Best Crucial P1 1 TB Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

If Crucial has been offering SSDs in M.2 format for several years, the brand has always limited itself to offering modules operating in SATA. It now takes the plunge and offers a first batch of PCIe / NVMe SSDs in M.2 format: the P1 series. It is not the premium segment that is targeted, but rather the mid-range, with a rather aggressive pricing.

Presentation

No surprise when unpacking the SSD: the Crucial P1 1 TB is made up of an M.2 2280 module, that is to say a strip 22 mm wide by 80 mm long. This series operates on a PCIe bus and has an. NVMe interface, a first for Crucial which has always been limited to SATA up to now. The printed circuit is rather bare, with few components arranged on one side. The rear of the SSD however suggests that the 2 TB version will house components on either side of the PCB, which is infrequent and which causes additional difficulty for thermal management.

Best Crucial P1 1 TB Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD – CT1000P1SSD8

2. Crucial P2 250GB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD – CT250P2SSD8

3. Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA M.2 Type 2280SS Internal SSD – CT1000MX500SSD4

4. Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD – CT1000MX500SSD1

5. Crucial BX500 960GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-Inch Internal SSD – CT960BX500SSD1

Crucial inaugurates QLC memory

Two NAND 3D QLC memory chips are present on this version of 1 TB. These obviously have a screenprint with the effigy of Micron – parent company of Crucial – and are able to store 4 bits of data in each cell. The use of QLC memory is also new (shared with the BX500 series) for Crucial who developed this memory in partnership with Intel. 

This new generation allowing to store one more bit in each of these cells compared to the TLC more than democratized from now on, must make it possible to lower the cost price of SSDs and therefore their selling price – compared to TLC, fewer cells are required for similar storage capacity. This is theory. In practice, the yields are still low and IMFT, the Intel-Micron joint venture, still has a lot of waste when creating these chips. The price of QLC SSDs could therefore be even more attractive in a few months when production is stabilized.

The management of the two QLC 3D NAND chips (64 layers) is entrusted to a Silicon Motion SM2263EN controller. This controller is intended for entry-level and mid-range PCIe SSDs and can handle most latest generation 3D NAND chips. It is accompanied by a 1 GB cache memory chip. This memory has an endurance in writing which can seem a little thin compared to the cadors of the genre since it is only 200 TB on the version of Crucial P1 1 TB. It is nevertheless necessary to put the thing into perspective: it still represents. 110 GB of daily writes over the warranty period which is 5 years.

A rather comfortable SLC cache system

An SLC cache system is also in the game. It makes it possible to speed up the writing tasks by using only the first bit of each cell, which has the effect of reducing the number of voltage points to be checked, resulting in the same time reducing the latency and therefore an increase in flow. According to our findings, this cache is active on approximately 130 GB. In addition, copying files to the Crucial P1 1 TB will be at full speed as long as the file queue does not exceed this value. Beyond that, the flow drops quite sharply (see below).

P1 thermal management: M.2 heatsinks to be favored

Note also that unlike Samsung and Corsair, Crucial did not see fit to equip this series with a copper strip to help heat dissipation. Too bad, it would have been welcome. Because we can not say that we are here facing the best SSD in thermal management. The throttling point , i.e. the temperature threshold before the controller reduces the flow to avoid overheating, is at 64 ° C, a fairly low value compared to the competition which often accepts 10 ° C Furthermore. The concern is that this threshold is quickly reached when the SSD is in a difficult environment. For example when it is positioned behind a graphics card or in a laptop without air flow.

Luckily, the descent in temperature is quite rapid: for rather short accesses, we encounter only few problems. In addition, in a less difficult environment (with motherboard dissipator or without graphics card nearby). The 64 ° C threshold is reached after more than. 15 minutes of constant effort, which is not very frequent during use. common. As required by our rating , we therefore remove a star from the final grade of the. Crucial P1 1 TB due to its poor thermal management in difficult environments.

Performances

The 1 TB Crucial P1 is given for a sequential speed of 2 GB / s in reading and 1.7 GB / s in writing. Under benchmark , we are achieving these values ​​in a not very difficult environment. If we do not reach the heights offered by the WD Black PCIe. For example, the performance is rather convincing, superior to that of the  Corsair MP300 . We note in particular that it is really good when it comes to handling small files in a random manner, an exercise in which this SSD from Crucial does much better than that from Corsair.

In manual copying, the averages are also correct, with 1.15 GB / s in reading and 1.3 GB / s in writing. In writing, the value equals active SLC cache. Once this cache is full, the speed drops to. 535 MB / s then around 110 MB / s, which is particularly low. Do not worry, however, as we indicated a little above, the cache is not full until after copying constantly about 130 GB of data. For writing jobs below this threshold, the throughput will be maximum, which will represent the overwhelming majority of the cases of using this SSD.

STRONG POINTS

  • Sequential flows.
  • Debits on small files.
  • 5 year warranty.

WEAK POINTS

  • Thermal management: the SSD quickly rises in temperature in difficult environments.

CONCLUSION

When it is located in an open environment or surmounted by a heat sink, the Crucial P1 1 TB offers a convincing service, with flows making it appear beautifully on the mid-range segment. It’s a shame, however, that its thermal management is not better when it is in a difficult environment. This small defect makes him lose a star on his final grade. Note that this limit will not be reached when it is installed on a motherboard offering M.2 heatsinks and that the use of QLC memory reduces the bill beautifully, enough to allow the P1 to display an attractive quality / price.

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