Overall and Final Verdict
With how long the P1 was around its surprising that Crucial, especially with their parent company being Micron, waited until now to jump into the higher end NVMe drive market. Especially now when people are getting ready for the jump to PCIe 4.0. I would have guessed that they would have skipped a high-end PCIe 3.0 NVMe drive and jump right to PCIe 4.0. Anyhow, the Crucial P5 does fit the bill, especially when you compare it with the P2. The added DRAM back in paired it up with a new Micron in house designed controller and their 96L TLC 3D NAND which is also in house from Micron as well. It’s all on a blacked-out PCB with a proper black sticker cover it all as well which ends up giving the P5 a murdered out look that I like. This looks a lot better than the P1 and P2 which had more of a standard OEM look.
Of course, the drive will most likely be hidden and the performance it what will matter in the end. It does end up right in the mix with the other high-end PCIe 3.0 drives that I have tested. It falls off just slightly in a few of the tests and is never the fastest drive tested. But it is always quick which is exactly what the P5 needed to be.
With the P5 not being at the complete cutting edge it can’t get away with an exorbitant price point, the P5 has to be a good value. Crucial is normally spot on with their pricing, but I was surprised to see that with our 1TB models $179.99 MSRP that it is priced away from the SN750 which has dropped down to the $135 range. The Rocket Q is even lower and even the VPR100 with its cooler and RGB lighting is priced lower at $160 right now. Like I said before, Crucial is normally spot on with their pricing and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this even out after. But I do have to point it out now. The Crucial P5 is a solid drive just waiting on a price that lets it compete with the rest of the competition.
Live Pricing: HERE
