First, the basics. The new range is available in capacities of 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. That’s a departure from the MX300; due to the odd 384GB capacity of its NAND dies, this was available in 275GB and 525GB versions. The new 64-layer dies have a more conventional 256GB capacity. Typical I/O performance numbers as measured using IOMeter® with a queue depth of 32 and write cache enabled. Fresh out-of-the-box (FOB) state is assumed. For performance measurement purposes, the SSD may be restored to FOB state using the secure erase command. System variations will affect measured results. Despite the drop in some capacities, the drives essentially offer the same value, with this 500GB model sitting at the bottom end of the price range for 500GB drives. The drives are all rated to run at up to 560MB/sec sequential read and 510MB/sec sequential write speeds, along with 95K IOPS read and 90K IOPS write speeds. So, unlike several other drives, there’s no drop in performance for the lower-capacity models.

Crucial MX500 500GB review: As fast a SATA SSD as you can find

However, this SLC cache is dynamically managed in a way that means write performance only drops a little. After around 180GB, its write speed drops to 400MB/sec. The MX500 also sees a bump up in the length of its warranty from its predecessor, with the drive now getting five years of cover. Write endurance has also increased slightly, with this 500GB model moving up from 160TB to 180TB. The MX500 also uses TLC NAND, rather than MLC, so its write speed has to be bolstered by a portion of the NAND acting in an SLC manner. Some of the storage capacity is used for formatting and other purposes and is not available for data storage. 1GB equals 1 billion bytes. Not all capacities available at initial launch.

Active average power use comparison based on published specs of the 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD and the 1TB Western Digital® Caviar Blue™ WD10EZEX internal hard drive. All other capacities of the Crucial MX500 SSD have comparable active average power consumption specs.

Crucial MX500 500GB - Expert Reviews

JP” is attached at the end of the parts number of official Japanese distributed products shipped after April 2017.