CRUCIAL P5 PLUS

Just like the Crucial P3 Plus, this speedy drive is ousted from the top spot due to an even better WD rival

At the top of Crucial’s SSD lineup is the P5 Plus. This is a thoroughly modern drive, with some of the fastest throughputs available. We’ve reviewed the 1TB drive, although 500GB and 2TB models are also available.

As you might expect from a modern SSD, this M.2 drive uses the PCI-E Gen4 interface, which means that quoted throughputs are 6,600MB/sec read speed and 5000MB/sec write speeds. Both are fast enough that the drive can be used in the PS5, as well as in a PC.

As well as these quoted speeds being faster than those for the P3 Plus (another Gen4 drive), the benchmarks show that the P5 Plus is a considerable way ahead for sequential transfers. Scoring 5,492MB/sec write speeds and 4,516MB/sec read speeds, the P5 Plus sits firmly in the premium category and is a genuinely fast drive, able to cope with more demanding uses.

Move to the random file test, and the P5 Plus isn’t quite as good. It’s faster than its siblings, but drops down the table compared to the competition: 2,222MB/sec write speeds and 2,707MB/sec read speeds.

Moving to the PCMark 10 benchmarks, which simulate regular use, the P5 Plus scored highly in the Data Disk test (3,506) but wasn’t quite as impressive as its stablemates in the Data Disk test (4,815).