Crucial P2 500 GB NVMe M2 SSD review - Introduction

Crucial P2 NVMe M.2 SSD
Entry-level Class NVMe SSD performance?

Powered by a Phison E13T controller and paired with Micron 96L 3D TLC NAND we check out the new P2 series NVMe M2 SSDs from Crucial. The series is not targeted at an enthusiast audience but instead is released as a value SSD with decent enough performance. But will that be enough?

Yes, the P2 will replace the P1, and a small number of things have changed at a hardware level. Where the P1 uses Micron's 64-layer 3D QLC (quad-level cell) NAND chips and Silicon Motion's SM2263 controller, the P2 feature TLC flash memory. It does not stop there though as Crucial swapped out the Silicon Motion controller and traded it in for a Phison E13T controller. We'll get into the nitty-gritty on the next page, but Crucial initially is releasing two SKUs, a 250GB and 500 GB model. As you can tell from the listed sizes, there is some previsioning on NAND for buffering going on, and it'll need that as it has no DRAM caching applied. This new NVMe model in M.2 2280 is using the PCI Express 3.0 standard. The 250 GB version reads at 2100 MB/sec and writes at 1150 MB/sec while the 500 GB version reads at 2300 MB/sec and writes at 940 MB/sec. These are not brilliant numbers anno 2020, then again if it's as fast as a SATA3 SSD or faster, who am I to complain really.

The TBW values we learned ar listed at 150 TB for both models, which is not a lot as you could completely write the SSD 300x before NAND would get exhausted. Then again, as a laptop of saying an extra SSD to store your games on, it could make sense if priced right. The company will offer a warranty is five years, or that TBW value reached; whichever once comes first. Prices are expected to be 59 euros for the 250 GB version and 69 euros for the 500 GB, 55 USD, and 65 USD respectively in USD. So for the 500 GB model that is 13 cents per GB. 

We received the 500 GB model for a quick test-spin, head on over to the next page where we'll dive into the technology a bit deeper.