Super Talent PCIe DX1 M.2 SSD Review (128GB) – SATA Speeds Via PCIe and Self-Contained Boot Instructions

QUICKBENCH 4.0

QuickBench 4.0 is a benchmark program that we often use to confirm our ATTO Disk Benchmark results.  For the most part, it uses highly compressible data samples in its tests and we went with the standard and Extended test samples in our testing of the STT PCIe DX1.

Super Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD QuickBench Standard

Super Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD QuickBench Extended

CRYSTAL DISK BENCHMARK VER. 3.0 X64

Crystal Disk Benchmark is used to measure read and write performance through sampling of highly compressible data (oFill/1Fill), or 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.

Super Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD CDM

Crystal DiskMark scores are as can be expected from a 128GB SSD and the low 4K random write scores are as expected which is decent for a mid level SATA 3 controller.

AS SSD BENCHMARK VER 1.6

Up until recently, AS SSD was the only benchmark created specifically for SSD testing and it uses incompressible data.  AS SSD, for the most part, gives us the ‘worst case scenario’ in SSD transfer speeds because of its use of incompressible data and many enthusiasts like to AS SSD for their needs. Transfer speeds are displayed on the left with IOPS results on the right.

Super Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD AS SSDSuper Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD AS SSD IOPSMuch the same, we expected low IOPS from the JMicron controller.  Considering that manufacturers specifications list the disk access time to be 0.2ms, the access time shown here is pretty impressive.

Super Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD AS SSD Copy Bench

We would like to have seen higher transfer speeds in the AS SSD compression test, however, we have to remember that this is a pre-release sample that we are testing.  Our next benchmark would have normally been Anvil Storage Utilities, however, we found that it was completely incompatible with the DX1 and wouldn’t give us any performance benchmarks whatsoever.

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. The simulations are as follows:

  • Windows Defender In Use
  • Streaming Data from storage in games such as Alan Wake which allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action
  • Importing digital photos into Windows Photo Gallery
  • Starting the Vista Operating System
  • Home Video editing with Movie Maker which can be very time-consuming
  • Media Center which can handle video recording, time shifting and streaming from Windows media center to an extender such as XBox
  • Cataloging a music library
  • Starting applications

SUPER TALENT PCIE DX1 SSD PCMARK VANTAGE RESULTS

The Super Talent DX1 M.2 PCIe SSD completed the PCMark Vantage HDD Suite with a Total Score of 53556 points and a high transfer speed of 300MB/s when testing in Windows Media Center.  While this is not the typical result we are used to as of late, we need to understand that this is a low capacity SSD utilizing a mid-tier SATA 3 controller.  Considering, this result is actually just what we might expect.

Super Talent DX1 M.2 NGFF 128GB SSD

One comment

  1. blank

    I’m absolutely positive more bootable pcie cards will be popping up left, right and center…the longer intel holds back sata express, the more bootables we’ll see.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *