Benchmarks: CrystalDiskMark 3.0
The m4's sequential read performance was a fraction slower than that of the SSD 510 Series, which is surprising considering Intel's drive is much smaller. Still, with a throughput of 400.5MB/s, Crucial's latest entry proved to be 16% faster than its predecessor.
The tables turned when measuring sequential writes as the m4 was 24% faster than the 510 Series and it maintained its 16% lead over the RealSSD C300.
Performance leveled out a bit in the random 512K benchmark as the m4's 318.6MB/s read rate matched the 510 Series and was only 6% higher than the C300's. None of them came close to the Vertex 3, however, which delivered a throughput of 435.1MB/s.
The m4's random write 512K performance was very strong, scoring only 10% lower than the almighty Vertex 3. By achieving a speed of 266.7MB/s, the m4 birthed a 17% performance margin between the RealSSD C300 while ranking 35% higher than the 510 Series.
The random 4K-QD32 test revealed some interesting results, as we found the m4 to be 29% slower than the older RealSSD C300. Nonetheless, it was still 90% faster than the 510 Series.
The Crucial m4 256GB claw its way back in front of the RealSSD C300 during the random 4K-QD32 write test, beating the year-old drive by 12%.