Plextor M8V (M8VG) 512GB M.2 SATA SSD Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing and Availability

At the time of review, the M8V isn’t available in the stores yet. However, we do have the MSRP prices. The 128GB version comes in at $47.50/€38.50, the 256GB at $83.50/€68.00, and the 512GB at $149.50/€121.50.

Design

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the design of Plextor’s M8V M.2 drive. The single-sided design on a 2280 M.2 form factor does make it compatible with most modern systems. It will fit especially well in SFF and portable systems.

Performance and Endurance

TLC-based SSDs have one downside, the performance isn’t as consistent throughout the tests, that’s clear with every drive tested. It’s no different for the M8V, but that’s not a surprise. While that is true, it doesn’t need to be for every situation. Even when the performance drops due to that, you stay above a hard drive’s performance. And isn’t that what you are trying to do with an SSD? TLC NAND has also evolved a lot which becomes clear in tests such as the AIDA64 linear tests. The write performance drops after the initial cache is used, but it still stays above 300MB/s in a straight line. While SSDs still cost more than HDDs, the M8V won’t break your budget either. You get a lot of capacity and a good performance for a reasonable price.

The conditioning of the M8V doesn’t seem to impact the drive a lot either, which is a huge bonus. You wouldn’t want your drive’s performance to drop after prolonged use. With a 0.5 DWPD rating, it also comes in above the usual budget-drive ratings.

Features

The M8V has a great set of features too with LDPC, ECC, RAID engine, and data shaping. You also get hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption should you need that extra layer of security. On top of that, you also get the full drive capacity as Plextor’s PlexNitro caching doesn’t require overprovisioning.

Bonus Content

Plextor SATA drives come with a great bonus in the form of Plextor’s software offerings. PlexTurbo is without a doubt my favourite one of them. By utilising a little bit of your system’s memory, it’s able to boost the performance to new levels. You also get PlexCompressor which can increase the amount of data you and store on the drive with intelligent compression algorithms and PlexVault which allows you to secure portions of the drive from prying eyes.

Pros

• Full drive capacity
• Good performance for a budget drive
• Great feature set
• Bonus software for increased performance, security, and capacity

Cons

• Some performance jitter throughout the tests

“Plextor’s M8V delivers as promised. You get a lot of drive for little money as well a great software bundle on top. Budget doesn’t always mean you get less, even if M.2 is smaller”

We would like to thank Plextor for this sample.