56 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020REVIEWS
IMAGE: CRUCIALHaving reviewed both
Crucial’s P1 and P2 bargain
NVMe SSDs, I expected more
of the same middling
performance from the new P5. I was wrong:
The P5 was strictly upper-crust with normal
workloads, and actually took home first prize
in one test. It’s not the drive you want for
extremely long writes, but otherwise—it
hauls the freight.DESIGN AND SPECS
The P5 is available in four capacities: 250GB
($63 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/p5am]),
500GB ($87 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/
p5am]), the 1TB we tested ($180 on Amazon
[go.pcworld.com/p5am]), and 2TB ($400
on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/p5am]).
Those prices are pretty much on track for amidrange NVMe SSD. Note that the 250GB
version is rated for half the write speed of
the larger versions. This is common across
the industry in that capacity. A single
NAND chip, instead of the two or more
with larger capacities, doesn’t have as many
data lines.
The P5 utilizes a Micron-designed
controller and 96-layer TLC (Triple-Level
Cell/3-bit) NAND, various amounts of which
are allocated dynamically as secondary SLC
cache. This augments the primary DRAM
cache (1GB per 1TB of NAND). SLC cache is
simply writing the cell as an off/on binary
voltage, rather than the more refined and
error-prone voltage required to represent a
2-bit (MLC), 3-bit (TLC), or 4-bit (QLC) value.
The P5 carries a five-year warranty and is
rated for 600 TBW (TeraBytes Written) per 1TBCrucial P5 SSD: Excellent bang
for the buck
It’s not the drive for pros writing very large data sets, but for the average
user it’s a great deal. BY JON L. JACOBI