Intel 750 PCIe SSD Review (400GB)

TSSDR TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL

SSD testing at TSSDR differs slightly, depending on whether we are looking at consumer or enterprise SSDs.  For consumer SSDs, our goal is to test in a system that has been optimized with our SSD Optimization Guide. To see the best performance possible the CPU C states have been disabled, C1E support has been disabled, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST) has been disabled. Benchmarks for consumer testing are also benchmarks with a fresh drive so, not only can we verify that manufacturer specifications are in line but also, so the consumer can replicate our tests to confirm that they have an SSD that is top-notch.  We even provide links to most of the benchmarks used in the report.

While this SSD is simply plug and play, for testing we are utilizing Intel’s NVMe driver to ensure the best performance possible.

This Test Bench build was the result of some great relationships and purchase; our appreciation goes to those who jumped in specifically to help the cause. Key contributors to this build are our friends at ASRock for the motherboard and CPU, be quiet! for the cooling fans, and Thermaltake for the case. We have detailed all components in the table below and they are all linked should you wish to make a duplicate of our system as so many seem to do, or check out the price of any single component. As always, we appreciate your support in any purchase through our links!

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

PC CHASSIS:	Thermaltake Urban T81
MOTHERBOARD:	ASRock X99 WS-E
CPU:	Intel Xeon E5-2690 v3
CPU COOLER:	Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate
POWER SUPPLY:	Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W Gold
GRAPHICS:	MSI GT 720
SYSTEM COOLING:	be quiet! Silent Wings 2
MEMORY:	Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz
STORAGE:	Crucial MX200 500GB
OS:	Windows Server 2012 R2
IRST:	13.1.0.1058
NVME DRIVER	1.2.0.1002

BENCHMARK SOFTWARE

The software in use for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of TRIMcheck, Intel Toolbox, ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal Disk Mark, AS SSD, Anvil’s Storage Utilities, PCMark 8, and PCMark Vantage. We prefer to test with easily accessible software that the consumer can obtain, and in many cases, we even provide links. Our selection of software allows each to build on the last and to provide validation to results already obtained.

S.M.A.R.T. DATA

Normally we would show you a screenshot of the S.M.A.R.T. data using Crystal Disk Info here, however this SSD does not show up when using this program. Instead, we are using Intel’s Toolbox to show off the S.M.A.R.T data.

TRIMCHECK

We’ve covered TRIMcheck in the past. It is a great tool that easily lets us see if TRIM is actually functioning on a SSD volume in your system.

A quick check with TRIMcheck shows us that TRIM is working.

ATTO DISK BENCHMARK VER. 2.47

ATTO Disk Benchmark is perhaps one of the oldest benchmarks going and is definitely the main staple for manufacturer performance specifications. ATTO uses RAW or compressible data and, for our benchmarks, we use a set length of 256mb and test both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5 to 8192kb. Manufacturers prefer this method of testing as it deals with raw (compressible) data rather than random (includes incompressible data) which, although more realistic, results in lower performance results.

Our first look at performance with ATTO reveals a very similar performance pattern to that of the 1.2TB model. The small file size performance doesn’t start to pick up until the 4KB file size. From then on, up until the 128KB file size write performance is much better than read. Sequential reads reach 2,363MB/s while writes max out at 1,035MB/s at the 4096KB file size.