Crucial Announces P5 and P2 NVMe SSDs: Going In-House for the High-End
by Billy Tallis on April 23, 2020 11:00 AM ESTMicron's consumer brand Crucial has introduced two new NVMe SSD product lines, including their first high-end NVMe SSD which features Micron's in-house SSD controller design. However, Crucial's adoption of NVMe continues to lag behind most brands as both new models are still using PCIe 3 interfaces while the high-end market is migrating to PCIe 4.
The Crucial P5 is the first retail SSD to use a controller designed by Micron. Their in-house SSD controller design efforts date back at least as far as their 2015 acquisition of Tidal Systems, but the first product with a Micron-designed SSD controller only showed up a year ago: the Micron 2200 series client OEM SSD. The Crucial P5 is a clear step up from that, but still uses a PCIe gen3 interface, so it won't be setting any performance records and will face an increasing number of PCIe gen4 competitors as the year goes on. However, it should still deliver solid performance for all but the most demanding prosumer use cases, especially since it looks like Intel won't be offering PCIe gen4 host support this year. The P5 also includes support for all the usual encryption standards, features that are missing from many high-end NVMe SSDs that target the consumer market exclusively and not business customers.
Crucial P5 SSD Specifications | |||||
Capacity | 250 GB | 500GB | 1 TB | 2 TB | |
Form Factor | M.2 2280 | ||||
Interface | PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe | ||||
Controller | Micron in-house design | ||||
NAND Flash | Micron 96L 3D TLC* | ||||
DRAM | Yes | ||||
Sequential Read | 3400 MB/s | ||||
Sequential Write | 1400 MB/s | 3000 MB/s | |||
Random Read IOPS | 210k | 390k | 430k | ||
Random Write IOPS | 355k | 500k | |||
Max Power | 7 W | ||||
Encryption | TCG Opal 2.0, IEEE 1667, eDrive | ||||
Warranty | 5 years | ||||
Write Endurance | 150 TB 0.3 DWPD |
300 TB 0.3 DWPD |
600 TB 0.3 DWPD |
1200 TB 0.3 DWPD |
The Crucial P2 is their second entry-level NVMe SSD, but it is not a direct replacement for the QLC-based P1. The P2 is at least initially only available in low capacities of 250GB and 500GB, and cuts costs by using a DRAMless controller with TLC NAND rather than the P1's combination of cheaper QLC NAND but a controller with a DRAM cache. Micron hasn't disclosed what controller is used on the P2, but it seems likely they're sourcing from a third party as with previous Crucial SSDs—and it might not even be the same controller for both capacities. While both capacities have performance specs that fall within the ranges we expect for a four-channel DRAMless NVMe SSD, the 500GB model is actually the slower one by most metrics. This indicates that at least one of either the NAND or the controller is meaningfully different from the 250GB model. The 500GB might be using NAND parts with a higher per-die capacity and thus not have any greater parallelism, or it may be using an entirely different controller (or both). The 500GB model's endurance rating is also the same 150TB as the 250GB model, which puts it in QLC territory (though still better than the 500GB P1's 100TBW rating).
Micron's press release for the P2 mentions that it will be available in capacities up to 1TB, but the spec sheets make no mention of the 1TB model. This may be another situation like the 2TB Crucial P1 that was announced as coming a bit later than the rest of the lineup, but never hit the market.
Crucial P2 SSD Specifications | |||
Capacity | 250 GB | 500GB | |
Form Factor | M.2 2280 | ||
Interface | PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe | ||
Controller | undisclosed | ||
NAND Flash | Micron 96L 3D TLC* | ||
DRAM | No | ||
Sequential Read | 2100 MB/s | 2300 MB/s | |
Sequential Write | 1150 MB/s | 940 MB/s | |
Random Read IOPS | 170k | 95k | |
Random Write IOPS | 260k | 215k | |
Max Power | 2.5 W | 3.5 W | |
Encryption | None | ||
Warranty | 5 years | ||
Write Endurance | 150 TB 0.3 DWPD |
150 TB 0.16 DWPD |
|
MSRP | $54.99 (22¢/GB) |
$64.99 (13¢/GB) |
Micron has confirmed that both the P2 and P5 are currently using their 96L 3D TLC NAND, but they reserve the right to change that in the future. It's unlikely that the P5 will be switched to QLC NAND, but much like the MX500 SATA drive this model might stick around for years even after a replacement with a faster interface (PCIe 4) is introduced. In that case, it would be reasonable to expect the P5 to be updated with a newer generation of TLC NAND, and performance probably won't change significantly. The P2 product line could easily become a mix of TLC and QLC, which Micron has done with the entry-level BX500 SATA SSDs. If/when the P2 gets 1TB or larger capacity options those would seem likely to use QLC NAND, and the 500GB model could probably also be switched to QLC given that its rated performance is not too different from the 500GB P1. We encourage Micron to be more transparent about their controller and NAND choices and especially any post-launch changes.
The Crucial P5 is not yet listed on online retailers, but Crucial.com has the P2 available for direct purchase and it's starting to show up on some online retailers. Launch prices of $55 and $65 are similar to competitors like the WD Blue SN550, but Western Digital has set a performance standard for entry-level NVMe drives which the Crucial P2 may have trouble beating.
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The_Assimilator - Thursday, April 23, 2020 - link
The Samsung markup is still ridiculous, considering the (non-)performance you get.Retycint - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
So many people buy Samsung SSDs based on the brand name alone, which is rather sad because similarly performing drives often cost 50-80% of a Samsung drive, but they aren't as well known so people usually don't consider them.Cliff34 - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Samsung makes good ssds. It ain't just their name that people are buying.sonny73n - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
“ Samsung makes good ssds”That’s what I thought. I got an 512GB 860 Evo for my laptop and 128GB MicroSD for my Android phone. The laptop always get shut down if I download or transfer a large file right after deleting some large file (mostly movies). This is the same shit happened with the 840 evo. And the Micro SD is very annoying. If I transfer a folder of multiple files (Episodes) each ~500MB or larger from PC to my phone, it would only write a few then stop. I have to disconnect the usb cable and reconnect to keep transferring a few more. Transferring files straight to the phone internal storage would have no problem, doesn’t matter how large the file is or how many being transferred.
Goodbye Samsung - the scumbag that made spy TVs and cheat on benchmarks. No idea why so many people praise their products which are all mediocre with premium price.
anad0commenter - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
Samsung is the only manufacturer in the world that still makes consumer level MLC nand SSDs. I literally have no choice.Billy Tallis - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
Sure, you have no choice left after you've already decided to ignore reality and pretend you need MLC.Scour - Friday, March 19, 2021 - link
HUH, you´re dreaming? 50% of a Samsung drive? And similar performing? Man, dunno where you live but that sound unbelievableback2future - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
for e.g. Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe-SSD, pcie 4.0, estimated top 4400MB/s write speeds, still ranges behind Samsung 970Evo in random read speeds some tell ("practical difference should be non-existent"). But ... pcie 4.x just started and power/temperature on top speed usage would be interesting also.Tomatotech - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Yes, the Sammy 970s are excellent. If you had paid for one when they first came out TWO YEARS ago, you would still have the world's fastest m.2 (apart from stuff like Optane). They'll probably still be one of the fastest for at least another year, and in three years time they'll still be up there.There's a lot more to SSDs than top r/w speed. For example, can it sustain that speed all the way to full capacity? Samsung 970s can, most most others can't do that. Most modern SSDs slow down quite drastically as they fill up. That could become critically important in a workplace environment.
I don't have 970s; their price doesn't match what I use my SSDs for, but I don't think they're overpriced.
otonieru - Saturday, June 13, 2020 - link
i really envy pricing in your country, sn 750 would cost more than 150 bucks in my country, almost no cheaper than 970 evo :( overhere, the only decent nvme drive equipped with dram with affordable budget is xpg 8200. all other big name are priced ridiculously high