INTRODUCTION

   When i first got my hands on an SSD model back in 2007 (i think it was the SATA 5000 by Sandisk?) i thought it would just be yet another marketing gimmick like many of its predecessors since the 70's which never really took off. Slowly with the arrival of higher capacity and speed models (like the Phoenix by GSkill almost 2 years later) it became rather evident that SSDs were here to stay, at least 2.5" ones. Still even though we all did expect performance levels to surpass 10G eventually (1000MB/s) i don't think many of us were expecting to reach the levels we have today with some PCIe Gen 4 models even crossing the 5000MB/s mark. That being said PCIe Gen 4 motherboard compatibility is far from widespread as of now and so PCIe Gen 3 models still enjoy the highest popularity levels which is why today I’ll be testing the latest P5 model by Crucial in both 1TB and 2TB capacities.

   Crucial is a global brand of Micron Technology, Inc. Crucial solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory (DRAM) upgrades are compatible with over 100,000 new and old desktops, laptops, workstations and servers. Crucial Ballistix gaming memory delivers a performance edge to gamers and enthusiasts and enhances the overall PC gaming experience. Available worldwide at leading retail and e-tail stores, commercial resellers and system integrators, Crucial products enhance system performance and user productivity. Learn more at www.crucial.com.

   The P5 line of SSDs by Crucial (currently available in 250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB capacities) is the very first by Micron/Crucial to be based on their brand new DM01B2 eight-channel NAND flash controller (dual Arm Cortex-R5 CPUs) which they've paired with their third-generation 512Gbit 96L TLC NAND flash for the 1/2TB models and their 256Gb 64L TLC NAND for the 250/500GB models. All models are also paired with LPDDR4 DRAM by Micron (512MB for the 250/500GB models, 1GB for the 1TB model and 2GB for the 2TB model - clocked at 2133MHz) and as for their new NAND flash controller it comes ready with features like Dynamic Write Acceleration (SLC cache), low-density parity check (LDPC), active garbage collection, TRIM, SMART, Power Loss Immunity, NVMe Autonomous Power State Transition (APST) and Adaptive Thermal Protection (throttles performance when NAND temperatures exceed 70 degrees) and with full support for AES 256-bit hardware encryption, TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE 1667 making it fully compatible with eDrive (Windows Bit locker). Last but certainly not least Crucial covers the entire P5 line with a 5 year limited warranty, reports an MTTF of 1.8 million hours and endurance numbers of 150TBW for the 250GB model, 300TBW for the 500GB model, 600TBW for the 1TB model and 1200TBW for the 2TB model.