UserBenchmark: Crucial M500 vs Kingston HyperX 3K

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KingstonSH103S3/120G

BUY • $100

CrucialCT120M500SSD1

BUY • $75

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 61,496 user samples

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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

15,430 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 77% 45GB free
Worst Bench: 47% 13GB free

Poor: 47% Great: 77%

SPEED RANK: 729^th / 1071


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		74.1 %	Faster effective speed. +12%		66 %


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	366 MB/s		397 MB/s	Slightly faster read speed. +8%
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	192 MB/s	Much faster write speed. +47%	131 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	30.2 MB/s	Much faster random read. +33%	22.7 MB/s
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	80.4 MB/s		80.5 MB/s	+0%
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	229 MB/s	Faster mixed IO speed. +17%	196 MB/s
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	38.1 MB/s	Faster random mixed IO. +25%	30.5 MB/s
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	142 MB/s	Much faster sustained write speed. +38%	103 MB/s


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	438 MB/s	+1%	432 MB/s
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	225 MB/s	Much faster peak write speed. +61%	140 MB/s
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	37.4 MB/s	Much faster peak random read. +41%	26.6 MB/s
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	111 MB/s		111 MB/s
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	262 MB/s	Faster peak mixed IO speed. +27%	207 MB/s
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	48.1 MB/s	Much faster peak random mixed IO. +31%	36.8 MB/s
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	170 MB/s	Faster peak sustained write speed. +23%	138 MB/s

Market Share

Based on 75,747,400 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	5.52 %		6.11 %	Better value. +11%
User Rating UBM User Rating	53 %		53 %
Price Price (score)	$100		$75	Cheaper. +25%


Age Newest	144 Months		133 Months	Slightly more recent. +8%
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	248 MB/s		259 MB/s	+4%
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	216 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue write. +54%	140 MB/s
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	851 Pts	Stronger server IO. +12%	757 Pts
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	202 MB/s	Faster peak deep queue mixed IO. +27%	159 MB/s
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	203 MB/s		247 MB/s	Faster deep queue read. +22%
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	175 MB/s	Much faster deep queue write. +39%	126 MB/s
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	161 MB/s	Faster deep queue mixed IO. +19%	135 MB/s


Capacity Capacity			120GB			120GB

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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The 120GB M500 is successor to the phenomenally successful Crucial M4. The M500 was poised to win loyal M4 customers but as it turns out the new M500 is worse for typical consumer use than the now nearly three years old M4. There are some cosmetic performance improvements over the M4 but they are purely synthetic. For example, deep queue speeds are significantly improved and the newer M500 handles mixed IO far better. Consumers require decent sequential read/write speeds which average 435/185 MB/s on the M4 vs 395/134 MB/s on the M500! Other manufacturers have come leaps and bounds over the last three years which has raised the performance bar is several notches. In today's market the new M500 simply cannot compete on performance, it doesn't even come close to the likes of the Samsung Evo or OCZ Vector 150. The M500, however, is one of the cheapest mainstream SSDs available at this time but it's easy to justify spending just a little more for a lot more performance. ^{[Feb '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 $269	Nvidia RTX 4060 $295	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $177	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	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) $37	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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