Crucial P3 Plus 1TB hands-on review: PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD value for money

With the introduction of PCIe 5.0 on the new generation of AMD/Intel hardware platforms, the consumer-grade M.2 solid-state storage market is also experiencing a critical period of transition from PCIe 3.0 x4 to PCIe 4.0 x4 . Previously, we have experienced the high-end Crucial P5/P5 Plus models, both of which are very representative in the PCIe 3.0/4.0 product line. However, for PC/PS5 players who want to try PCIe 4.0 solid-state, quality and cost performance are still the two factors they pay more attention to.

【1 Unboxing introduction】

This article will introduce to you the new Crucial P3 Plus solid-state drive that was recently launched.

Its feature is the use of the Phison E21T master control solution (PCIe 4.0 x4) without DRAM cache.

It is equipped with Micron's original 176-layer QLC flash memory chip and provides four capacity options: 500GB/1TB/2TB/4TB.

The package comes with a fixing screw for the M.2 hard drive slot, and the label on the back of the SSD lists detailed information such as model, specifications, serial number, origin, etc.

Peeling off the label on the front of the disk, you can see the Phison E21 controller (without external DRAM cache) placed in the center, and the NY161 QLC flash memory located at both ends. This design obviously also helps to improve the heat dissipation performance of the SSD.

[2 Test Platform] Still the familiar AMD Ryzen R5-5600X + MSI B550M Mortar Wi-Fi motherboard, with Crucial 8GB × 2 @ DDR4-3200 dual-channel memory, and the Crucial P3 Plus 1TB is installed in the upper PCIe 4.0 M.2 hard drive slot.

In addition to the M.2 2280 solid-state drive heat sink that comes with the motherboard, the chassis also comes with two 12CM fans, one in the front and one in the back. The system is Windows 11 21H2 installed in the Crucial MX500 4TB SATA SSD.

Crystal Disk Info: When powered on for the first time, it can be seen that the firmware version number of this Crucial P3 Plus 1TB is P9CR40A.

After initialization in Windows 11 Disk Management, the available capacity of the Crucial P3 Plus 1TB is shown as 931.50 GB.

【3 Benchmarks】HD Tune Pro -- Around 20℃, full disk read 1194.2 MB/s, full disk write 669 MB/s.

HD Tune Pro -- 200GB Hybrid Mode [Chinese version crashed, English trial version is used here instead], sequential read and write speeds can exceed 3100+ and 3400 MB/s.

TxBENCH -- Sequential read and write over 5128 and 3434 MB/s.

AS SSD Benchmark -- Sequential read and write 4264 and 3398 MB/s.

ATTO Disk Benchmark -- Sequential read 6.87 GB/s, sequential write 5.91 GB/s.

Crystal Disk Mark -- Sequential read 5100+, sequential write 3600+ MB/s -- in line with the official performance parameters of the 1TB version (transmission port).

【4 File copy】

The file copy test used a 5.13 GB Windows 11 22H2 (single) ISO image, as well as cross-disk/intra-disk read and write operations of internal folders.

Thanks to the HMB (Host Memory Buffer) technology supported by the Windows 11 operating system, the Crucial P3 Plus 1TB is able to interact smoothly with the PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD on the secondary M.2 slot of the B550M motherboard.

Transferring (writing) a 5.13 GB ISO image from a 512GB (PCIe 3.0 x4) slave drive with a read speed of 3100+ MB/s to a P3 Plus 1TB - the rate can reach 2.86 GB/s, and subjectively the operation can be completed in about 3 seconds.

P3 Plus 1TB, copying 5.13 GB ISO image in the master disk (double pressure of reading and writing) - the rate is 3 GB/s, and the operation can be completed in about 4 seconds. If dual PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs are selected for copying, the 3.6 GB/s cache write performance of P3 Plus can be fully utilized in theory.

Across PCIe 3.0 x4 secondary drives, folder writing - P3 Plus 1TB can easily reach 1.5+ GB/s and complete the operation in about 5 seconds. If you choose to copy with dual PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs, the results will obviously be even more impressive.

P3 Plus 1TB, write to folder in disk (double pressure of reading and writing) - rate 1.9+ GB/s, the operation can be completed in about 5s.

Try to copy the 5.13 GB Win11 22H2 folder back to the secondary drive - the speed is also 1.5+ GB/s, and the subjective time is about 5s. However, this test is mainly limited by the 2300+ MB/s write performance of the 512GB PCIe 3.0 x4 secondary drive.

[5 Half-disk Test] Although HD Tune Pro's 200GB mixed mode achieved impressive results, the P3 Plus 1TB still hovered between 70 and 95 MB/s after the SLC Cache was exhausted when excessive data was continuously written to the Crucial X6 2TB mobile SSD (USB 3 @ 5Gbps / SATA protocol).

However, even if it occupies about half of the storage space, the Crucial P3 Plus 1TB controller and firmware solution can still ensure the official claimed 5000+ and 3600+ (MB/s) sequential read and write rates in Crystal Disk Mark. At the same time, the highest temperature recorded by HWMonitor is around 50℃.

[6 Summary] Crucial P3 Plus series PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 solid-state drives are now on the market. Interested friends can choose 500GB / 1TB / 2TB / 4TB models, and the official provides a five-year limited warranty (nominal write endurance is 110 / 220 / 440 / 800 TBW).

(Source: Cnbeta)