TechPowerUp posted a review on the Crucial MX300 M.2 525 GB M.2 drive, one of the most affordable M.2 drives out there.
A quote from the article:
With just $140 for the 525 GB version, the Crucial MX300 is one of the most affordable M.2 drives out there. Instead of NVMe it uses the slower SATA interface though. Our review will take a closer look at how much difference that really makes and whether the MX300 M.2 is a good alternative to 2.5" SATA drives.Crucial MX300 M.2 525 GB Review
Today, we are reviewing the Crucial MX300 SSD 525 GB in its M.2 variant. According to Crucial, the MX300 M.2 should be identical to the SATA version in terms of performance, because it uses the SATA interface too. This is in contrast to high-end M.2 NVMe SSDs which use NVMe over PCIe. Being SATA, the same performance constraints as with 2.5 inch SATA apply, ie, the storage interface can not exceed around 500 MB/s in speed. Just like the other MX300 variants, this drive is built using Micron 3D TLC NAND, which is paired with a 4-channel 88SS1074 controller from Marvell.
In order to boost TLC chip performance to make up for the ground lost over MLC, Crucial designates a small, variably sized amount of memory as SLC cache, which writes a single bit to each TLC cell instead of three. While much faster, such a setup is basically a speed vs. size tradeoff. In terms of technology, the SLC cache is identical to that of the MX200 (not BX200).
