UserBenchmark: Crucial M4 vs Intel 520 Series

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CrucialCT256M4SSD2

$218

IntelSSDSC2CW120A3

BUY • $199

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 37,286 user samples

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17,938 User Benchmarks

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

Poor: 43% Great: 74%

SPEED RANK: 795^th / 1071

19,348 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 88% 17GB free
Worst Bench: 57% 37GB free (System drive)

Poor: 57% Great: 88%

SPEED RANK: 593^rd / 1071


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		60.8 %			74 %	Faster effective speed. +22%


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	432 MB/s	Faster read speed. +10%	392 MB/s
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	240 MB/s	Much faster write speed. +54%	156 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	19.9 MB/s		32.1 MB/s	Much faster random read. +61%
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	74.1 MB/s		78.9 MB/s	Slightly faster random write. +6%
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	250 MB/s	Faster mixed IO speed. +20%	209 MB/s
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	14.6 MB/s		36.4 MB/s	Hugely faster random mixed IO. +149%
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	195 MB/s	Much faster sustained write speed. +47%	133 MB/s


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	494 MB/s	Faster peak read speed. +11%	446 MB/s
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	268 MB/s	Much faster peak write speed. +50%	179 MB/s
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	23.4 MB/s		39.6 MB/s	Much faster peak random read. +69%
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	106 MB/s		114 MB/s	Slightly faster peak random write. +8%
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	273 MB/s	Faster peak mixed IO speed. +22%	224 MB/s
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	18.9 MB/s		45.5 MB/s	Hugely faster peak random mixed IO. +141%
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	265 MB/s	Much faster peak sustained write speed. +58%	168 MB/s

Market Share

Based on 75,895,169 SSDs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.01 %		0.02 %	Hugely higher market share. +100%
Value Value For Money	4.46 %	Much better value. +36%	3.29 %
User Rating UBM User Rating	52 %		53 %	+2%
Price Price (score)	$218		$199	Slightly cheaper. +9%


Age Newest	157 Months		147 Months	Slightly more recent. +6%
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	184 MB/s		239 MB/s	Faster peak deep queue read. +30%
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	234 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue write. +38%	169 MB/s
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	752 Pts		792 Pts	Slightly stronger server IO. +5%
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	33.1 MB/s		191 MB/s	Hugely faster peak deep queue mixed IO. +477%
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	133 MB/s		217 MB/s	Much faster deep queue read. +63%
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	136 MB/s		150 MB/s	Faster deep queue write. +10%
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	23.7 MB/s		164 MB/s	Hugely faster deep queue mixed IO. +592%


Capacity Capacity			256GB			120GB

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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The Intel 520 Series was Intel's first SSD to feature a Sandforce 2281 controller. This controller has powered countless SSDs over the last three years but is now dated and is known to be limited in the area of incompressible write speed. The 120GB Intel 520 scored peak and average sequential read/write speeds of 514/157 and 421/133. These read speeds are good but the peak write of 157 MB/s lags the group leaders average of 313 MB/s by nearly 100%. This relative inability to write lowers the 520's overall effective speed to 403 MB/s or 15% lower than the 459 MB/s achieved by the group leaders. At two years of age the Intel 520 can no longer compete with newer drives, there is far better value available amongst the group leaders. ^{[Feb '14 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 $252	Nvidia RTX 4060 $280	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $168	Nvidia RTX 4070 $490	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $39	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $32	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $45	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $62	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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