Crucial P1 1TB NVMe SSD Review

SPECworkstation 3.0.2 Storage Benchmark

SPECworstation benchmark is an excellent benchmark to test systems using workstation type workloads. In this test, we only ran the Storage component, which is fifteen separate tests.

The Crucial P1 is very middle of the road in this benchmark, though it does manage to outpace both the Crucial P2 and P5 drives we had previously tested in most tests. Neither of those drives were particularly good performers in SPECworkstation, so that is not exactly surprising.

Sustained Write Performance

This is not necessarily a benchmark, so much as trying to catch the post-cache write speed of the drive. While I am filling the drive with data to the 85% mark with 10 simultaneous write threads, I monitor the drive for the write performance to dip to the lowest steady point and grab a screenshot.

This is a new section to my reviews, and something I plan to track from now on. Since I have not been gathering this data up until recently, I do not have historical data from my other reviews. Once I do I will start including comparison graphs.

At around 120 MB/s, the post-cache write speed on the Crucial P1 1TB obviously falls hard compared to burst speeds. The QLC nature of this drive does it no favors in this area.

Benchmark Comparisons

We are going to compare the Crucial P1 1TB with its successor drive, the Crucial P2 as well as the Intel 665p, which is a direct competitor to the P1.

Despite being the older drive and based on QLC, the Crucial P1 is faster in about half of our tests. More importantly, the P1 did not experience the drops to SATA level performance that the P2 did.

Compared to the Intel 665p, which is based on the same controller, the P1 turned in very similar benchmark results. In general, the P1 had a very slight edge over the Intel drive, but most of the time the drives were indistinguishable. Given how close these drives are in performance, we would likely look to street price (with discounts) on a given day to determine which to recommend.

Temperatures

We monitored the idle and maximum temperature during testing with HWMonitor to get some idea of the thermal performance and requirements of the drive. Please keep in mind that our test bench is an open frame chassis in a 22C room, but with no direct airflow. As a result, this is not representative of a cramped low airflow case and is instead intended to model temperatures of a drive ‘on its own’.

Thermals on the Crucial P1 were acceptable, though I certainly would not describe it as a cool running drive. Under any light to moderate workload that the Crucial P1 is actually designed to handle, thermals should not be a problem.

Again, we are mostly looking for the absence of runaway thermals here during our testing rather than comparing drives to each other.

Final Words

As this review is being written, the Crucial P1 1TB is $105 on Amazon. This price is, coincidentally, the exact same price as the Crucial P2 1TB, the Intel 665p 1TB, and the WD Blue SN550 1TB. At those prices, I would continue to recommend the WD Blue SN550 drive over either of the Crucial drives; the WD drive had slightly better performance across the board and had triple the endurance rating of the P1. When I reviewed the P2, I criticized it both for its performance as well as the lack of value compared to the WD Blue SN550 1TB, and the value argument still holds true when comparing to the P1 drive.

With the value argument put aside though, in my opinion, the Crucial P1 1TB is a superior drive overall when compared to its successor in the P2. A much more consistent write performance from the P1 gives it the advantage in my mind. For an inexpensive client SSD, the Crucial P1 is not a bad option, but it also is not the best option.