Toshiba HG5D Series SATA M.2 SSD Review (512GB) – Amazing Performance in a SATA M.2 SSD

TSSDR PCIE 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, although CPU C States have not been changed at all.  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.

Enterprise testing is significantly different as we explore performance in steady state, explore drive latency, and do our best to follow SNIA test protocol.  For the Toshiba HG5d SATA M.2 SSD, this SSD is marketed as a client device so we are going to follow our typical consumer SSD testing protocol.

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

This new PCIe Test Bench build was the result of some great relationships and purchase; our appreciation goes to be quiet, Corsair, Crucial, Intel, EVGA and InWin for their support in our project.  Our choice of components is very narrow, in that, we choose only what we believe to be among the best available and links are provided to each that will assist in hardware pricing and availability, should the reader be interested in purchase.

PC CHASSIS:	InWin D-Frame Open Air Chassis
MOTHERBOARD:	ASUS Maximus VI Z87 MotherBoard
CPU:	Intel Core i7-4770K CPU
CPU COOLER:	Corsair H100i CPU Cooler
POWER SUPPLY:	be quiet Dark Power Pro 10 1000W PSU
SYSTEM COOLING:	be quiet Silent Wings 2 PC Fans
GRAPHICS CARD:	EVGA GTX 770 Superclocked with ACX Cooler
MEMORY:	Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1600Mhz Memory
KEYBOARD:	Corsair Vengeance K95 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
MOUSE:	Corsair Vengeance M95 MMO/RTS Laser Mouse
ROUTER:	NetGear R6300 AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit WiFi Router
HBA	HighPoint RocketU 1144C 4 x USB 3.0 20Gb/s HBA

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BENCHMARK SOFTWARE

The software we will be using for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of ATTO Disk Benchmark, QuickBench, Crystal Disk Info, Crystal DiskMark, AS SSD, Anvil Storage Utilities,and PCMark Vantage.  In consumer reports, 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, also, to provide validation to results already obtained.

BENCHMARK ADAPTER

For our testing today, we will be using the BPlus M2PS Dual M.2 (NGFF) SSD to SATA Adapter for our testing of the Toshiba HG5D M.2 SSD.  It is interesting to note that, just as a native M.2 PCIe SSD can’t be switched off in a system for a SATA M.2 PCIe SSD, the same goes for adapters and separate adapters must be utilized for each type of M.2 SSD.

This adapter uses the PCIe lanes strictly for power, while the SATA cable connects from the adapter to the Intel port of the motherboard.

QUICKBENCH 4.0

QuickBench is a recent addition to our tool chest and we use it as it does a great job validating ATTO scores by measuring the transfer speeds of increasingly larger files.  For our purposes, we have tested in standard and extended file sizes. Performance highs are displayed in blue while lows are displayed in brown.

Initial benchmark results of 507MB/s read and 488MB/s write is a decent start but the most encouraging result in these two benchmarks is the 4K random write result of 93MB/s.