Crucial, which makes some of the best SSDs, is preparing the brand's first PCIe 4.0 SSD. Although not officially announced, the Crucial P5 Plus (via momomo_us) is already up for pre-order at Amazon.
It doesn't come as a surprise that the P5 Plus continues to adhere to the M.2 2280 form factor and uses Micron's 3D NAND chips. However, Amazon didn't specify the exact type of NAND the drive uses. Since it's just a listing, the finer details about the P5 Plus are still unknown. Luckily, Amazon provided the basic specifications for the SSD, which allows us to compare it to its PCIe 3.0 counterpart.
According to the Amazon listing, the P5 Plus delivers sequential read speeds up to 6,600 MBps and sequential write speeds up to 5,000 MBps. It's a substantial upgrade over the P5, of course. The P5 Plus offers 94% and 67% higher sequential read and write performance, respectively. Nonetheless, the P5 Plus is still a bit behind some rival PCIe 4.0 SSDs that can hit 7,000 MBps reads and over 6,000 MBps writes.
Crucial P5 Plus Specifications
| Part Number | Capacity | Sequential Read (MBps) | Sequential Write (MBps) | Endurance (TBW) | Warranty | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT2000P5PSSD8 | 2TB | 6,600 | 5,000 | 1,200 | 5 Years | $367.99 |
| CT1000P5PSSD8 | 1TB | 6,600 | 5,000 | 600 | 5 Years | ? |
| CT500P5PSSD8 | 500GB | 6,600 | 5,000 | 300 | 5 Years | $107.99 |
Although the P5 Plus is significantly faster than the P5, the PCIe 4.0 drive isn't more durable. Assuming that Amazon's information is accurate, the P5 Plus has the same endurance as the P5. This means that the 2TB and 1TB models are rated for 1,200 TBW and 600 TBW, respectively, while the 500GB SKU is only good for 300 TBW. In addition, the P5 Plus comes with a limited five-year warranty, which is pretty much the norm for high-end SSDs nowadays.
So far, we haven't seen a listing for a 250GB drive, so it appears that Crucial may only offer the P5 Plus in three capacities: 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. Unfortunately, the Amazon page for the 1TB isn't live yet, so pricing remains a mystery.
For comparison, the P5 500GB and 2TB sell for $79.99 and $339.99, respectively. However, the P5 Plus equivalents are going for $107.99 and $367.99 on Amazon. Therefore, we're looking at a 35% increase in price for the 500GB model and only 8% for the 2TB model.
You can preorder the Crucial P5 Plus on Amazon today, although Crucial won't release the SSD until August 3.
