Test – Plextor M6S 256Go : Specs | CPU | Hashrate | Review | Config

Hello there!

Today marks the arrival of a new brand at Conseil Config, Plextor! Very well known in a distant time for making very high quality CD / DVD reader / writer Plextor has diversified over the years to today offer in addition to external drives, NAS and of course SSDs in formats. 2.5 ″, mSata and M.2. I am going to present to you the M6S 256GB which is a mainstream model likely to interest most of us, with performance that should be very good, let’s see that right away!

As we can see the Plextor M6S 256GB is a 2.5 ″ SSD, very light with its 60 grams. The SSD is of course on a Sata 3.0 interface with a maximum throughput of 520 MB / s in reading and 420 MB / s in writing, which is in current standards, speeds that will have to be checked in practice. The integrated controller is a Marvell 88SS9187 supported by Toshiba A19nm MLC type chips. The operating temperatures range from 0 ° to 70 ° which should not be a problem for almost the entire population, unless you have your PC outside in the snow! The 1.5 million hour MTBF (171 years) as well as a 3 year warranty should make it a reliable SSD, even if the theoretical data remains theoretical 🙂
The price of 130 € places this M6S 256GB in the high average of this type of product, we will see if it deserves this investment!

The Plextor M62 256GB comes in a small yellow cardboard box with a photo of the SSD on the front side along with the model name and capacity.

At the back we find the technical data of the entire M6S range (128GB, 256GB and 512GB) as well as the dimensions, weight, MTBF etc.

Inside the box are the SSD in a plastic protection as well as a quick installation sheet, no 3.5 ″ -> 2.5 ″ adapters or software, just the SSD!

Here is the beast! Very sober with an aluminum frame which is the main reason for the SSD’s featherweight 60g. On the top side we find only the make and model of the SSD printed in black. Below is the classic information of any SSD, the model, the serial number and ..

Here are the entrails of the beast! We can see the Toshiba TH58TEG8DDKTA20 MLC NAND chips as well as the Marvell 88SS9187 controller as well as the DDR3 cache memory entrusted to Hynix. The back of the PCB is free of any components.

The test setup

The configuration used during the tests is as follows:

• Processor: Intel Core i4670K @ 4 Ghz
• Ventirad Processor: Noctua NH-D15
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87-UD5H TH
• Graphic card: XFX 7870 Black edition
• Ventirad Graphics Card: Accelero S1 rev B + 2 Noctua NF-F12
• Memory: Kingston Beast 4 x 8 Go 1866Mhz
• SSD: Intel Postville X25-M 80Go (OS)
• Food: be quiet! E9 580CM
• Operating system: Windows 8.1 64bits

The Plextor M6S will be tested against the SSDs I have at my disposal, ie a Samsung 830 128GB and an AMD R7 240GB!

The software used is as follows:

• ATTO Disk Benchmark (downloadable here)
• AS SSD Benchmark (downloadable here)
• CrystalDiskMark (downloadable here)
• HD Tune Pro (downloadable here)
• Futuremark PCMark 8 (downloadable here)

ATTO Disk Benchmark

When reading under ATTO Disk Benchmark we see that the Plextor M6S 256GB is very fast when small files are used (from 512 bytes to 2Kb) and greatly gain the advantage over its competitors. From 4KB files the Plextor blends into the mass to finish a little below the others when reading larger files with a maximum of 520MB / s against 547MB / s for the Samsung 830 and 558MB / s for the AMD R7, the theoretical maximum throughput of the Plextor is therefore respected here.

The theoretical maximum throughput of the Plextor M6S 256GB should be 420MB / s, in reality it does much better reaching a maximum of 449MB / s. The AMD R7 240GB remains far ahead with a maximum of 535MB / s while the Samsung 830 128GB struggles to write. Note that these remain benchmarks and that in everyday use there will be very frankly no perceptible difference in performance.

AS SSD

Under AS SSD the Plextor M6S 256GB is behind the R7 240GB from AMD, whether reading or writing, it does better only when reading small files. The Samsung 830 on the other hand cannot fight, it is starting to get old now.

CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark shows the Plextor M6S in the lead in reading, ahead of the other two SSDs in the comparison except for 4K QD32 playback where the AMD R7 takes the lead. In writing, however, as in all the other tests, the AMD R7 is ahead of the Plextor M6S 256GB and Samsung 830 128GB.

HD Tune Pro

Under HD Tune Pro and in reading mode, the SSD from Plextor comes first (397.5 MB / s) against the Samsung 830 which is very close (395.8 MB / s) and an AMD R7 which on the other hand suffers the blow with an average of 309.5 MB / s. In writing, on the other hand, the results are turned upside down with the AMD R7 SSD which takes the lead in front of the Plextor and the Samsung 830 in last position.

Futuremark PCMark 8

As we can see the results under PCMark 8 are very close and there is not really one SSD that stands out above the rest, although the Plextor M6S 256GB shows the best scores here! All the SSDs in the comparison are roughly equivalent, in all the different PCMark 8 mini benchmarks.

Practical tests

Let’s move on to the practice tests now! For this I will use 2 scenarios, a copy of a 14.1 GB directory made up of 88 Folders and 12,647 files of various sizes and a copy of a single 15.3 GB file.
The source files are first copied to a RAMDisk (more information here) and then sent to the different SSDs, in this way there will logically be no clamping at the source level.

Manhandled throughout the tests, the Plextor M6S in the end does as well as the AMD R7 240GB in terms of copies, in fact it takes the lead by 2 small seconds on the copy of the directory and is almost equal when copying the big one. file. The Samsung meanwhile is lagging behind, due to its limited writing speed, especially when copying the large file.
In the end there will be no visible difference in use between the Plextor and the AMD.

Here we are at the end of this test, what about the Plextor M6S 256GB?
First of all, and even if this is not really a crucial point for SSDs, the look of the Plextor M6S with its brushed aluminum is really very classy and very sober, which will be appreciable in a configuration equipped with a window.
The performance in the benchmarks of the Plextor M6S is very good, especially in reading and a little more behind in writing, which is not true in practice because the Plextor arrives at the level of the AMD R7 240GB which was in front of it in a large majority of benchmarks.
In the end, the performance of SSDs today is largely sufficient in the vast majority of cases to see no difference in practice, the Plextor M6S will be very largely sufficient for almost all PC configurations.
The Plextor M6S 256GB can be around 130 €, offers a 3-year warranty and an MTBF of 1.5 million hours, and even if the competition is tough at this price it will in no way disappoint the buyer!

A big thank you to Plextor who allowed me to do this test.

Where to find the Plextor M6S?

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