Crucial BX200 480GB SSD Review

<p>Now just as a disclaimer&comma; this isn&&num;8217&semi;t a standard SSD review&period; I will be doing a review and a comparison between the Crucial BX200 480GB SSD and my normal SATA HDD&comma; which in this case&comma; is a Seagate Maxtor DiamondMax 23 500GB&comma; both being used in a SATAII port&period; This means that the SSD is running in a 3Gbit&sol;s port when it would perform better in a SATAIII&comma; 6Gbit&sol;s port&comma; so if you&&num;8217&semi;re a tech nerd and think that the technical results in this review are a little under par&comma; that is why&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I have wanted an SSD for quite some time now&comma; so I jumped at the chance to review this beauty&period; Solid State Drives &lpar;SSDs&rpar; are the cutting edge new storage drives in PCs that contain no moving parts&comma; making them able to read and write data much faster than the conventional Hard Disk Drives &lpar;HDDs&rpar;&period; Since they don&&num;8217&semi;t contain a moving arm to read the disk&comma; similar to a record player for example&comma; this makes them faster&comma; quieter&comma; smaller and for now&comma; a lot more expensive&period; The Crucial BX200 comes in at around &dollar;129-&dollar;150 for 480GB &lpar;actual size 446GB&rpar;&comma; whereas a 500GB HDD &&num;8211&semi; actual size 465GB &&num;8211&semi; you can get for about &dollar;40-&dollar;60&comma; which is a HUGE difference&&num;8230&semi; but is it worth it&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Generally speaking with everyday use&comma; most of the time you aren&&num;8217&semi;t going to notice a lot of difference&period; You will see that icons and folders will open a lot faster&comma; and the biggest difference by far is easily the boot time&period; Using the HDD&comma; my PC took 2 minutes and 30 seconds to boot&comma; but with the Crucial BX200 it only took me 36 seconds&comma; which is a dramatic improvement&period; If you are someone who moves around a lot of data&comma; constantly installs and uninstalls software&comma; backing up or restoring your OS more often etc&period; then an SSD upgrade will be very valuable to you&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also a very useful drive if you dabble in video creation&comma; such as for YouTube&comma; as your software will render footage and compile videos at a faster rate depending on your other components as well&period; Of course&comma; a huge audience for SSD hard drives are gamers&period; Video games are growing in size year by year&comma; with titles like <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;the-ultimate-gta-grand-theft-auto-v-on-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Grand Theft Auto V<&sol;a><&sol;em> totaling at 65GBs&comma; with a huge game world and high end graphics&period; The speeds you can get from the BX200 can make your games initially boot faster and reduce load times&comma; making waiting for action a lot more bearable&excl; Below I have taken the brand new PC game&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;rise-of-the-tomb-raider-has-one-of-the-better-pc-ports&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Rise of the Tomb Raider<&sol;a><&sol;em>&comma; and compared the boot times&comma; entering the game times and load times between travelling to different areas of the game&period; Unfortunately the hard drive I was testing against the SSD died during the process of this review&&num;8230&semi; so I only have the Crucial BX200&&num;8217&semi;s results&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235225&sol;blank-3-1&period;png" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-99949"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-99949 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235225&sol;blank-3-1&period;png" alt&equals;"crucial bx200 1" width&equals;"680" height&equals;"500" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now for all you techy nerds out there&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve included tests showing all of the speed results that both drives offer&period; The red graphs are the main figures however&comma; as the read speed is how quick data can be loaded&comma; and the write speed is how quick it can be saved to the drive&period; As you can see there is a HUGE difference between the two drives&comma; and as you can imagine&comma; the SSD being in it&&num;8217&semi;s preferred SATAIII would perform even better than this&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here is the write and read test using the Crucial BX200&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235325&sol;blank-4&period;png" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-99943"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-99943 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235325&sol;blank-4&period;png" alt&equals;"crucial bx200 2" width&equals;"680" height&equals;"500" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;CrystalDiskMark 5&period;1&period;2 x64 &lpar;C&rpar; 2007-2016 hiyohiyo<br &sol;>&NewLine;Other Results<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">&ast; MB&sol;s &equals; 1&comma;000&comma;000 bytes&sol;s &lbrack;SATA&sol;600 &equals; 600&comma;000&comma;000 bytes&sol;s&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast; KB &equals; 1000 bytes&comma; KiB &equals; 1024 bytes<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Random Read 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 32&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 27&period;841 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 6797&period;1 IOPS&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Random Write 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 32&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 81&period;284 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 19844&period;7 IOPS&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sequential Read &lpar;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 231&period;724 MB&sol;s<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sequential Write &lpar;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 227&period;333 MB&sol;s<br &sol;>&NewLine;Random Read 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 1&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 24&period;177 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 5902&period;6 IOPS&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Random Write 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 1&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 47&period;216 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 11527&period;3 IOPS&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Test &colon; 1024 MiB &lbrack;E&colon; 56&period;0&percnt; &lpar;250&period;2&sol;446&period;7 GiB&rpar;&rsqb; &lpar;x5&rpar; &lbrack;Interval&equals;5 sec&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Date &colon; 2016&sol;02&sol;06 23&colon;42&colon;18<br &sol;>&NewLine;OS &colon; Windows 10 Professional &lbrack;10&period;0 Build 10586&rsqb; &lpar;x64&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Here is the write and read test using the Seagate HDD&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235254&sol;blank-1-1&period;png" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-99946"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-99946 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235254&sol;blank-1-1&period;png" alt&equals;"crucial bx200 3" width&equals;"680" height&equals;"500" &sol;><&sol;a><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;onlinecharttool&period;com&sol;graph&sol;image&sol;blank&quest;antifreeze&equals;1455916875"><br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;a>&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;CrystalDiskMark 5&period;1&period;2 x64 &lpar;C&rpar; 2007-2016 hiyohiyo<br &sol;>&NewLine;Other Results<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">&ast; MB&sol;s &equals; 1&comma;000&comma;000 bytes&sol;s &lbrack;SATA&sol;600 &equals; 600&comma;000&comma;000 bytes&sol;s&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast; KB &equals; 1000 bytes&comma; KiB &equals; 1024 bytes<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Random Read 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 32&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 0&period;518 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 126&period;5 IOPS&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Random Write 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 32&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 0&period;764 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 186&period;5 IOPS&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sequential Read &lpar;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 75&period;909 MB&sol;s<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sequential Write &lpar;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 56&period;828 MB&sol;s<br &sol;>&NewLine;Random Read 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 1&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 0&period;279 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 68&period;1 IOPS&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Random Write 4KiB &lpar;Q&equals; 1&comma;T&equals; 1&rpar; &colon; 0&period;787 MB&sol;s &lbrack; 192&period;1 IOPS&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Test &colon; 1024 MiB &lbrack;C&colon; 55&period;4&percnt; &lpar;257&period;6&sol;465&period;3 GiB&rpar;&rsqb; &lpar;x5&rpar; &lbrack;Interval&equals;5 sec&rsqb;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Date &colon; 2016&sol;02&sol;06 23&colon;35&colon;17<br &sol;>&NewLine;OS &colon; Windows 10 Professional &lbrack;10&period;0 Build 10586&rsqb; &lpar;x64&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">So with this SSD&comma; tasking jobs and even trivial tasks are done much faster&comma; letting you get on with your other tasks&comma; gaming&comma; or finishing your application process without having to wait around&period; This would be if the SSD performed at these speeds constantly&period; However&comma; I did notice something that seems to be a huge issue&period; Below I have taken a screenshot as I was moving a large game to my HDD from the SSD in Windows 10&period; As you can see&comma; the transfer speed was peaking at about 190MB&sol;s&comma; but after about 3GBs of data had transferred&comma; it suddenly dropped down to about 70MB&sol;s&period; I have no idea why this happens&comma; but I looked online to ensure it wasn&&num;8217&semi;t an error on my side and there are many other sources confirming the same issue&period; This makes moving and writing files after the first few gigabytes only slightly faster than using a standard hard drive&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 447px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;gyazo&period;com&sol;4193a6992636d95275a287c43f342c19&period;png"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;gyazo&period;com&sol;4193a6992636d95275a287c43f342c19&period;png" alt&equals;"crucial bx200 4" width&equals;"447" height&equals;"284" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Huge drop in speed after first few GBs moved&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The BX200 480GB SSD is a good value and large drive&comma; but this drop in speed is a crucial mistake in it&&num;8217&semi;s performance&period; We also reviewed the Crucial BX100&comma; found <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;crucial-bx100-500gb-review&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">here<&sol;a>&comma; which might be a better choice over what is supposed to be the improved version&period; Maybe this doesn&&num;8217&semi;t happen with all BX200 drives&quest; It&&num;8217&semi;s possible&comma; but I wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t recommend it over that risk&semi; it&&num;8217&semi;s a staple that all SSDs should be able to perform no matter what&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In comparison to a standard HDD however&comma; it certainly performs and demonstrates why they are basked in glory by the PC community&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re unable to get your hands on the Crucial BX100&comma; then it may be best to research more about the Crucial BX200 before purchasing one&semi; that&&num;8217&semi;s unless you can get one a lot cheaper than the RRP&period; It is a useful drive due to it&&num;8217&semi;s size and ability to load your OS and applications a lot faster&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s just that the drop in write speed is very disappointing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>A BX200 was provided by Crucial for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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