Plextor M8SeGN 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Benchmark values and test results …

Let us continue with the benchmark results. SATA3 drives are tested with an ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard (for comparing with the first SSD results) and test results of M.2 modules are performed using an ASRock Z97 Extreme6 motherboard. At present, Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition is used as the operating system.

The SSD drive speed was examined and compared with the following benchmark software:
AS SSD BenchmarkDownload
ATTO Disk BenchmarkDownload
CrystalDiskMarkDownload
HD TachDownload
SiSoftware SandraDownload

AS SSD benchmark result

The SSD benchmark results offers a very good reference point of the maximal possible reading and writing performance, the speed with smaller files and the respective access time. 4K means that small 4K blocks are read and/or written and with the 4K 64Thrd this is distributed on 64 Threads at the same time. Thus the benchmark program simulate for example a typical program start.

The 512 GB Plextor SSD module achieved a very high maximum sequential read speed of 2189.94 MB/s and despite TLC Flash still achieved a write speed of 901.59 MB/s. In AS SSD the Plextor M8SeGN 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD achieved that a very good total score of 2254 points.

The usable capacity of the Plextor M.2 NVMe SSD is 476.94 GB after over provisioning.

Here is a screenshot of AS SSD benchmark values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_as_nvme

And here is yet a screenshot of AS SSD iops results:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_as_iops_nvme

Here is a screenshot of the AS SSD copy benchmark values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_as_copy_nvme

The comparison of the AS SSD benchmark results is extended with each new HDD/SSD test. Here you can see some SSDs in comparison to the Plextor M8SeGN 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD, and the chart will be updated periodically with new SSD drives. At the moment the top of total AS SSD scores is lead from the Samsung 960 Pro M.2 NMVe SSD, followed by the Samsung 960 Evo M.2 NMVe SSD and Intel SSD 750 PCIe NMVe SSD card, before the Plextor M8Se M.2 512 GB SSD joins the chart.

Here is a comparison of the AS SSD benchmark values, which are getting updated with new drives:
ssd_compare_as

And here is an excerpt of the latest AS SSD benchmark results. For a better overview, they will be gradually replaced with latest drives:
ssd_compare_as_last

ATTO disk benchmark result

The ATTO disk benchmark values gives a very good overview about the write and read rate on different file sizes. These values are maximum ratings, which are different to the previously continuous transfer rate benchmarks, since this benchmark may even reach a higher overall performance with slower SSDs.

At the Plextor M8SeGN 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD is the read speed (green) from a transfer size of about 64 KB higher than the write speed (red) and reaches the maximum read speed of 2476835 KB at a transfer size of 512 KB. However, we can see that the result is relatively restless, that we attribute to TLC NAND and thermal effects.

Here is a screenshot of the ATTO Disk benchmark values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_atto_nvme

The ATTO disk benchmark values are compared with a small transfer size of 32KB and a large transfer size of 8192KB. The bar chart already includes a comparison to some SSDs and HDDs, where the Plextor M.2 NVMe SSD is in ATTO at the top area.

Here is a comparison of the ATTO disk benchmark values, which are getting updated with soon coming drives:
ssd_compare_atto

And here is an excerpt of the latest ATTO disk benchmark values for a better overview will be gradually replaced with latest drives:
ssd_compare_atto_last

CrystalDiskMark result

With CrystalDiskMark one receives a balanced measurement of the performance with different transfer sizes.

Here the Plextor M8SeGN 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe SSD reached sequential read values of 1796 MB/s and write values of 833.0 MB/s.

Here is a screenshot of the CrystalDiskMark values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_cdm_nvme

The following diagram shows the CrystalDiskMark results once again compared with other SSDs and platter drives, which are extended step by step. In the CrystalDiskMark comparison one can see significant differences between the to-date tested of the Solid State Drives and Hard Disk Drives.

Here is a comparison of the CrystalDiskMark values, which are getting updated with soon coming drives:
ssd_compare_cdm

And here is an excerpt of the latest CrystalDiskMark values will be gradually replaced with latest drives for clarity:
ssd_compare_cdm_last

HD Tach result

With HD Tach one can measure the gradient of the performance, but the SSD transfer is not comparable with a conventional HDD. New logical NAND cell access of the SSD controller results like some other equal designed SSDs in varying rates with the latest HD Tach Version 3.0.4.0 version, which is written for hard disk drives.

HD Tach shows the Plextor 512 GB M8SeGN M.2 SSD at a continuous read rate with the lowest displayed access time display of approx. 0.0ms. There are however strong peaks during the write operations.

To compare these results you can move the mouse over the following drives to see their respective benchmark results:
Plextor M8SeGN 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD at SATA3 AHCI, Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 SSD, Samsung 960 Pro 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 SSD, ADATA S511 120GB SSD, ADATA S511 120GB SSD, Crucial BX200 960GB SSD, Crucial BX200 480GB SSD, Crucial BX100 1TB SSD, Crucial BX100 500GB SSD, Crucial MX100 512GB SSD, Crucial MX200 1TB SSD, Crucial MX200 500GB SSD, Crucial MX200 500GB M.2 SSD, Crucial MX200 500GB mSATA SSD, Crucial MX200 250GB SSD, 2x Crucial MX200 250GB SSDs RAID0, 3x Crucial MX200 250GB SSDs RAID0, 4x Crucial MX200 250GB SSDs RAID0, Crucial MX300 750GB SSD, Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 SSD at SATA3 AHCI, Crucial MX300 2050GB SSD, Crucial M500 480GB SSD, Crucial M550 512GB SSD, Crucial M550 512GB M.2 SSD, Crucial M550 512GB mSATA SSD, 2x Crucial m4 128GB SSD at SATA3 RAID, Crucial m4 128GB SSD, Crucial m4 128GB SSD at SATA3, Crucial m4 256GB SSD FW 000F, Crucial m4 256GB SSD FW 0309, Crucial m4 256GB SSD FW 0002, Crucial m4 256GB SSD FW 0309 at SATA3 IDE, Crucial m4 256GB SSD FW 0002 at SATA3, Crucial C300 64GB 1.8″ SSD at SATA3, Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SSD at SATA3, Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SSD at SATA2, Hitachi 7K1000.C 1TB HDD, Intel SSD 750 1200GB PCIe card Gen3 x4, MX-DS Fusion 60GB SSD SATA3 IDE, MX-DS Fusion 60GB SSD SATA3 IDE, MX-DS Turbo 120GB SSD, OCZ Agility 128GB SSD, OCZ Vector 180 480GB SSD, Plextor M6e 256GB M.2 SSD PCIe AHCI, 2x Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme 256GB SSD at SATA3 RAID0, Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme 256GB SSD, Plextor M5M 128GB mSATA SSD, Samsung Series470 128GB SSD AHCI, Samsung Series470 128GB SSD Legacy IDE, Samsung 850 Pro 128GB SSD, Seagate Constellation.2 1TB HDD at SATA3, Seagate ST2000DX001 2TB 3.5″ SSHD, Toshiba MK8007GAH 1.8″ HDD.

Here is a screenshot of the HD Tach benchmark values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_hd_tach_2_nvme

To see how the TLC NAND Flash behaves in case of a larger file, we have done yet the Full Bench, which takes some time. Here you can see the strong performance drop after a longer write operation. First decreases the performance after the fast cache from about 740 MB/s to approx. 450 MB/s and then due to the heat to below 300 MB/s with peaks of 100 MB/s. The read rates, however, are consistently high up except the short peak.
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_hd_tach_3_nvme

Here is a comparison of the HD Tach benchmark values, which are getting updated with soon coming drives:
ssd_compare_hdt

And here is an excerpt of the latest HD tach benchmark values that will be gradually replaced with latest drives for clarity:
ssd_compare_hdt_last

SiSoftware Sandra benchmark result …

SiSoftware Sandra benchmark should not be missing in this test series. SiSoftware offers with their SiSoft Sandra program a very comprehensive tool, which contains a lot of tools to get very reliable test results of all hardware components.

The average access time of the Plextor M8SeGN 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD is in SiSoftware Sandra with 9us extremely low and the drive index of 2.25 GB/s is pleasantly high.

Here is a screenshot of the SiSoftware Sandra benchmark read values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_sisoft_sandra_nvme

In the write performance measurement, the average access time of the Plextor M8SeGN 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD in SiSoftware Sandra is also at extremely low 11s, but the drive index reached “only” 518 MB/s.

Here is a screenshot of the SiSoftware Sandra benchmark write values:
plextor_m8segn_512gb_m2_sisoft_sandra_nvme_write

Here is a comparison of the SiSoftware Sandra benchmark values, which are getting updated with soon coming drives:
ssd_compare_san

And here is an excerpt of the latest SiSoftware Sandra benchmark values that will be gradually replaced with latest drives for clarity:
ssd_compare_san_last

Plextor M8SeGN 512GB NVMe Result and general impression …