Advancements in SSD technology is going so fast it has actually reached a point right now that we need a new interface to accommodate these ultra fast SSDs. Right now, SATA Express and M.2 SATA are being billed as the next generation that promises to address the need for faster storage interfaces.
The release of Intel’s Z97 chipset will be the start of making these interfaces standard but it will be a while before they become commonplace in most systems. So what do you do if you already have a stockpile of M.2 slots but little support? You make ways and that’s just what Plextor is doing by placing its M.2 drives in SATA interposer cards which is exactly what we have today. Plextor has sent us their Plextor M6e PCI Express SSD for review. Let’s see what this SSD can do when given the kind of bandwidth that PCI Express offers.
Features
Overpowered? Quite Possibly
With effects like lightning-fast system and application launches, flawlessly-smooth program transition times, and ironclad reliability, it can be easy to see how Plextor’s new M6e Series can make your system feel a bit overpowered.
The Plextor M6e is the first ultra-fast PCI Express SSD optimized for professional gamers. Next-generation high-speed components managed by custom-developed firmware maintain smooth, fast performance and unheard of stability for the perfect gaming platform. The M6e gives gamers the smooth ultra-fast professional-grade storage and the reassurance of Plextor’s legendary quality and rock-solid reliability.
Battle Orcs, Not Your System Limitations
Whether ridding the world of evil (or other players), the last thing on your mind should be battling a slow and sluggish system. The M6e bolsters your computer stats with up to 105,000 IOPS plugged directly in your PCI-e slot, so feel free to swing that giant warhammer at your opponent, and not your computer.
Play Powerfully With the M6e SSD
Plextor-exclusive technologies like True Speed guarantees your gaming experience to stay consistently fast after years of use. Sustained, high performance, always.
Game hard and game long with Plextor’s industry-high five-year warranty. The M6e will outperform and outlast other SSDs in its class. Durability meets ease and convenience with UEFI and Legacy compatibility, and AHCI status means the M6e is ready to go to the moment you plug in, no drivers required.
Closer Look
Performance Testing
Test Setup
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard:Â MSI Z77 Mpower
Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-2400
Storage:Â Plextor M6e PCI Express SSD 256GB
PSU: Seasonic SS-1000XP
Note: In the interest of fairness, we will not be comparing the Plextor M6e with other SSDs directly due to the different interface. For relative comparison, please see our other SSD reviews.
ATTO Disk Benchmark benchmarks a drive’s read and write speeds with increasing file sizes and graphs them.
For potential write testing, HD Tune was used to measure the drive’s write performance. Again, we focus on the average results for real-world relevance.
Crystal Disk Mark is storage benchmarking software was developed by “hiyohiyo†of Japan, and is available for free. Crystal Disk Mark measures sequential, and random read/write speeds of storage devices.
We’ve taken our compression test files, a collection of images, documents and other files ranging from 1KB to 50MB amounting to 3,310 files for 3.34GB.
RAID0 Performance
Thanks to some good timing, we managed to have two samples on-hand for testing and we decide to see just how much more we can get from a pair of Plextor M6e in a RAID0 array. For those not familiar, RAID0 is where 2 disks word as a striped pair or basically 2 disks working in tandem for better performance. Right now, there is no method via hardware to create a RAID array of PCI-e disks so we’re going to be using a RAID0 set via Windows Disk Management.
ATTO Disk Benchmark benchmarks a drive’s read and write speeds with increasing file sizes and graphs them.
Crystal Disk Mark is storage benchmarking software was developed by “hiyohiyo†of Japan, and is available for free. Crystal Disk Mark measures sequential, and random read/write speeds of storage devices.
We’ve taken our compression test files, a collection of images, documents and other files ranging from 1KB to 50MB amounting to 3,310 files for 3.34GB.
Conclusion
If you haven’t realized it yet, the main take here is that the Plextor M6e gives us a glimpse of the future. SSDs armed with SATA Express or like the M6e, designed for M.2 SATA will have performance along these lines and its good to see that we’re finally hurdling past the limitations of SATAIII. Let’s break it down further for the Plextor M6e:
Performance. The Plextor M6e is fast. Plain and simple. Thanks to the PCIe interface giving it so much more bandwidth, the SSD can now really flex its muscle and show what they can really do. We’re seeing performances here go way past what we can see from the highest end of currently existing SSDs.
Build Quality. Plextor has stated to us that they are indeed planning on providing a stylized shroud for their PCI-e products but as it is right now, the Plextor M6e looks plain. Just plain. We don’t hold anything against that but the company could’ve easily opted to go for a black PCB to really set off the bood. A smaller interposer board could’ve also been a better idea.
Functionality. All modern systems have a PCI Express slot, some small form factor system and industrial boards also have them. This makes the install base for the Plextor M6e very massive making it a highly adaptable solution for high-speed storage.
Bundle. Plextor isn’t tying down the M6e to the PCI Express slot, as we’ve seen earlier, its actually an M.2 SSD that snaps to the included interposer card for PCI-e compatibility which makes this quite an awesome bundle if you don’t mind voiding your warranty by removing the M.2 SSD.
Value. The Plextor M6e PCI Express is available in 128GB, 256GB (our test sample) and 512GB. Our 256GB sample for example has an SRP of $349 but you can find it at around $299 in online e-tailers. It actually has quite a premium over its 2.5″ SATAIII competitor or even its own brother, the Plextor M6S but given its remarkable performance advantage over these solutions combined with the fact that its also crammed in roughly 15% the size of the 2.5″ SSDs, the price is quite justified.
To really appreciate the Plextor M6e one has to really get to know what an SSD offers and that’s faster read and write performance. In real world applications, these would best fit usage scenarios where an application needs to read off the disk a lot like games and the OS itself. Its already so commonplace to measure SSD performance via boot-up times that its become a standard in our benchmarks.
So why would you need something like this? Oh there’s a quite a few scenarios. HTPCs are a good example with cube cases being all the rage these days and some builders are already taking mATX systems to the form factor. To make cable management easier, some builders prefer MSATA solutions but with the Plextor M6e, one can just plug it in an available PCI-e slot and you’re good to go. ITX systems built around an APU can also benefit with faster storage space and lowered power consumption with the Plextor M6e. Ultimately, any system where you need faster storage but needs to save space and power will love the Plextor M6e.
We do note the currently steep cost of owning such a device but as time goes on, we can see the price go down eventually but if you can justifiy the current cost versus your requirements, then we have no problem recommend the Plextor M6e PCI Express M.2 SSD.
Plextor backs the M6e SSD with an industry-leading 5-year warranty. We give the Plextor M6e PCI Express M.2 SSD our B2G Gold Award.
15 Comments
CDR King PCIe SSD anyone? 😛
i will consider that for a good price really :3
CDR King PCIe SSD that is riddled with Micro SDs >.<
you mean like this?
I think they’ve done it before on Thumb drives, why not on SSDs 😀
can I have it? 😀
shit is so cash, i cant even have it XD
I have an mSata sata 2 SSD on my mobo, would be nice to get the M.2 slot though
Yeah, M.2 is just as fast as PCIe so its definitely a plus if you have it. And the performance is just… its so fast… so fast XD
http://assets.vr-zone.net/15700/P8Z77_V_PREMIUM_3.jpg
The SSD it comes with is a LiteOn which isn’t the fastest sata 2 SSD around. Would like to upgrade it but dunno if it’s worth it – just using it for RAID acceleration 😛
Found some read/write info – can’t check mine with Atto because it’s not showing up due to being used for the RAID acceleration lol
http://uk.hardware.info/productinfo/154588/lite-on-lmt-32l3m#tab:testresults
MSATA’s a bit choked coz of the interface so M.2 is making sure its devices arent limited. The size though does come at a premium but the performance, again, is phenomenal.
just wondering whether to actually replace that not very good liteon with a slightly faster sata 3 card. Can get a 64GB one for about £50 which is a lot more nippy, will be limited to the sata 2 bandwidth but will be faster than the liteon is
Nah, you’re not going to see anythign significant unless you’re using it mostly for transferring large files. Even caching duties won’t bring out the best out of it since that caches smaller files which is the bane of any storage devices. I suggest just getting a PCIe card if you really want the boost but it wont play nice with your system and won’t give you much of a boost really.
lol if only I could afford a 3.2TB one so I wouldn’t need to RAID my gaming drives 😛