Joined on 04/24/09
High Price-High Performance
Pros: For an SSD, very impressive performance. Uses either W7 trim or firmware garbage collection to maintain performance.
Cons: Relatively high write latency compared to other SSDs. This will, however, likely produce no perceptual performance deficit to most.
Overall Review: This drive gives very good performance. Crucial's latest firmware update procedure works without fault. Can use a SATA II port and gives good benchmarks, but other SSDs do give better write latency. Used as a SATA III either through motherboard port or with host bus adapter gives unmatched read/write speeds. Using ASUS U3S6 in one PC and Koutech PESA230 HBA in another. Configured both cards to use msahci drivers. No measurable performance degradation in the time I have been using drive. Overall, very pleased with this SSD.
Performs Well
Pros: Uses an Asmedia 2364 Gen 2 USB3.2 controller. Shipped with the latest firmware.
Overall Review: Comes complete with everything required for assembly. Bench marked using a Gen 3x4 PCIe slot on main board.
Very Good!
Pros: Small profile. Card and drivers install easily. Utility easy and simple. This card used with Fios 75/75 dual band. Very stable speeds of 60/60Mbps.
Cons: None.
Nice Drive
Pros: For those looking for performance stats: 480/493MB/s Seq 434/487MB/s 512K 35/85MB/s 4K 298/233MB/s 4K QD32 50 millisecond latency This on an X58 main board (980X), 12GB Dominator 1600 on a pcie 2 x 16 slot through an LSI 9207 host bus adapter. Computer run at moderate power setting. Looks and feels well constructed.
Cons: None
Stable Adapter
Pros: I've had several add on adapters that were problematic with drivers that did not work. This adapter works well. Use the TI drivers as stated below. To give you an idea of performance, the following are CrystalDisk numbers using a 256gb Micron M4 with an Oyen USB 3.0 Minipro: Seq: 239Read/155Write 512K 206Read/149Write 4K 16Read/38Write 4K QD32 18Read/45Write Max throughput using a memory stick yielded about 170 MB/Sec. This using a PCIe 2.0 x 8 slot
Cons: None so far.
Nice Upgrade for Sata II Board
Pros: This SSD went into a PCIE x 2.0 x 16 slot in my Dell 730X. This SSD is recognized right away with no fuss and no special driver installation required. I reformatted this drive & installed a fresh W7/64. The drive ends up with 29GB used/209GB free. When booting up, the card initializes upon post in under 10 seconds. In so far as performance is concerned, the following are CrystalDisk numbers with my PC running at an intermediate power setting: Seq 690Read/573Write 512K 510Read/553Write 4K 27Read/70Write 4K QD32 289Read/200Write This card is very slim and takes up little space. It presents an eloquent solution to achieving SATA III performance on a SATA II board. The alternative is to use a host bus adapter card in a PCIE slot with an SSD. I have such a setup in a similar 730X using a Samsung 840 Pro with an LSI 9207 HBU and the performance is comparable with a cost savings of about $140.
Cons: None really. This is an SSD mounted on a PCIE card and so it has to be initialized upon boot. This takes 5-10 seconds and is mildly annoying.
Overall Review: Access time in AS SSD is 0.060ms read/0.066 ms write, so latency is good.