UserBenchmark: Crucial M4 vs M500

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CrucialCT240M500SSD1

BUY • $73

CrucialCT256M4SSD2

$218

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 49,717 user samples

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31,779 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 91% 121GB free
Worst Bench: 57% 90GB free (System drive)

Poor: 57% Great: 91%

SPEED RANK: 543^rd / 1072

17,938 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 74% 168GB free
Worst Bench: 43% 72GB free (System drive)

Poor: 43% Great: 74%

SPEED RANK: 796^th / 1072


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		76.6 %	Faster effective speed. +26%		60.8 %


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	413 MB/s		432 MB/s	+5%
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	256 MB/s	Slightly faster write speed. +7%	240 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	22.9 MB/s	Faster random read. +15%	19.9 MB/s
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	81.1 MB/s	Slightly faster random write. +9%	74.1 MB/s
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	291 MB/s	Faster mixed IO speed. +16%	250 MB/s
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	31.9 MB/s	Hugely faster random mixed IO. +118%	14.6 MB/s
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	194 MB/s		195 MB/s	+1%


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	442 MB/s		494 MB/s	Faster peak read speed. +12%
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	276 MB/s	+3%	268 MB/s
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	26.5 MB/s	Faster peak random read. +13%	23.4 MB/s
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	116 MB/s	Slightly faster peak random write. +9%	106 MB/s
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	310 MB/s	Faster peak mixed IO speed. +14%	273 MB/s
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	38.4 MB/s	Hugely faster peak random mixed IO. +103%	18.9 MB/s
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	272 MB/s	+3%	265 MB/s

Market Share

Based on 75,781,429 SSDs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.02 %	Hugely higher market share. +100%	0.01 %
Value Value For Money	12.2 %	Hugely better value. +173%	4.46 %
User Rating UBM User Rating	54 %	+4%	52 %
Price Price (score)	$73	Much cheaper. +67%	$218


Age Newest	134 Months	More recent. +15%	157 Months
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	328 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue read. +78%	184 MB/s
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	264 MB/s	Faster peak deep queue write. +13%	234 MB/s
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	1,011 Pts	Much stronger server IO. +34%	752 Pts
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	188 MB/s	Hugely faster peak deep queue mixed IO. +468%	33.1 MB/s
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	296 MB/s	Hugely faster deep queue read. +123%	133 MB/s
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	238 MB/s	Much faster deep queue write. +75%	136 MB/s
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	166 MB/s	Hugely faster deep queue mixed IO. +600%	23.7 MB/s


Capacity Capacity			240GB			256GB

We had high expectations for the Crucial M500. Crucial have a long history of producing outstanding Solid State drives. Both the RealSSD 300 and the M4, three and two years old, were almost legendary in terms of reliability and performance. The M500 falls far short of our expectations. The drive is relatively cheap and as such we were expecting to compromise on performance but the M500 just falls too far short. With a Real World Performance of 377.5 MBps which is in the bottom 40% and an AS-SSD score of 901 points (50th percentile) the M500 demonstrates relatively weak real world and average server performance. The M500 is competing with the Sandisk Ultra which manages to squeeze out significantly more performance despite sitting in the same price bracket. ^{[Jun '13 SSDrivePro]}

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The Crucial M4 is one of the oldest SSD's to have made it into the group test. When it was released its primary competitors were Sandforce based drives which suffered from two major problems: reliability and weak incompressible data performance. As a result this drive was one of the top drives of its time. That was back in Apr '11. Today the M4 is no longer able to compete and scores below average (377.9 MB/s) on the Real World Speed Index benchmark and way below average (676) on the deep queue depth orientated AS-SSD Total score benchmark. Of course these figures are still far faster than any mechanical hard drive and owners of this drive should feel in no hurry to upgrade. People looking to make a new purchase will find much better value elsewhere. ^{[Apr '13 SSDrivePro]}

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Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) May 2024 SSD Rankings

Welcome to our 2.5" and M.2 SSD comparison. We calculate effective speed for both SATA and NVMe drives based on real world performance then adjust by current prices per GB to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top SSDs. ^[SSDrivePro]

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CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $254	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $163	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $37	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $37	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $79	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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