INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    PCIe Gen5 SSDs may have been a thing for a while now but we've only now started to see the release of new high-end NAND controller models which have almost entirely eradicated the temperature issues that severely plagued their predecessors. Needless to say, mid-end models were never hindered by this particular issue (at least nowhere near the same degree) and well, it seems that Crucial decided to base their latest P510 SSD line on one such controller.

    We are an industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions transforming how the world uses information to enrich life for all. With a relentless focus on our customers, technology leadership, and manufacturing and operational excellence, Micron delivers a rich portfolio of high-performance DRAM, NAND and NOR memory and storage products through our Micron® and Crucial® brands. Every day, the innovations that our people create fuel the data economy, enabling advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and compute-intensive applications that unleash opportunities — from the data center to the intelligent edge and across the client and mobile user experience. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), visit micron.com.

    The brand new P510 line of M.2 Gen5 SSDs by Crucial is currently available in two capacities (1/2TB) and with or without a large black heatsink. For the P510 line Crucial has used the DRAM-less PS5031-E31 (E31T) NAND flash controller by Phison which they have paired with their very own (Micron) G9 276-layer 3D TLC NAND flash. The PS5031-E31 (E31T) is a single core, quad-channel PCIe Gen5x4 NVMe 2.0 NAND controller (16 CEs) based on TSMC’s 7nm process technology and packs several features including Phison's 7th generation LDPC ECC & RAID ECC engine with end-to-end data path protection, thermal monitoring, L1.2 low power state and host memory buffer (HMB) architecture support (uses a fraction of your PC's system memory to cache mapping tables). It also fully supports the ASPM/APST low-power consumption mechanisms, real time AES 256-bit encryption, hardware SHA384512 and RSA4096, TCG OPAL 2.01, Pyrite 2.01, Toggle 5.1 and ONFi 5.1. As for warranty Crucial covers all P510 models with a 5-year limited warranty and regarding endurance they report an TBW of 600 for the 1TB capacity and 1200 for the 2TB capacity.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crucial uses a small blue box the front of which is taken by their logo, product picture and the product name.

 

 

A few words about the product along with its serial number and its barcode are all at the rear.

 

 

Along with the P510 Gen5 M.2 SSD inside the box Crucial has also placed a quick start guide.

 

 

 

THE P510 2TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The P510 follows the typical 2280 factor and as for the non-heatsink version it just has a thin sticker on top.

 

 

Under the sticker we find the PS5031-E31 (E31T) controller and two G9 276-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules by Micron.

 

 

Since this is a single-side model (for now at least, 4TB capacity might be coming soon) the other side just has a sticker on it.

 

STORAGE EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just like with past SSDs by Crucial you can download their Storage Executive software for more control over the drive.

Typically, from the first tab you can check basic details of both your system memory and all available drives.

 

 

The drive details tab offers a bit more in terms of drive information but not by much.

 

 

Of course, the software also allows you to check the drives details including its SMART page.

 

 

Even though the main tab lists any possible firmware updates you can also check via the corresponding tab.

 

 

The P510 doesn't support features like sanitize, format PSID revert, flex capacity and namespace management but it does support PSID revert, momentum cache and over provisioning for people who want to push performance even more (flex capacity somehow is compatible with the Seagate HDD in my system).

 

 

There's also a self-test function which can be useful if you are afraid something's wrong with your P510.

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   I've been using pretty much the same testing methodology for PCIe 3.0 Gen3 and PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSDs for far too many years now, so I decided to "tweak" it for PCIe 5.0 Gen5 models. Needless to say, Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs will be tested using one of my latest test rigs (Intel Core Ultra 285K / ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite) and unlike with both Gen3 and Gen4 SSDs I will not be using the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) 12 hour IOMeter benchmark since it proved to be rather heavy for early Gen5 SSDs (temperature issues). Instead, I decided to use the latest versions of 3D Mark, AIDA64, AS SSD, ATTO, Crystal Disk Mark, HD Tune Pro, HD Tach RW, Performance Test, IOMeter (4k Random Writes / 4k Random Reads – since September 2024 / SNIA Mixed) and Sandra Titanium for performance measuring and ForSpoken for all of you who might be wondering just how well Gen5 SSDs do in regard to Microsoft's DirectStorage API/Technology. Each test will be run a total of 5 times after which the average number will be recorded in each chart.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SANDRA TITANIUM / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - PERFORMANCE TEST / 3D MARK / FORSPOKEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    The Crucial P510 is a mid-end Gen5 M.2 NVMe drive and well, it does a great job at being just that. It can’t compete with drives like the T705 again by Crucial (or the newly released T710, review soon) but for people who just don’t care about having the best read and write speeds this will not matter much. On top of that even without a heatsink the P510 does very well (thanks to the Phison E31T controller) and that too matters quite a bit. Again, my sole issue with this drive (as with most others) is capacity and this is coming from someone who thinks even 4TB is too little in 2025, let alone 2TB. Hopefully Crucial will eventually update their P510 line to also include a 4TB capacity variant.

The brand new P510 Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSD by Crucial currently “sits” at USD239.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 187.55Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so at least on this side of Atlantic it’s priced quite well. Overall, for the most part the P510 delivers on most things that count, it’s fast, durable, is covered by a good 5-year limited warranty and it’s priced well which is why it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Quality
- Performance (Up To 10000MB/s)
- 1200TBW / 1.500.000 Hours MTFB Endurance
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (EU)

CONS

- Current Available Capacities (Only Up To 2TB)
- Price (USA)