Testing
The following system was used to test the SSD
– Processor: Intel i9 9900K @ 5GHz
– Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming X
– RAM: Ballistix Tactical Tracer 16GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
– GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio
– SSD: Crucial MX500
– HDD: WD 1 TB Blue
– CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240
– PSU: Seasonic Snow Silent 750W Platinum
– Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe White
– Thermal compound: Noctua NT-H2
The photo below is only used as an example to highlight the size of the SSD. The product was tested on the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming X
To test the SSD the following software was used:
– ATTO Disk Benchmark,
– CrystalDiskMark 6.0.2,
In order to obtain a precise result each test was performed three times.
CrystalDiskMark 6.0.2 Read
CrystalDiskMark 6.0.2 Write
ATTO Disk Benchmark Read
ATTO Disk Benchmark Write
Final thoughts
The Crucial P1 NVMe M.2 500GB is certainly an interesting NVMe SSD. However, the price is the biggest issue when we look at both the 500GB and 1TB versions. The issue is that better and faster SSDs are getting price cuts and are coming really close to the P1 models.
The Crucial P1 500GB is fast and looking back at other Micron products, it will also offer a good reliability for the end user.
The average temperature of this SSD is 75 degrees Celsius with an ambient temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. This was achieved with a highly intensive synthetic benchmark, you will not stress the SSD at this level, in your daily usage.
If you use a heatsink, the temperature will get lower, but in the interest of fairness, each drive is tested with its factory specifications. And in the case of the P1, 75 degrees is not much
The performance of the Crucial P1 500GB is good across the board, but the writing performance will have a significant drop, when the pSLC write buffer is filled up. However, the DRAM based cache is so large, that you will need to write data on the SSD at a maximum speed for minutes, before filling up the buffer.
In conclusion, the Crucial P1 NVMe M.2 500GB is a good NVMe SSD, that will provide a good performance and reliability. The warranty offered by Crucial is 5 years, which matches or is higher than other competing SSD models. The only drawback of this SSD is the price, which if left unchecked, will make the P1 NVMe not that competitive with the offerings of other manufacturers.
