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3D MARK STORAGE GAMING BENCHMARK
UL Solutions has created a new storage gaming benchmark that we will start to use as new SSDs come in. The 3DMark Storage Benchmark DLC extends 3DMark Advanced Edition with a dedicated component test for measuring the gaming performance of SSDs and other storage hardware. It supports all the latest storage technologies and tests practical, real-world gaming performance for activities such as loading games, saving progress, installing game files, and recording gameplay video streams.
3DMark Storage appears to have been the Micron 2600’s toughest challenge, noting that it did place right there beside two very current DRAMless SSDs recently reviewed, the BIWIN NV7400 and Yottamaster Y7000.
CRUCIAL/MICRON STORAGE EXECUTIVE SSD MANAGEMENT TOOL
The Micron 2600 Gen4 QLC SSD is compatible and works perfectly in the latest version of the Crucial/Micron Storage Executive SSD Management Tool software which can be found here.
This tool enables full monitoring and control of several Crucial/Micron SSDs with utilities such as SSD Update, Sanitize Drive, Format Drive, Adjusting the Overprovisioning and much more.
REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
We have reviewed very few QLC SSDs over the past few years, mainly for the reason that performance was subpar to TLC SSDs and there wasn’t much to separate the two in pricing. Our review of both Gen4 WD Blue SN5000 and Corsair MP600XT demonstrated speeds only as high as the 5GB/s mark and, until recently, there was nothing that could put Gen4 QLC SSDs close to the 7GB/s mark. This was until we reviewed the Acer FA200 Gen4 DRAMless 4TB QLC SSD which was the first to use YMTC QLC X3 232-layer 1TB NAND flash memory. While the FA200 put up good numbers in the synthetic benchmarks, it couldn’t come anywhere near the Micron 2600 in any of our comparison testing. Further it was based on four NAND chips whereas the Micron 2600 only has one.
In comparison testing, the Micron 2600 not only held ground with other TLC based Gen4 SSDs, but it actually bettered many and this was consistent throughout our tests. It’s performance reached 7GB/s read and 6.2GB/s write with low random 4K random reads at 126MB/s and writes at 483MB/s. This is not indicative of DRAMless SSDs much less a QLC based DRAMless SSD. As a bit of a reminder, you will find this SSD sooner than later in manufacturer built retail laptops and, unless you do a bit of investigating, you won’t even know it is the Micron 2600. You will just love the performance.
We have come SO FAR since our review of the Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook way back in 2011 with a low 4K random write speed of 2MB/s (yes that is two). That is a 241.5% increase! Great build Micron!
CHECK AMAZON FOR OTHER GREAT CRUCIAL/MICRON PRODUCTS!
