Crucial mx500 review in Spanish (full analysis)

Crucial MX500 technical characteristics

Unboxing

The Crucial MX500 has arrived in a flexible cardboard box somewhat larger than the storage unit itself. On the outside we have a silkscreen based on the manufacturer's colors that shows us the basic characteristics of the model we are analyzing. In the back we find, although information of its characteristics in several languages that few will be interested in.

Inside we have a second semi-rigid plastic package that is in charge of storing the unit more safely. Next to it, we only found a small installation manual with a predominance of Chinese as the presentation language. As an extra we have a small adhesive frame that will offer extra protection to the set once installed, its use being optional in this case.

Encapsulation design

These new Crucial MX500 units have been available on the market for some time, so we have acquired one to be used in a team at our facilities and with them we have taken the opportunity to do an analysis and see where it is compared to direct competition. Like other Kingston or ADATA models, we can place this SSD as a mid-range one whose strength is its quality / price ratio, using highly reliable hardware as we will see later with remarkable performance on the SATA interface.

Starting with its encapsulation, it is practically the same as that used in other units of the range or even higher, since aluminum has been used entirely for its construction. The natural color of this metal has been maintained, in a slightly attractive slightly rough finish and accompanied by a minimally informative sticker attached to its main face. On the opposite side we will have another with the references that identify the product on the market. At sight we only have the connection interface, being compatible with SATA 6 Gb / s, SATA 3 Gb / s and SATA 1.5 Gb / s.

The dimensions of the Crucial MX500 package are the same as always: 100 mm long, 70 mm wide and 7 mm thick, made up of two parts and that withstands blows of 1, 500 G at 0.5 ms. It offers holes for installation on the sides or on one side, depending on the user's needs and compatibility with the chassis. Its opening is extremely simple, since both pieces of aluminum are joined by 4 side screws that we can remove with a standard screwdriver.

So we made the opening to see in the next section more detail the hardware that makes it up. We liked the fact that the controller is connected to the package thanks to a silicone thermal pad. It's the hottest item ever, and a good way to cool it down at least a little is to use the outer foil cover, so well thought out.

Features and characteristics

We now turn to see in more detail the characteristics and benefits that the manufacturer has dated the Crucial MX500, specifically this version of 1 TB or 1024 GB that we are analyzing.

And starting with its storage memories, they will be of the 3D NAND TLC type, being manufactured by Micron both in this and in the rest of the units counting those of the M.2 format. In this case, fewer layers are being used for its construction, which we see simply by counting the number of chips used for storage. They amount to 16, 8 in one each and 8 in another, each of them 64 GB. It is excellent news to have a 5-year limited warranty: 100 TBW for the 250GB version, 180TBW for the 500GB version, 360 TBW for the 1 TB version and 700 TBW for the 2TB version, being at the level of others SSD with similar benefits.

The controller in use on the Crucial MX500 is a Silicon Motion SM2258H that supports both TLC and SLC memories. It uses a 32-bit RISC architecture, TRIM, SMART and 32 NAND flash chips through 4 interfaces. Regarding its performance, Crucial provides data in sequential performance, with 560 MB / s in reading and 510 MB / s in writing. Likewise, the number of input / output operations or IOPS in random process amounts to 95, 000 OIPS in reading and 90, 000 IOPS in writing. The cache memory used in this model is of type DDR3.

As other features to mention, we have 256-bit AES type hardware encryption, TCG / Opal 2.0, Microsoft eDrive and IEEE1667 as usual. It has its own acceleration technology called Dynamic Write Accceleration that will work through its cache memory. The average time between failures (MTBF) amounts to 1.8 million hours, while the average consumption will be around 3W like the rest of the units that we have analyzed, a negligible power without a doubt. Finally, the manufacturer facilitates access to the Acronis True Image software that is used for data cloning.

Test equipment and benchmarks

We now turn to the battery of tests corresponding to this Crucial MX500 1 TB. To do this, we have used the following test bench:

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i9-9900K
Base plate:	Asus Maximus Formula XI
Memory:	16GB DDR4 T-Force
Heatsink	Corsair H100i Platinum SE
HDD	Crucial MX500 1TB
Graphic card	Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super
Power supply	Cooler Master V850 Gold

The tests to which we have submitted this SSD are as follows:

Crystal Disk MarkAS SSD BenchmarkATTO Disk BenchmarkAnvil´s Storage

All of these programs are in current versions. Remember not to abuse these tests in your units, since the life time is reduced.

Starting with the results obtained by CristalDisk, we see that they are very similar to other recently tested units such as the Samsung 860 QVO for example or the ADATA SU750. We are reaching the real maximum available in the interface in reading while in writing we do stay a few MB / S below. In fact we have excellent results in operations with random 4K blocks.

The score thrown at Anvil´s is also quite good in this unit, comfortably exceeding 500 MB / s in reading and falling slightly behind in sequential writing. The IOPS thrown offer as best results almost 88, 500 in random reading with blocks of 4K QD16 and bordering on 85, 000 in random writing. The latency values are somewhat higher than those provided by other drivers such as Samsung itself.

We continue with the last two programs, in the case of AS SSD we have similar results to the previous one, although the IOPS here are better, reaching almost 96K in reading and 87K in writing, standing almost at the values provided by the manufacturer. Finally ATTO Disk gives us a better performance profile in blocks of all kinds of sizes, in which it is stable at 480 MB / s in writing and 532 MB / s in reading. In operations with blocks of 512 Bytes where we reach the maximum performance with 96K and 99.5K IOPS in writing and reading respectively.

Final words and concussion about Crucial MX500

This Crucial MX500 has demonstrated an excellent solvency in both random and sequential operations, being at the height of SSD units from other manufacturers that in some cases surpass this price. Performance data is around 550MB / s read and 500MB / s sequential write, while IOPS are also at a good level above 90K and 85K in random read and write operations.

The SM2258H controller is a good addition to these units, which is used in both 2.5 ”SSD and M.2 models, with maximum capacities up to 2TB with NAND TLC memory manufactured by Micron. Plus, 360 TBW for this 1TB, 5-year warranty is just what you can ask for.

We recommend our guide to the best SSDs of the moment.

We found the design very good, without giving up an aluminum package with the detail of placing a thermal pad on the controller to take advantage of the dissipation surface. Although not necessary, it is fairly easy to unmount for those who want to create custom SSDs with modding.

And finally we are going to talk about availability and price, where this Crucial MX500 is located very well against its rivals, with prices of 117 euros for this version of 1TB compared to 127 of the Kinston KC600 or 128 euros of the 860 QVO of Samsung. The rest of the versions are for 268 euros for 2 TB, 65 euros for 500 GB and 45 euros for 250 GB. Therefore it will be a recommended SSD for all types of desktop users.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ QUALITY / PRICE	- WE WILL NOT SEE ANYTHING REMARCABLE
+ NAND TLC MEMORIES WITH 5 YEAR WARRANTY
+ GOOD SEQUENTIAL AND RANDOM PERFORMANCE
+ GOOD QUALITY CAPSULE
+ CHIPS MICRON AND SILICON MOTION

The Professional Review team awards you the gold medal and recommended product:

Crucial MX500 CT1000MX500SSD1 - 1TB SSD Internal Solid Hard Drive (3D NAND, SATA, 2.5in)

Sequential reads / writes up to 560/510 MB on all file types and random reads / writes up to 95/90 k on all file types Accelerated by NAND Micron 3D technology Immunity from Integrated Power Loss preserves everything if work archived if current Power outages unexpectedly 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption keeps data secure out of the reach of hackers and hackers Exclusive Data Defense protects data from corruption