Crucial MX100
SATA 2.5" · SATA 6 Gbps · Marvell 88SS9189
Specifications
| Interface | SATA 6 Gbps |
|---|---|
| Controller | Marvell 88SS9189 |
| NAND Type | Planar MLC (16nm) |
| DRAM Cache | 512MB LPDDR2-1067 |
| Warranty | 3 years |
| Active Power | 0.15 W |
| Idle Power | 0.1 W |
| Seq Read | 550 MB/s |
|---|---|
| Seq Write | 150 MB/s |
| Rand Read | 80,000 IOPS |
| Rand Write | 40,000 IOPS |
| Endurance | 72 TBW |
| Launch MSRP | $80 |
| Part Number | CT128MX100SSD1 |
| Seq Read | 550 MB/s |
|---|---|
| Seq Write | 330 MB/s |
| Rand Read | 85,000 IOPS |
| Rand Write | 70,000 IOPS |
| Endurance | 72 TBW |
| Launch MSRP | $110 |
| Part Number | CT256MX100SSD1 |
| Seq Read | 550 MB/s |
|---|---|
| Seq Write | 500 MB/s |
| Rand Read | 90,000 IOPS |
| Rand Write | 85,000 IOPS |
| Endurance | 72 TBW |
| Launch MSRP | $225 |
| Part Number | CT512MX100SSD1 |
Overview
Announced at Computex in May 2014, the Crucial MX100 replaced the M500 and hit the market at under $0.50/GB for the 512GB model — roughly half the going rate for mainstream SSDs at the time. That put it squarely up against the Samsung 840 EVO, the OCZ ARC 100, and the SanDisk Ultra II, and it held its own against all three on price. Crucial's own M550 sat above it in the lineup with a 1TB option; the MX100 stopped at 512GB.
Controller and NAND
The controller is Marvell's 88SS9189 ("Renoir"), a step up from the 88SS9187 in the M500. The main practical addition is DevSleep support — a deeper idle state that drops power consumption to near zero, useful in ultrabooks with aggressive power management. Eight NAND channels, Crucial custom firmware.
The bigger story is the NAND. The MX100 was the first consumer drive to ship with Micron's 16nm 128Gbit MLC — a meaningful die shrink from the 20nm used in the M500, with lower cost per bit and higher density per wafer. The 128GB model is an outlier: some units used 20nm NAND and some sources indicate TLC rather than MLC, which likely accounts for the much lower write spec (150 MB/s vs. 500 MB/s on the 512GB). The underlying reason is parallelism — fewer, higher-capacity dies means fewer NAND channels active simultaneously. The 256GB and 512GB models don't have this problem and perform as expected.
Reviews
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“All in all, I have nothing negative to say about the MX100. With the performance and feature set, combined with pricing that basically doubles the amount of storage you get for your dollar, it's an absolute no-brainer. Unless you are an enthusiast or professional with a heavy IO workload, the MX100 is currently the drive with the best bang for the buck in the market by far.”
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“Though the MX100 offers a combination of respectable performance, enterprise-grade data protection and aggressive price point. The net result is an SSD that makes a compelling upgrade choice, especially for those who have had data reliability concerns in moving from hard drives to an SSD.”