UserBenchmark: Crucial M4 vs Kingston HyperX 3K

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CrucialCT256M4SSD2

$218

KingstonSH103S3/120G

BUY • $100

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 64,004 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

46,066 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 87% 47GB free
Worst Bench: 57% 21GB free (System drive)

Poor: 57% Great: 87%

SPEED RANK: 593^rd / 1071


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		60.8 %			74.1 %	Faster effective speed. +22%


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	432 MB/s	Faster read speed. +18%	366 MB/s
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	240 MB/s	Faster write speed. +25%	192 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	19.9 MB/s		30.2 MB/s	Much faster random read. +52%
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	74.1 MB/s		80.4 MB/s	Slightly faster random write. +9%
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	250 MB/s	Slightly faster mixed IO speed. +9%	229 MB/s
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	14.6 MB/s		38.1 MB/s	Hugely faster random mixed IO. +161%
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	195 MB/s	Much faster sustained write speed. +37%	142 MB/s


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	494 MB/s	Faster peak read speed. +13%	438 MB/s
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	268 MB/s	Faster peak write speed. +19%	225 MB/s
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	23.4 MB/s		37.4 MB/s	Much faster peak random read. +60%
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	106 MB/s		111 MB/s	+5%
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	273 MB/s	+4%	262 MB/s
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	18.9 MB/s		48.1 MB/s	Hugely faster peak random mixed IO. +154%
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	265 MB/s	Much faster peak sustained write speed. +56%	170 MB/s

Market Share

Based on 75,846,018 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 %	5.52 %	Better value. +24%
User Rating UBM User Rating	52 %	53 %	+2%
Price Price (score)	$218	$100	Much cheaper. +54%


Age Newest	157 Months		145 Months	Slightly more recent. +8%
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	184 MB/s		248 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue read. +35%
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	234 MB/s	Slightly faster peak deep queue write. +8%	216 MB/s
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	752 Pts		851 Pts	Stronger server IO. +13%
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	33.1 MB/s		202 MB/s	Hugely faster peak deep queue mixed IO. +510%
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	133 MB/s		203 MB/s	Much faster deep queue read. +53%
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	136 MB/s		175 MB/s	Faster deep queue write. +29%
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	23.7 MB/s		161 MB/s	Hugely faster deep queue mixed IO. +579%


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 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K is nearly two years old, several generations of SSD have passed since its original release. Better 120GB SSDs have more NAND modules than the old HyperX and are able to write faster than the peak 234 Mb/s achieved by the HyperX 3K. The HyperX 3K also has a Sandforce 2281 controller which is unable to write compressed data as well as its more recent competition. All that said the HyperX still has an effective speed of 367 MBps which is respectable and far faster than even the best mechanical drive. With peak 4K read/write speeds of 33/110 MB/s the HyperX 3K also has competent small file performance. To summarize as a current value proposition the HyperX 3K struggles, simply because the likes of Samsung and OCZ have innovated and moved forward in the two years since the HyperX 3K was released. ^{[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 $254	Nvidia RTX 4060 $293	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $175	Nvidia RTX 4070 $550	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $45	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) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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