Toshiba XG3 M.2 NVMe SSD Review (1TB) – Rocket Ship NVMe SSD

CRYSTAL DISK BENCHMARK VER. 5.1.2 X64

Crystal Disk Benchmark is used to measure read and write performance through sampling of random data which is, for the most part, incompressible. Performance is virtually identical, regardless of data sample so we have included only that using random data samples.

This is perhaps one of the best Crystal Diskmark results we have ever had for a small form factor SSD.  Not only does performance once again exceed listed specs (and while testing with incompressible data), but also, we get a great glimpse at that rare low 4k write disk transfer speed score above 200MB/s.

AS SSD BENCHMARK VER 1.8.5

The toughest benchmark available for solid state drives is AS SSD as it relies solely on incompressible data samples when testing performance.  For the most part, AS SSD tests can be considered the ‘worst case scenario’ in obtaining data transfer speeds and many enthusiasts like AS SSD for their needs. Transfer speeds are displayed on the left with IOPS results on the right.

Typically, AS SSD read and write results are a bit lower than other benchmarks, but AS SSD also demonstrates that the Toshiba XG3 M.2 NVMe SSD is capable of, not only strong read IOPS at 214K, but write at 170K as well.  It is worthy of noting that, although the Samsung 950 Pro NVMe SSD has read IOPS just under 300K which betters the Toshiba considerably, the Toshiba XG3 has much better write IOPS where the Samsung couldn’t even reach 100K.

The AS SSD Copy Benchmark tests the transfer of ISO, Program and Game files, recording the speed and time it takes to complete the transfer.  This test is as true to life as we will get from a synthetic benchmark and the Toshiba XG3 beat the Samsung 950 Pro hands down.  Samsung results can be found here.

ANVIL STORAGE UTILITIES PROFESSIONAL

Anvil’s Storage Utilities (ASU) are the most complete test bed available for the solid state drive today.  The benchmark displays test results for, not only throughput but also, IOPS and Disk Access Times.  Not only does it have a preset SSD benchmark, but also, it has included such things as endurance testing and threaded I/O read, write and mixed tests, all of which are very simple to understand and use in our benchmark testing.

Once again, we can see that test results are not always fluent between benchmark programs, Crystal DiskMark, AS SSD and ASU all testing with incompressible data samples.  Stay tuned as we get into PCMark 8 and some true data transfer testing.

PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD SUITE

The SSD Review uses benchmark software called PCMark Vantage x64 HDD Suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. There are eight tests in all and the tests performed record the speed of data movement in MB/s to which they are then given a numerical score after all of the tests are complete.

PCMARK VANTAGE RESULTS

The Toshiba 1TB XG3 M.2 NVMe SSD achieved an excellent Total Score of 231552, again bettering the Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD.  All tests resulted in very high transfer speeds with 6 of the 8 tests achieving over 1GB/s.  The high speed goes to the Windows Startup test which achieved a transfer speed of 1.5GB/s.