New generation Crucial P2 review: updated controller for more stability

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New generation Crucial P2 review: updated controller for more stability [Copy link]

 

Crucial's SSD product layout in the past year has been quite rapid, with not only increasingly mature products, but also its own path. The Crucial P5 SSD we reviewed before uses Micron's own controller, which breaks the "tradition" of Micron only making chips but not controllers.

What I bought today is a 500GB Crucial P2 M.2 2280 NVMe solid-state drive (hereinafter referred to as Crucial P2). From the positioning of the two products, P5 and P2 are similar to Western Digital's black and blue disks. What's more similar is that the packaging of both is very similar in black and blue. However, in terms of product design, P5's own main control also makes a cost-effective choice, which is more friendly to consumers. And this P2 may be more popular in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Re-TLC is not a return to the trend

Let's go back to today's P2. Compared with the first generation P2, the biggest upgrade of SSD is that it uses Micron's original 96-layer 3D NAND TLC, and the FBGA code is NX959, which is slightly different from the NW969 used in P5. We noticed that the previous generation P2 and P1 both used QLC particles, and P2 returned to TLC. Is there a similar route from BX200 to BX300 to reuse TLC for performance and stability?

We all know that SSD performance improvement includes higher interface bandwidth, such as PCIe 4.0, as well as more optimized master control algorithms and particle density. The stacking of 3D NAND TLC particles has now changed from 32 layers and 64 layers, realizing the transition of mainstream products in the market to 90+ layers. More importantly, Micron's 176-layer TLC is about to be mass-produced. Choosing more stable particles is actually in line with market demand.

In addition, the main control update is also different in this generation of P2. We found on the official website that the main control of P2 is still Phison's SM2263, but what we see on the new generation of P2 is the PS5013-E13-31 of Unigroup. Although SM2263 was launched in 2017 and E13 is the main control solution launched in 2019, the performance difference before and after the replacement of the main control is very small: both are entry-level main control solutions, using 4 flash channels, PCIE 3.0 x4 design, compatible with TLC and QLC flash memory, and a maximum capacity of 2TB.

In fact, both the new and old master controllers use the DRAMLess non-cache customized solution. For example, there is a certain gap in the performance of the E13-31 and E13T public versions. We have no intention of discussing deep issues such as the master controller storage strategy. We just want to clarify that both the new and old master controllers are mainstream product solutions that have been verified by the market for a long time, and are also very beneficial to product stability.

Speed test that brings surprises

AS SSD Benchmark1GB and 10GB test data

Perhaps it is the change in flash memory particles that has given us a big surprise in terms of speed. The sequential read and write speeds of the 512GB P2 announced on the official website are 2300 MB/s and 940 MB/s, but in the actual AS SSD Benchmark test (1GB), its sequential read and write speeds reached 2080.45MB/s and 1717.40MB/s, and the test results of 10GB are almost the same, which shows that the main control algorithm and particle stability are reliable.

Data from Crucial's overseas official website

Foreign media evaluation parameter table

In order to verify whether the Chinese official website is lagging behind in parameter update, we verified the parameters again on the foreign official website and foreign media review website, and found that they are still the same as the Chinese official website (it is also possible that the parameters published are the parameters of the previous generation of QLC products). The 512GB P2 we tested has almost the same read and write speed as the 1TB product.

CrystalDiskMark 1GiB and 64GiB test data

The test data of CrystalDiskMark also verified this point. The read and write speeds reached 2338.49MB/s and 1858.43MB/s respectively. Only in the 64GiB mode, the write speed dropped significantly after the read and write data exceeded the cache, and it was only 846.29MB/s.

The PCMARK test can reflect the performance of the hard disk in actual application. In the storage test project, the P2 achieved a score of 5052. Among the similar configuration products we have evaluated recently, this result is very good.

HD Tune Pro Read Speed

HD Tune Pro Write Speed

In addition, in the read and write tests of HD Tune Pro, we can see that the read and write curves of P2 are very stable, but another very interesting phenomenon is also found. The write speed of P2 even exceeds the read speed. In addition to the threshold preset in the master control, it is probably related to the debugging between the master control and the test software.

Test platform:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

Memory: DDR4 3200 32GB dual channel

Motherboard: ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO

Power supply: ROG THOR 1200W

Graphics card: TUF-RTX3080–10G-GAMING

Better value for money

In any case, it is undeniable that the Crucial P2 has excellent and stable quality, which is inseparable from Micron's years of accumulation in the production of 3D NAND particles. At the same time, the pricing of this NVMe SSD is also quite good. The price of 396 yuan (512GB) on JD's official flagship store is still quite competitive among products of the same level.

It is a pity that Crucial P2 only provides 250GB and 500GB versions in the domestic market, and the 1TB and 2TB versions announced on its overseas official website have not yet entered the domestic market. In fact, judging from the development pace of the domestic PC market and people's greater demand for audio and video and games, Crucial could have taken bigger and more decisive steps.

EF review

According to Crucial's product releases and market performance in 2020, P2 should be its most important card to enter the mainstream market, and the market definitely has room to accept its entry. Judging from the performance of this 512GB product, its performance stability is very outstanding, and its actual performance is also worthy of recognition. Especially considering its excellent cost-effectiveness, there is reason to believe that it will be sought after by more users.

Jacktang

Excellent stability is an advantage

If we can gain a foothold in both audio-visual and gaming, we will have great potential.