye
It wasnt a swipe at Nvid, just trying to say its a common thing to see now with ALL companies.
Wish you would take your green glasses off and stop trying to use that line. You sound like some one shouting racist all the freaking time and its getting boring.
Wish you would take your green glasses off and stop trying to use that line. You sound like some one shouting racist all the freaking time and its getting boring.
Don't make me laugh Tom. If one side of the argument is wear ATI red glasses (that aren't 3d btw), it doesn't hold true that the opposition is wearing green glasses just cos they disagree with u.
Let's be sensible.
Let's be sensible.
Rasta Ive already said in a previous post that ATI prices have been high, just like Nvids are with new tech also.
Let me get this straight. Ur comparing 1 product being release at a very high rrp to a another product being release at a high rrp, but sold anything up to £150 over the rrp ?
Thats in direct relation to a specific retailer not the company concerned. Many etailers will try their luck again, its just life.
That's very true. Which brings me back to my initial claim that they will charge, and these etailer prices, if u like, are wcwgaw and nothing to do with anything else.
What would make it compelling is if etailers outside of the UK also saw fit to ++£150 (or whatever). I do know when we found the £596 card, the equiv wasn't hyked the same way in other countries.
What would make it compelling is if etailers outside of the UK also saw fit to ++£150 (or whatever). I do know when we found the £596 card, the equiv wasn't hyked the same way in other countries.
I think the prices in the UK are in direct relation to the fact not many are being imported, and the main reason for that yet again is cost. Limited supplies = people willing to pay higher prices. I very much doubt from ANY firm that the wholesale prices will vary very much in the first 6 months of production yet the shop price can vary wildly.
Get back on topic and stop bickering.
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Originally Posted by name='Ham'
Get back on topic and stop bickering.
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Damn it Ham, the butter aint even melted on my popcorn yet!
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