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Micron's latest PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid-state drive, the Crucial P5 Plus, is a formidable rival to the Samsung 980 PRO. It delivered excellent performance in my tests and long-term real-world usage, even with an older PCIe 3.0 motherboard.
In early 2023, Micron added the heatsink version of the drive. The P5 Plus likely will be the company's last PCIe 4.0 NVMe considering it launched the PCIe 5.0 drive, the Crucial T700, earlier in 2023.
That, plus the current friendly street price -- $43, $50, and $98 for 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB, respectively (add $10 for the heatsink version) -- means the Crucial P5 Plus is a clear winner in the pricing contest. The two deliver about the same performance and have similar features.
If you're looking for a mainstream PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, the Crucial P5 Plus is an easy recommendation. Get one today!
Dong's note: I first published this post on August 4, 2021, when the SSD was launched as a new piece and upgraded to a full review on August 13, 2021, after thorough hands-on testing. On July 26, 2023, I updated it with information on the heatsink version.
Micron Crucial P5 Plus: A Solid Next-Gen Solid State Drive
Like most high-end NVMe SSDs, the P5 Plus takes the standard 2280 NVMe design -- it's 80mm long and 22mm wide.
Apart from PCIe 4.0, the drive also works with a PCIe Gen 3 M.2 slot, which is still popular in most computers, and the new PCIe 5.0 slot available in the latest motherboards.
| PCIe Gen | Commercially Available | Rate per lane (rounded) | x1 Speed | x2 Speed | x4 Speed | x8 Speed | x16 Speed |
| 1 | 2003 | 2 Gbps | 250 MB/s | 0.5 GB/s | 1.0 GB/s | 2 GB/s | 4.0 GB/s |
| 2 | 2007 | 4 Gbps | 500 MB/s | 1 GB/s | 2.0 GB/s | 4 GB/s | 8.0 GB/s |
| 3 | 2010 | 8 Gbps | 984.6 MB/s | 1.97 GB/s | 3.94 GB/s | 7.88 GB/s | 15.8 GB/s |
| 4 | 2020 | 16 Gbps | 1969 MB/s | 3.94 GB/s | 7.88 GB/s | 15.75 GB/s | 31.5 GB/s |
| 5 | 2022 | 32 Gbps | 3938 MB/s | 7.88 GB/s | 15.75 GB/s | 31.51 GB/s | 63 GB/s |
Note: 1 Gigabyte per second (GB/s) = 1000 Megabyte per second (MB/s) | 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) = 125 MB/s
The table below shows the differences in throughputs of different PCIe generations. Generally, you want to use the drive with PCIe 4.0 or higher to get the most out of it.
On the inside, it houses Micron's home-grown Advanced 3D NAND flash memory and has a rated MTTF greater than 2 million hours.
Micron Crucial P5 Plus vs Samsung SSD 980 PRO: Hardware specifications
| Micron Crucial P5 Plus | Samsung SSD 980 PRO | |
| Capacities | 512GB, 1TB, 2TB | 250GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.3c | PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.3c |
| Design | M.2 (2280) | M.2 (2280) |
| Controller | Crucial home-grown | Samsung Elpis Controller |
| NAND Flash Memory | Micron Advanced 3D NAND | Samsung 1xx-layer V-NAND 3-bit MLC |
| Security | Full-drive encryption capable (TCG OPAL 2.0 | AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption, TCG/Opal V2.0, Encrypted Drive (IEEE1667) |
| Sequential Read | Up to 6600MB/s | Up to 7,000 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | Up to 5000MB/s (2TB, 1TB) Up to 4000MB/s (500GB) | Up to 5,000 MB/s |
| Endurance (Terabyte Written) | 1200TBW (2TB) 600TBW (1TB) 300TBW (500GB) | 1200TBW (2TB) 600TBW (1TB) 300TBW (500GB) 150TBW (250GB) |
| Software | Crucial Storage Executive | Samsung Magician |
| Release Date | August 3, 2021 | September 2020 |
| Suggested Retail Cost (at launch) | $80 (500GB) $140 (1TB) $310 (2TB) | $90 (250GB) $150 (500GB) $230 (1TB) $430 (2TB) |
| Heatsink version | Yes | Yes |
| Warranty | 5 years | 5 years |
Useful features and software, similarly modest endurance
According to Micron, the Crucial P5 Plus' advanced features include:
- Dynamic write acceleration
- Redundant array of independent NAND (RAIN)
- Multistep data integrity algorithm
- Adaptive thermal protection
- Integrated power loss immunity
- Active garbage collection & TRIM support
- Self-monitoring and reporting technology (SMART)
- Error correction code (ECC)
- NVMe autonomous power state transition (APST)
- Full-drive encryption capable (TCG OPAL 2.0)
To manage all those, the Crucial P5 Plus comes with the familiar Crucial Storage Executive software toolbox comparable to the Samsung Magician of the 980 PRO.
The software is useful for checking the status, firmware updates, overprovisioning/cache management, and other tools.
On top of that, the Crucial P5 Plus shares the same endurance level as the Samsung 980 PRO.
Specifically, if you write some 100GB, which is a lot of data, a day and do that every day to the 1TB version, it’ll take some 15 years to wear the drive out. If you use the 500GB or 2TB versions, you'd need 7.5 years and 30 years, respectively.
And those are a very long time -- generally, you won't need to worry about wearing the drive out. However, compared to many PCIe 3.0 drives, the P5 Plus' endurance is still modest. The Samsung 970 PRO, for example, has twice the longevity.
But what the Crucial P5 Plus lacks in endurance, if at all, it more than makes up in performance, which is the most important thing anyway.
Micron Crucial P5 Plus: Excellent PCIe 4.0 performance
I initially tested the naked version of the Micron Crucial P5 Plus with PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 motherboards. Later on, I tried the heatsink version also with PCIe 5.0, and in all cases, the drive excelled.
And in my combined test, where the drive performed reading and writing simultaneously, it almost topped the charts when working with a PCIe 5.0 motherboard, trailing behind only the T700. Its performances on the lower PCIe gens were also excellent compared to its peers.
Compared to the Samsung 980 Pro, the Crucial P5 Plus had a pricing advantage. In real-world usage, I found no differences between the two. Both delivered excellent storage experiences. For example, my test host computers -- PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0 machines -- took just seconds to boot up, and all apps launched quickly.
In fact, on the same PCIe 5.0 motherboard, the P5 Plus felt similar to the Crucial T700, which is Micron's first PCIe 5.0 drive. For the cost, I'd say the P5 Plus is a much better deal for now, considering PCIe 5.0 requires other latest and most expensive parts, including CPU and RAM.
Like all PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, the Crucial P5 Plus runs a bit warm, so the heatsink version is a welcome update. If you have a host that doesn't have a built-in heatsink, such as a game console, the latter is a better choice.
Micron Crucial P5 Plus' Rating
Pros
Excellent performance
Affordable; heatsink version available
PCIe 4.0 support, backward compatible with PCIe Gen 3
Helpful Storage Executive software
5-year warranty
Cons
Comparatively modest endurance
Capacities cap at 2TB; runs a bit warm
Conclusion
The Micron Crucial P5 Plus is an excellent NVMe SSD and a better choice than many of its peers, including the rival Samsung 980 PRO, thanks to its significantly more affordable pricing.
The new heatsink version makes the drive an even more versatile option for those needing a built-in cooling solution.
Since the initial reviews some two years ago, I've used multiple units for a long time and can attest to the fact this is a reliable drive that can handle extensive loads day after day with ease.
This is the drive to get if you're looking for a well-performance, feature-laden SSD for your gaming or professional rig. It's an excellent choice for a PCIe 4.0 motherboard but will also work well for those with the latest PCIe 5.0. In this case, it's a great bang fur your buck compared to the T700.
Hello Dong,
Great article! I really found difficult to find something related to the use of Crucial P5 plus on a PCIe 3.0 board.
I wanted to ask you some more info about it since I intend to purchase it.
I have a 10th gen intel with a motherboard that suppoort PCIe 3.0. For what I understood it should not be a problem being the Crucial 5 plus compatible although running at lower speed.
I was wondering, how about the heat dissipation o the Crucial P5 plus runnning on PCIe 3.0 laptop base? I would use a thermal pad anyway, but in theory, shouldn’t it couse less heat even for heavy workload? Running basically at PCIe 3 speed it should not run hot as its max performance. Could you confirm?
My mainly use involve softwares like Lightroom, Photoshop, Davinci Resolve, QGIS and ArcGIS. I mainly was interested in the Crucial P5 plus since it has DRAM compared to the Samsung 980. Do you think I would beneft the specs of the crucial or better saving money on the Samsung 980 (base model not PRO).
Thanks in advance.
It’ll work great, Alex, and in fact, better in terms of heat — 4.0 drives are generally hotter when running on a 4.0 machine. I tested it using both PCIe 4.0 and 3.0, as noted on the charts, and I’ve been using it on one of my PCIe 3.0 machines since. I’d go with whichever that’s cheaper.
Hello,
Just installed this drive and I see it runs somewhat hot (55C in standby,with nothing but background operations). In comparison my older INTEL NVme is at 35C and both of the older 2.5″ SSds at 27C.
Have not tried a drive-taxing procedure,but wondering if you are finding similar temps in your setup.
Thanks and thanks for all the great reviews.
Dusan.
You can see my drive’s temperature in the screenshot, Dusan. And I was testing it. I’d say that’s quite normal. Temp depends a lot on your environment, too.
Apologies, I do see it. My set up is well cooled. I have added the bequiet! Mc1 pro M.2 cooler and the drive now runs at 30-34C. Much happier.
Dusan
No worries, Dusan. I appreciate your input. In fact, thanks to your question, I checked on the drive again just now — in my standard testing, I always use the device for an extended amount of time after the review — and its temperature seemed OK. Yes, it gets warm but not warmer than most other NVMe SSDs, including the Samsung 980 PRO. No, heat is never good but you can’t avoid it. 🙂