UserBenchmark: Crucial M550 vs Samsung 840 Evo

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CrucialCT256M550SSD1

$152

SamsungMZ-7TE250BW

BUY • $95

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 225,448 user samples

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8,333 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 113% 106GB free
Worst Bench: 60% 231GB free

Poor: 60% Great: 113%

SPEED RANK: 320^th / 1071

217,115 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 118% 68GB free
Worst Bench: 64% 231GB free

Poor: 64% Great: 118%

SPEED RANK: 276^th / 1071


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		90.5 %			95.9 %	Slightly faster effective speed. +6%


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	418 MB/s		465 MB/s	Faster read speed. +11%
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	416 MB/s	Slightly faster write speed. +6%	394 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	27.1 MB/s		38.8 MB/s	Much faster random read. +43%
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	85 MB/s		85.3 MB/s	+0%
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	299 MB/s		347 MB/s	Faster mixed IO speed. +16%
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	37.9 MB/s		48 MB/s	Faster random mixed IO. +27%
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	311 MB/s	Much faster sustained write speed. +59%	195 MB/s


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	466 MB/s		507 MB/s	Slightly faster peak read speed. +9%
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	470 MB/s		489 MB/s	+4%
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	31.9 MB/s		46.7 MB/s	Much faster peak random read. +46%
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	118 MB/s		119 MB/s	+1%
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	333 MB/s		418 MB/s	Faster peak mixed IO speed. +26%
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	46.4 MB/s		59.8 MB/s	Faster peak random mixed IO. +29%
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	459 MB/s	Much faster peak sustained write speed. +54%	299 MB/s

Market Share

Based on 75,631,233 SSDs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0 %	0.14 %	Insanely higher market share. +∞%
Value Value For Money	8.68 %	12.9 %	Much better value. +48%
User Rating UBM User Rating	52 %	53 %	+2%
Price Price (score)	$152	$95	Much cheaper. +38%


Age Newest	120 Months	Slightly more recent. +7%	129 Months
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	387 MB/s	+1%	383 MB/s
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	361 MB/s		362 MB/s	+0%
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	1,240 Pts		1,273 Pts	+3%
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	240 MB/s	+1%	237 MB/s
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	311 MB/s		337 MB/s	Slightly faster deep queue read. +8%
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	282 MB/s		293 MB/s	+4%
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	201 MB/s		203 MB/s	+1%


Capacity Capacity			256GB			250GB

The 256GB Crucial M550 is a welcome improvement over the 240GB M500. The new Marvel 88SS9189 controller has addressed our primary concern with the M500 which was poor sequential write speed. With sequential read/write speeds of 510/478 MB/s the M550 has a healthy core performance profile. Comparing the M550 and M500 shows that the new M550 leads on nearly every single performance metric. Unfortunately the M550 is priced significantly higher than the M500 but prices will likely drop as retailers build up stocks of the new M550. A key comparable for the M550 is the similarly priced market leading Samsung Evo. Comparing the Evo and M550 shows that the Evo is around 11% slower in terms of effective speed. ^{[Mar '14 SSDrivePro]}

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The Evo is remarkable in that, like the Sandisk Extreme II, it features a second level cache. For the 250 GB Evo this consists of a 3 GB Turbowrite cache (TWC) which is a block of high speed Flash Memory. When the TWC is exhausted write speeds drop by approximately 50% but that won't often happen under typical consumer workloads. In terms of raw performance, even with its cache, the Evo still isn't the fastest drive. With a real world speed index reading of 439 MB/s the EVO is however, within reach of the two speed leaders (Vector and 850 Pro). At a price point of $130 the Evo is around 30% cheaper making it the best value for money SSDs I have seen in 2014. Comparing the Evo and the Sandisk Ultra Plus shows that the Evo is the winner but the Sandisk may be a viable alternative thanks to its cache-free, and therefore more consistent performance during extended writes. ^{[Aug '14 SSDrivePro]}

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Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) April 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 $273	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $131	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $186	Nvidia RTX 4070 $409	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $34	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $35	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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