TRIM Performance:
While SSD's offer many benefits, there are some downsides to using flash memory. One of the biggest issues people run into is performance degradation. Over time, an SSD will run out of fresh blocks and will have to write over data the file system has marked as deleted. This procedure is very complicated and can slow an SSD's write speeds considerably.
To fix this problem, most manufacturers have added TRIM support to their SSDs. The TRIM command allows an operating system, such as Windows 7, to tell an SSD which data blocks are no longer in use. Using this information, the drive pro-actively erases these blocks and adds them to the free block pool.
To test the M9PY Plus' TRIM and garbage collection functions, I first put the drive in a "dirty" state. I used Iometer to fill 80% of the drive and then ran a random write test for 30 minutes. Looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the M9PY Plus' average read and write speeds dropped to 2665.79 MB/s and 245.59 MB/s, respectively.
Plextor M9PY Plus - Dirty
To see how well the M9PY Plus could recover, I let the computer sit for about 45 minutes and then reran the test. The drive's average read speed climbed up to 2675.39 MB/s. However, its write speed lagged behind, averaging out at only 618.34 MB/s.
Plextor M9PY Plus - After TRIM
Lastly, I used Parted Magic to perform a secure erase on the M9PY Plus. With the drive wiped clean, it had average read and write speeds of 2928.61 MB/s and 1999.03 MB/s, respectively.
Plextor M9PY Plus - Secure Erased
Final Thoughts:
At first glance, the M9P Plus series may seem like nothing more than the M9Pe with a fresh coat of paint. However, Plextor's engineers have made a number of changes under the hood. Along with new and improved technologies like PlexNitro II, TrueProtect II and SmartProtect, the M9P Plus is powered by Marvell's 88SS1092 controller and is available with up to 1TB of Toshiba's 96-layer BiCS4 3D NAND flash. Combine this with a PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 1.3 interface and you have a reasonably priced drive capable of delivering more than six times the performance of your average SATA 6Gb/s SSD. In our sequential read and write tests, the 512GB version of the M9PY Plus was able to read at speeds as high as 3,465 MB/s and write at speeds in excess of 2,213 MB/s. The drive also did very well in our random write tests, producing nearly 200,000 IOPS at low queue depths.
According to Plextor, the M9P Plus will be available at retailers in early March in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities. The suggested retail prices are expected to range from about $45 up to $145 with the 512GB HHHL version reviewed here going for about $97.
Highs:
- Available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities
- PCIe 3.0 x4 interface with NVMe protocol
- Marvell 88SS1092 controller
- Equipped with Toshiba 96-layer BiCS4 3D TLC NAND
- Good sequential read and write performance
- Supports Plextor's PlexNitro II, TrueProtect II and SmartProtect technologies
- M.2 2280 and HHHL PCIe form factors
- Large DRAM cache
- Reasonably priced
- 5 year warranty
Lows:
- Write speed drops when SLC cache is full
- Does not support hardware based encryption
- No way to customize or turn off RGB lights
