Review: Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
World’s First 16nm MLC SSD
As one of the largest SSD manufacturers in the world, Crucial and parent company Micron has been making some huge moves with their SSD lineup, already introducing three new SSDs this year.
In the first half, Crucial launched the performance oriented Crucial M550 designed for enthusiasts while Micron launched the Micron M500DC designed for hyperscale and datacenter environments.
A couple weeks ago at Computex Taipei, Crucial made another huge announcement revealing the the new Crucial MX100 SSD.
Crucial MX100 Specifications
| Manufacturer | Crucial | Crucial | Crucial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | MX100 | MX100 | MX100 |
| Form Factor | 7mm, 2.5″ SATA | 7mm, 2.5″ SATA | 7mm, 2.5″ SATA |
| Capacity | 128GB | 256GB | 512GB |
| Controller | Marvell 88SS9189 | Marvell 88SS9189 | Marvell 88SS9189 |
| NAND | 16nm Micron Synchronous MLC | 16nm Micron Synchronous MLC | 16nm Micron Synchronous MLC |
| Sequential Reads | 550 MB/s | 550 MB/s | 550 MB/s |
| Sequential Writes | 150 MB/s | 330 MB/s | 500 MB/s |
| 4K Random Read | 80,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS | 90,000 IOPS |
| 4K Random Write | 40,000 IOPS | 75,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS |
| Interface | SATA 3 6GB/s | SATA 3 6GB/s | SATA 3 6GB/s |
| Warranty | 3 Years, 72TBW | 3 Years, 72TBW | 3 Years, 72TBW |
Today we’ll be reviewing the Crucial MX100 SSD which is Crucial’s latest mainstream SSD offering. It’ll come in capacities of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB although unlike the M500 or M550, a 1TB option is not currently available at this time.
The Crucial MX100 will be controlled by an eight channel Marvell 88SS9189 controller, carried over from the Crucial M550. The biggest difference with the MX100 is that it’ll be using Micron’s latest 16nm synchronous MLC NAND rather than previous generation 20nm synchronous MLC NAND resulting in a significant reduction in cost per die.
Like the rest of Crucial’s current lineup, the MX100 will receive Crucial’s RAIN (Redundant Array of Independent NAND) to help improve drive endurance and like the Crucial M550, the MX100’s ratio of data to parity blocks is 127:1, indicating that Crucial is fairly confident in the endurance of Micron’s 16nm MLC offering.
Let’s take a closer look at the Crucial MX100 256GB!
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