Test Setup
All synthetic tests are carried out three times with the best result taken. We used the various software’s own test count settings, so for example CrystalMarkx64 we ran the test count at nine, but repeated three times.
We use charts to describe the benchmark results. These use colours that can often be similar or even different shades of each colour. If this becomes hard to read, you can click on any of the review samples on the chart to remove it, or add it back in.
| Test Platform | i7 LGA2011-v3 |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel i7-5820K |
| Motherboard | Asus Rampage V Extreme |
| Graphics | MSI GTX 970 GAMING Twin Frozr V |
| Memory | 16Gb Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400Mhz |
| Drives | Crucial MX200 500Gb SSD |
| PSU | Corsair HX1000i |
| Chassis | MicroCool Banchetto 101 |
We use several synthetic benchmarking tools, they are a synthetic reference and can have several factors either included in the test or impacting the test. Therefore, we use a static and standard test system.
- IOMeter
- AIDA64 Engineer
- PCMark08 Professional
- CrystalDiskMarkx64
All firmware, apart from the MX300, which is still on M0CR011, BIOS, drivers and patches are updated as of the date of this review. We have also kept the PCMark tests up to date including a re-run of the storage benchmarks after the recent updates. We have since updated the MX300 to the newer M0CR040 firmware and will run future reviews on this firmware.
Crucial MX300 1TB SSD Storage Review
Package - 7.8
Performance - 8.1
Price - 9
Consumer Experience - 8
8.2
The Crucial MX300 1TB conclusion is going to be a bit different. The performance is as marketed by Crucial and that makes it fast. It's right up there in terms of performance with any of the SSDs on test and even the Samsung M.2 drive in application tests. There is no disputing what it can do. The main stumbling point for most will be the price. However, this is going to be the Crucial MX300 1TB main strength. Crucial have priced this as by far the cheapest 1TB drive on the market. For some of their competitors it's almost 50% cheaper, which is astonishing.