Plextor Releases M5S SSD Series
by Kristian Vättö on July 11, 2012 11:40 PM ESTPlextor has updated its SSD lineup with something new: the M5S. It's based on the same Marvell 88SS9174 controller as Plextor's M3 and M3 Pro, which we've been quite pleased with. While the M3 and M3 Pro shared the exactly same hardware, the M5S introduces some changes. Instead of the Toshiba 24nm Toggle-Mode MLC NAND we found inside the M3/M3 Pro, the M5S uses Micron's 25nm synchronous MLC NAND. Warranty has also been dropped from 5 years to 3 years, and there is no additional clone/backup utility or 2.5" to 3.5" adapter included.
| Plextor M5S Specifications | |||
| Model | PX-64M5S | PX-128M5S | PX-256M5S |
| Usable Capacity | 64GB | 128GB | 256GB |
| Raw NAND Capacity | 64GiB | 128GiB | 256GiB |
| NAND | Micron 25nm synchronous MLC NAND | ||
| Controller | Marvell 88SS9174 | ||
| Cache | 128MB DDR3 | 256MB DDR3 | 512MB DDR3 |
| Sequential Read | 520MB/s | 520MB/s | 520MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 90MB/s | 200MB/s | 390MB/s |
| 4K Random Read | 61K IOPS | 71K IOPS | 73K IOPS |
| 4K Random Write | 25K IOPS | 51K IOPS | 70K IOPS |
| MSRP | $100 | $160 | $300 |
Performance is mostly unchanged from the M3. Only the 64GB model has noticeable decreases in performance as the 64GB M3 provided 175MB/s sequentials and 40K random write IOPS. The difference is likely due to the slower NAND interface (166MB/s per Micron device vs. up to 400MB/s for the Toggle 2.0 devices). Bigger capacities have more NAND on the board, lessening the impact on overall performance.
Availability should be immediate but at least NewEgg and Amazon are not listing the M5S yet. Hence we only have MSRPs to list, but expect the street prices to be slightly lower.
Our M5S review sample should be here any minute (it's scheduled for delivery today) and I'll start working on the review as soon as I get the drive. Stay tuned!
Source: Plextor
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Bitaddict - Monday, July 16, 2012 - link
The M5P is scheduled to be available at the end of this month, and yes, it does use the 88SS9187 Marvell Controller.Chupk - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
Thanks Kristian, it's always enjoyable reading your review.Planned to buy an Intel 520 256 GB but disappointed to know the AES-256 Encryption problem.
Plextor M5S has been a/v here in Hong Kong since early July, costs HK$1900 for 256GB.
Got one 2 days ago &... it's doing very good :-)
Tommyv2 - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
Kristian, spelling mistake: "its" and not "it's" in your opening line.extide - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
No, he has it right. "It's" is short for "it is."Tommyv2 - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
He corrected it before you saw it. You know, when it was wrong :-)RiddleFrancis - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
like Edna answered I'm amazed that any one able to profit $8089 in one month on the computer. did you look at this website cashhuge[com]Beenthere - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
They need to be upping performance of the "Pro" model and make it the standard model while eliminate the bogus "Pro" designation.BTW, if you buy one of their SDs for a Mac be aware that there is a major performance drop that Plextor does not disclose. Plextor will not refund your money even though the SSD doesn't come close to the claimed performance numbers when used in a Mac.