The Plextor M6 PRO SSD

Official Website

Plextor

Specs

M6 Pro

"Using a new generation of A19 nm Toshiba toggle NAND flash, a generous on-board cache, and the latest Marvell multi-core controller, the Plextor M6 PRO is able to take hardware performance to the practical maximum and provide ultra-stable performance at 6 Gb/s.Sustained sequential mode read performance up to 545 MB/s* and sequential write speeds up to 490 MB/s*.Real-world random read speeds reach a maximum of 100K IOPS* and up to 88K IOPS* for random writes.Speeds using exclusive PlexTurbo were up to ten times faster during testing."

Also interesting are these noteworthy numbers

• Consumption      0.25W(MobileMark) / 0.2mW(DEVSLP)
• MTBF     > 2,400,000 hours

Packaging

Pretty is not the usual word used to describe any SSD but the Plextor M6 PRO is definitely no shrinking violet when it comes to aesthetics. It is endowed with a very fanciful cardboard box, gleaming in textured Rose Gold (or is it more Pink Champagne?).

Thanks or no thanks to Apple, the world is again awash in varying shades of gold which is decidedly the premium metal of choice in Asia from where Plextor & Lite-on originate.

*Do note that the higher capacity devices come with more cache RAM which should boost the overall performance as well.

Bundled Goodies

software CD with the PlexTool utility, NTI clone & backup utilities, VIP cert & warranty flyer, storage screws & tray, 1 x SATA cable

The M6 Pro SSD 

is itself decked out in a brushed aluminium case, again in Rose Gold. Here it is, looking splendid and well ensconced in thick protective foam.

Ooh, a fresh new batch straight out of the factory indeed...

Here's the label side

And the warranty flyer certifying 5 years of peace of mind

PlexTool v1.1.5

comes on the bundled CD as was previously said and this version sports SSD caching capability to possibly boost benchmarks and performance to dizzy astronomical heights.

And yes, it only works for Plextor branded devices so no similar luck here for this Intel 530 SSD - everything appears greyed out

Next, let's jump straight to the new PlexTurbo  feature on the Plex M6 Pro and click on the Enable button pronto!

Of course, you can always disable it if you ever feel the need

This important difference was reiterated to me that Plextor has this feature while its competitors do not:

Safe Power Loss

Automatically protects against loss of data from the RAM cache during a power interruption or unexpected system crash.

btw, here's a screenshot of internal components from the Plextor kit....

Preview Benchmarks

Test Setup

 ★ Asus Z87-A | i7-4970K@4.6GHz | 8GB KVR@2133 | NiCu HK 3.0-GTX360 | R9 290 | Thermaltake Smart SE 630W ★

*EIST is left enabled throughout the benching as in the usual 24/7 manner of PC usage for most rigs

Crystal Disk Info

Crystal Disk Mark

Stock

PlexTurbo 

AS SSD Bench

Stock

PlexTurbo 

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Stock

PlexTurbo 

Now, how about that? Crazy numbers indeed, this looks like a serious challenge to its SSD caching  competitors.

Initial Impressions

• Pretty!
• Nice components - Japanese chips, Marvell controller
• Fast drive
• Fast to market by local distro
• Plextool SSD cache boosted performance
• Sensibly long warranty

Can be improved...

Plextool lacks TRIM and automated scheduling features

Availability & Pricing

Amazingly, the M6 Pro is already available locally ahead of the online giants like Newegg or Amazon so check it out here

Convergent (in SGD)