Crucial

Crucial P3 Plus

PCIe M.2 · PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 · Phison PS5021-E21T

PCIe M.2 2022 5-year warranty 500 GB – 4 TB
Crucial Crucial P3 Plus
Specs & Capacities

Specifications

General specifications
InterfacePCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.4
ControllerPhison PS5021-E21T
NAND TypeMicron 176-layer 3D QLC
DRAM CacheN/A (HMB)
Warranty5 years
500 GB specifications
Seq Read4,700 MB/s
Seq Write1,900 MB/s
Endurance110 TBW
Part NumberCT500P3PSSD8
Editor Notes

Overview

The Crucial P3 Plus launched in 2022 alongside the non-Plus P3, sharing the same Micron 176-layer QLC NAND and Phison E21T controller but running on PCIe 4.0 x4, instead of the predecessor's PCIe 3.0. The additional bandwidth raises sequential read to 5,000 MB/s on the 1TB and 2TB models versus 3,500 MB/s for the PCIe 3.0 P3. It was available in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. At the time, a 4TB model at budget PCIe 4.0 pricing was uncommon.

The drive is DRAM-less, using Host Memory Buffer for address mapping. The 500GB model has lower write throughput (1,900 MB/s) than the 1TB and above (3,600–4,200 MB/s) due to fewer NAND dies. TBW is 110/220/440/880 for 500GB/1TB/2TB/4TB, lower than TLC alternatives at the same capacity. However, the drives still shipped with a standard five-year warranty. On typical desktop and laptop workloads (OS, applications, gaming), real-world performance differences versus the P3 are minor.

External Reviews

Reviews

  • “If you want a lot of NVMe storage for not a lot of money (relatively speaking), then currently, the Crucial P3 Plus is what you're looking for. The performance won't be fantastic all the time, but again, this is NVMe, and unless you really stress the drive to the point where it runs out of secondary cache, you'll likely never notice. It's a real bargain.”

    PCWorld