Plextor PX-G256M6e 256 GB M.2 SSD Review

Testing Procedure and Testing Results

Software:

Crystal Disk Mark 3.0.3b – Standard settings used. Test run with compressible and incompressible data
ATTO Disk Benchmark – Default settings used.
AS SSD- Default Settings used.

In this review, we are going to test the Plextor M6e against the fastest SATA SSD that I have in my stable; the Samsung 840 Evo. The point of this is to compare the speed between technologies and to verify Plextor has built a drive that is capable of exceeding the SATA specifications. PCIe (M.2) vs traditional SATA SSDs. Once more M.2 drives become available and we can get our hands on them, the form factor comparison will be the same. Meaning that SATA SSDs will be pit against SATA SSDs and PCIe SSDs will go up against other PCIe SSDs.

Plextor M6e	Samsung 840 Evo

Here is our first look at the numbers from the Plextor M6e. Initially the numbers look good. The increased bandwidth leads to sequential and 512K read and write speeds that are clearly faster than the SATA drive. However, in the 4K tests the transfer rates fall back within range of a SATA SSD and in these last two tests the Samsung 840 Evo comes out ahead.

Plextor M6e	Samsung 840 Evo

In the ATTO Benchmark the Plextor M6e is able to stretch its legs a bit which results in a 756.18 MB/s read speed and a 573.9 MB/s write speed. The Samsung 840 Evo is able to post a 542.34 MB/s read speed and a write speed of 541.01 MB/s.

Plextor M6e	Samsung 840 Evo

The AS SSD test verifies the Crystal Disk Mark tests. Sequential speeds on the Plextor M6e best the Samsung drive by just over 200 MB/s on the read side and 50 MB/s on the write side but the M.2 advantage is erased when it comes to the 4K tests.

Plextor M6e	Samsung 840 Evo

The IOPS test in AS SSD shows a very similar story. In the 4K test the Plextor M6e lags slightly behind the Samsung 840 Evo. In all other tests the Plextor surpasses and in some cases by a large margin the Samsung 840 Evo.

Now that we’re done with the synthetic testing, how about some real world results?

PCMark’s storage test is designed to replicate real world results by using traces of applications such as Photoshop, Word, Excel, etc.

The storage score of each drive is extremely close to each other.

Bandwidth wise the Plextor M6e is a beast averaging 309 MB/s in the PCMark 8 storage test. The M.2 drive is clearly faster.

So out of all the tests the we performed, the higher bandwidth of the M.2 interface why do these tests show negligible differences between the two drives. My thought is, the Samsung 840 Evo has better 4K performance than the Plextor possibly due to Plextor’s aggressive garbage collection routines and maybe it is just enough difference to take the advantage away from the Plextor M6e. One more thing to take into consideration, this is the 1st generation of M.2 drives.