New Plextor M3 Pro: push Marvell, push :D

[Anvil]

@Nizzen

Mine were shipped this morning, scheduled for delivery on Monday.

Are you having any luck?

[AMD_Freak]

Finally broke the 1K mark




PC mark Vantage http://3dmark.com/pcmv/497616

[AMD_Freak]

[DooRules]

New Plextool is released. Need to join vip to download it, and load your s/n for ssd.

http://registration.goplextor.com/en/goevent/

[Christopher]

1.03FW adds new SMART attributes for Plextool:

Here it is in action.

[AMD_Freak]

Does the Secure format work? hit the button and test it for me please

[Christopher]

I think it has to have the 1.03FW on it to SE and not be the system drive (obviously). I have two M3Ps, and the drive I booted from was using 1.03 and the secondary is 1.00, so I think that's the issue. It says "external drive only" but they can't possibly mean that literally.

Attribute B1 in the screenshot above is host writes -- I did some testing, and it works like Intel's host writes (32MiB increments). Except the Plextor uses 64MiB increments. So multiply B1 decimal by 64 and then divide by 1024 to get host writes in GiB.

Awesome!

[AMD_Freak]

Sounds good look like Plextors got it together.

[Anvil]

1.03FW adds new SMART attributes for Plextool:

Here it is in action.

Looking good

The wait for a host write attribute is finally over!

[Ao1]

Looks like there is an unofficial (and destructive) f/w available that enables you to switch from the M3 > M3P and back to again to M3. (Run a SE after updating the f/w to make sure the FTL table is cleared)

http://bbs.pceva.com.cn/thread-47279-1-1.html

[AMD_Freak]

Nice find now Ill wait for someone to try it out

[jcool]

Heres a bench I ran with 4x Raid 0 128GB M3's (not M3P) on an Areca 1882i - will test 2x R0 on an LSI 9260 later today (going into my private PC). 4K is looking good

4xM3_128K.jpg4xM3_128K_AS.jpg

Edit: FW was 1.01 latest is 1.05 so results may have improved already

[Nizzen]

jcool : You are testing the controllers cache with ASSSD. Therefore high 4k results.

Try Anvil tool, and use 12GB testfile

[jcool]

That may very well be, but the controller has gone into a customer setup, so can't change that now. Here's my own setup, 2x 128GB Plextor M3 R0 on Intel RS2BL040 (LSI 9260), 128k stripe, no FP, no read ahead, disk cache enabled.
In the end I decided to go with WT rather than WB, for some reason 4k performance was better which is what I am looking for in an OS drive.

2xM3_128k_AS.jpg2xM3_128k_AS_WT.jpg2xM3_128k_CDM.jpg2xM3_128k_CDM_WT.jpg2xM3_128k_winsat.jpg

(Left side is WB, right is WT - winsat was with WB I think, responsiveness rating improved with WT as well)

[kaktus1907]

Plextor released new M5S which uses Micron's NANDs unlike M3 and M3 Pro uses Toshiba's Toggle Nands.. Controller is same Marvell 88SS9174



http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/n...11_539321.html

[Christopher]

Hmmm. Interesting...

[kaktus1907]

they are probably going for cheaper.. and relying on one manufacture may hurt anytime..
i would like to see another MXS with samsung toggles lol..

[johnw]

That is interesting. My guess is that they are trying to further distinguish the S from the P models. The M3S and M3P are nearly identical from a hardware standpoint (mainly FW differences). But with the M5S using IMFT flash, I am guessing there will soon be an M5P that will use toggle flash, and hopefully with Marvell's new 9187 controller.

[UranusFX]

Simple review of M5S came out from EXPreview.
http://www.expreview.com/20051-all.html
Not bad, just look at less.

In the performance is not a problem as the next generation of M3.
I personally preferred is that equipped with a Micron's NAND, I like it.

[kaktus1907]

Simple review of M5S came out from EXPreview.
http://www.expreview.com/20051-all.html
Not bad, just look at less.

In the performance is not a problem as the next generation of M3.
I personally preferred is that equipped with a Micron's NAND, I like it.

Thanks for review, according to this post NANDs are rated 3000 P/E..

[johnw]

Simple review of M5S came out from EXPreview.
http://www.expreview.com/20051-all.html

That review seems a bit off to me. Most of the benchmarks were nearly identical to the Crucial m4. If that is a real M5S that they tested, and real benchmark results, then it seems Plextor has made an odd choice. It is almost an exact clone of an m4, even to using the Marvell 9174 controller instead of the 9187 that I have been waiting for Plextor to use.

[AMD_Freak]

Plextor will have a pro version of the M5 and I would imagine it will have the toggle NAND and the Marvell 9187

[Gilgamesh]

Plextor official test of PX-256M5S:
http://www.goplextor.com/asia/index.php/ssd/m5s



and SNIA testing of M3 Pro:

[johnw]

Did you notice the M5S only has a 3-year warranty? It seems like Plextor is pulling out all the stops to make the M5S a bargain-basement SSD. Shorter warranty, IMFT flash, older Marvell controller. All I can say is that the price better be very low, like $100 for 128GB and $200 for 256GB, or it will not be worth buying.

I hope Plextor releases an M5P that has 5-year warranty, toggle flash, and the new Marvell controller.

BTW, thanks for posting the SNIA testing on the M3P. It is good to see that Plextor does SNIA testing on their SSDs. Here's the link to Plextor's site with the SNIA page:

http://www.plextor-digital.com/index...a-testing.html

[Gilgamesh]

Did you notice the M5S only has a 3-year warranty? It seems like Plextor is pulling out all the stops to make the M5S a bargain-basement SSD. Shorter warranty, IMFT flash, older Marvell controller. All I can say is that the price better be very low, like $100 for 128GB and $200 for 256GB, or it will not be worth buying.

I hope Plextor releases an M5P that has 5-year warranty, toggle flash, and the new Marvell controller.

I think more expensive than Crucial M4, but I like M5S 256GB
http://www.goplextor.com/tw/index.php/m5s

M5S - 128GB - NT$4,590 (121 euro no tax) (153.66 $ no tax)
M5S - 256GB - NT$8,590 (226 euro no tax) (287.57 $ no tax)

I can easily buy Plextor M2P or M3 at those prices.

And Samsung 830 256GB is very cheap these days in Europe (around 200 euro vat included, some Amazon's promotions @ 170-180 euro)