Crucial Releases Its Fastest SSD Ever in the P5

Crucial P5

Crucial P5 (Image credit: Crucial)

Having recently introduced the P2 SSD, Crucial is back with another update to the its SSD portfolio. The storage expert has now taken the curtains off the new P5 SSD, which comes with some impressive speeds. 

In its announcement, Micron's VP of consumer products called the P5 the brand's "fastest and most innovative SSD product to date." On the outside, the P5 looks just like any other M.2 2280 SSD from Crucial's product stack. If you were expecting a PCIe 4.0 drive, the P5 isn't it. The SSD still runs on a conventional PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, which should give you an idea of the drive's performance before even looking at the specifications.

As always, the P5 leverages a proprietary SSD controller from Micron, but Crucial didn't share any details on it. The manufacturer also didn't specify the nature of the NAND chips, but based on the images, the P5 looks like it's using Micron's 3D TLC (triple-evel cell) NAND flash memory.

Crucial P5 Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ModelPart NumberSequential Read (MBps)Sequential Write (MBps)Random Read (IOPS)Random Writes (IOPS)Endurance (TBW)Warranty
Crucial P5 2TBCT2000P5SSD83,4003,000??1,2005 years
Crucial P5 1TBCT1000P5SSD83,4003,000??6005 years
Crucial P5 500GBCT500P5SSD83,4003,000??3005 years
Crucial P5 250GBCT250P5SSD83,4001,400??1505 years

The P5 comes in four different capacities spanning from 250GB to 2TB. When it comes to sequential read performance, you don't have to worry too much since all four models feature read speeds up to 3,400 MBps. Sequential write performance is rated for 3,000 MBps across the 500GB, 1TB and 2TB variants and 1,400 MBps on the 250GB model. As is typical, Crucial didn't share the random performance values for the P5.

Endurance levels get better as you scale the capacity ladder. The 250GB drive is good for 150 TBW (terabytes written), and the highest-capacity model features an endurance rating of 1,200 TBW. Once again, Crucial bundles the Crucial Storage Executive and Acronis True Image software with the P5.

The P5 carries the typical limited five-year warranty from Crucial. The manufacturer hasn't revealed the pricing for the drives nor have they landed at any retailers yet.

Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • DZIrl
    Yeah, every NVMe SSD has very nice read/write speeds in benchmarks but when comes to real world than story becomes different.
    I have Samsung 970 Pro 1TB and ADATA 8200 Pro 2TB and besides both have nice numbers 970 is faster
    Reply
  • bit_user
    DZIrl said:
    every NVMe SSD has very nice read/write speeds in benchmarks
    No, some are bad even in benchmarks.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    I hope this elevates Crucial's NVMe portfolio to include the value-performance "sweet spot" long occupied by their MX-series SATA drives (and the M550, before that).

    It's a shame they didn't post any random IOPS. Even though such numbers are always at unrealistically high QD, it'd still be something more to go on than just the sequential numbers.
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    DZIrl said:
    Yeah, every NVMe SSD has very nice read/write speeds in benchmarks but when comes to real world than story becomes different.
    I have Samsung 970 Pro 1TB and ADATA 8200 Pro 2TB and besides both have nice numbers 970 is faster

    All depends on workflow and what you do with I/O on your pc.
    Reply
  • mdd1963
    Numbers similar with 960/970...

    Now make it $30-$40 cheaper....and they will come!
    Reply
  • AlistairAB
    DZIrl said:
    Yeah, every NVMe SSD has very nice read/write speeds in benchmarks but when comes to real world than story becomes different.
    I have Samsung 970 Pro 1TB and ADATA 8200 Pro 2TB and besides both have nice numbers 970 is faster

    I have many workloads where the SX 8200 Pro is faster. Depends on what you are doing. SX8200 Pro is the best value high speed drive. 970 Pro is just a huge waste of money.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    AlistairAB said:
    I have many workloads where the SX 8200 Pro is faster. Depends on what you are doing. SX8200 Pro is the best value high speed drive. 970 Pro is just a huge waste of money.
    The 970 Pro has extremely consistent sequential write speed.

    Pretty much a solid red line from 0% to 100%

    https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fAPbKRzqSURe4nH5jZ2ya7-970-80.png
    Depending on the intended use this could be highly advantageous (write cache) or irrelevant (gaming)
    Reply
  • kaalus
    SSD speeds have little effect on OS responsiveness on Windows. Windows Defender (the always-on antivirus) is completely killing the performance of the I/O operations. For example, on my 970 Evo 1TB NVME, I can delete files at about 50 per second, copy small files not much faster. This is absolutely laughable - if the SSD was not saddled by the anti-virus, it would be deleting and copying them at 10,000s if not 100,000s per second.
    Of course, everything's fine if copying a few huge files. Gigabytes per second. But that's a niche situation.
    Reply
  • Deicidium369
    bit_user said:
    No, some are bad even in benchmarks.
    the WORST SSD is better than the best spinning rust.
    Reply
  • Deicidium369
    kaalus said:
    SSD speeds have little effect on OS responsiveness on Windows. Windows Defender (the always-on antivirus) is completely killing the performance of the I/O operations. For example, on my 970 Evo 1TB NVME, I can delete files at about 50 per second, copy small files not much faster. This is absolutely laughable - if the SSD was not saddled by the anti-virus, it would be deleting and copying them at 10,000s if not 100,000s per second.
    Of course, everything's fine if copying a few huge files. Gigabytes per second. But that's a niche situation.
    Wow you use Defender? I run Kaspersky Internet Security + Malwarebytes and they have zero impact on performance. You have something messed up - I have the same 970 Evo that you have - and have NONE of the performance issues you have.
    Reply