Question Crucial P3 or....?

[punkncat]

I have a system:
11600K
B560M-A PRO

I this built up out of mostly spare parts, and one aspect of that build is an Intel M.2 SSD 545s. It is a really slow SSD that I picked up years ago thinking it was something else. It has no issues in particular aside from when you try to load to/from it, incredible latency.

The 500GB P3 is just over $30 right now. I see it isn't the fastest thing going, and I am ok with that. Don't care about being Gen 4 on this, just a bit quicker, cheap, and reliable. The aspect I am trying to avoid is things like trying to search a media title and it just takes forever for everything to come up. The only other use for the machine is gaming and it performs admirably for that aspect. Is there anything else I should be considering at this price point?

 

[Lafong]

WD SN 770 is 40 or less at 500 GB.

WD SN 570 is 33 right now at newegg.

770 is gen 4 if that might matter in the future.

Don't know if either would be a noticeable difference from P3. All 3 are dramless. Don't know how Crucial's controller handles dramless, but WD does a good job of it.

 

[Eximo]

I would spend the extra on a P5 Plus, about the best priced SSD with dram. Mushkin has been sneaking around at the bottom there, but not sure I trust them with SSDs.

 

[punkncat]

WD SN 570

I have had great luck with WD Blues over the years in the 2.5" SSD. Never had a WD Black drive, so no real experience there.

I would spend the extra on a P5 Plus, about the best priced SSD with dram. Mushkin has been sneaking around at the bottom there, but not sure I trust them with SSDs.

I appreciate the thought in that respect. This isn't my daily driver desk PC, it is basically for watching You Tube, Plex/Media Player, (insert other streaming service) and some light 1080/60 gaming (not that a slow drive matters here aside from load times between maps). I really don't want to spend more than what I have to for this particular case scenario. I tried to convince myself that this SSD would be fine, deal with it, etc. but any process that is requiring seeking to storage is just slow as can be this side of a HDD.

Funny enough, I have a 2.5" Mushkin Reactor that has been a very reliable storage and game drive for me. I haven't used anything in M.2 from them.


Thanks both for the suggestions so far.

 

[Bob.B]

I have a system:
11600K
B560M-A PRO

I this built up out of mostly spare parts, and one aspect of that build is an Intel M.2 SSD 545s. It is a really slow SSD that I picked up years ago thinking it was something else. It has no issues in particular aside from when you try to load to/from it, incredible latency.

The 500GB P3 is just over $30 right now. I see it isn't the fastest thing going, and I am ok with that. Don't care about being Gen 4 on this, just a bit quicker, cheap, and reliable. The aspect I am trying to avoid is things like trying to search a media title and it just takes forever for everything to come up. The only other use for the machine is gaming and it performs admirably for that aspect. Is there anything else I should be considering at this price point?

How is this m.2 connected?

 

[punkncat]

How is this m.2 connected?

In the only M.2 slot.

B560M-A PRO (msi.com)

I am using a graphics card with this build, so no PCI adapter present.

Of note here, this was the absolutely lowest price motherboard option available at the time I opted to build this rig. It's stock parameters run the i5 at better clock than the Z590I it was in previously. It's low on feature, but runs pretty well otherwise.

 

[Bob.B]

In the only M.2 slot.

B560M-A PRO (msi.com)

I am using a graphics card with this build, so no PCI adapter present.

Of note here, this was the absolutely lowest price motherboard option available at the time I opted to build this rig. It's stock parameters run the i5 at better clock than the Z590I it was in previously. It's low on feature, but runs pretty well otherwise.

Can you show a screen shot from 'crystal disk mark' and also a screen shot from 'crystal disk info'?

 

[punkncat]

Can you show a screen shot from 'crystal disk mark' and also a screen shot from 'crystal disk info'?

I completely appreciate the effort you are putting forth in regard to this question. Let's keep it WAY simpler than that.

Are you aware of, or have used a 500GB M.2 drive that is priced similarly to the Crucial P3 mentioned and would recommend for the price?

The posters above offered a WD Blue in a very similar price point, and a more expensive Black and even more expensive P5 option. You have other thoughts?

 

[Bob.B]

I completely appreciate the effort you are putting forth in regard to this question. Let's keep it WAY simpler than that.

Are you aware of, or have used a 500GB M.2 drive that is priced similarly to the Crucial P3 mentioned and would recommend for the price?

The posters above offered a WD Blue in a very similar price point, and a more expensive Black and even more expensive P5 option. You have other thoughts?

Sorry I don't have a recco read the reviews of different models of the size you want.

 

[Lafong]

I spent 3 or 4 years tracking prices on mid level NVMe drives as a replacement for my ancient 2.5 inch Crucial MX 100.

Here's a rambling summary.

There are earlier WDs like the SN 550. I have one working well in a USB enclosure for ad hoc backups. It's fine, but I'm not sure you can find it cheaper than the somewhat better SN 570.

And the 750 series. Now superseded by 850 series. Both presumably above your preferred price and possibly offering no practical advantage.

Intel 660p and 760p are certainly plausible, but I have not checked prices recently. The 2 TB versions have been seen at $100.

There are a bunch of Samsungs, but they still tend to command premium prices, so I assume they wouldn't be in consideration due to price alone. I was leaning toward the 970 EVO Plus, but eventually went elsewhere.

I took a brief look at the P3 but was not particularly amused..............by benchmarks.....which I generally consider to be only a middling tool to evaluate SSDs. But what other tools are there? Anecdotes on Tom's Hardware? Youtube reviews yammering about gaming and benchmarks?

I think there is a Crucial P3 Plus and a P5 variety also. They may be out of your price range.

There's a bunch of "off brand" NVMe drives out there...dozens of brands. Don't know how you feel about taking that leap into the "unknown".

Controllers matter and you can try to research which drives use the better controller. And then make some possibly questionable assumptions.

But I assume you are not looking for top performance (understandably), so you can easily get caught up in minutiae that ultimately means nothing in day to day usage.

What you'd probably like is reliable reliability info, but that is in very short supply beyond the anecdote level.

Accept randomness you can't control?

 

[punkncat]

Lol, well said. I would rather stick at least to something one might have heard of along the way.

One of the YT reviewers I watch is all about the 'doesn't matter what brand, what's cheap' meta. I (kinda) already did this using an old leftover part that I knew was going to be slow...perhaps not fully prepared for exactly HOW slow. I don't suspect anything wrong, just trying to suss out if there is another worthy option than the Blue and P3 in the sub $35 market. To be fair, size/capacity isn't really an issue either so long as it is at least ~240+ class or better. This Intel one, I think, is something like ~130-ish...(hang on while I check)..ah, surprisingly it is also a 240 class device. My storage drives are faster, and they are 2.5" SSD.

 

[sonofjesse]

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-SB-R...ible&sprefix=sabrent+512gb,audible,123&sr=1-2

I have this and and its been great.

Honestly I have tried lots of brands and the only issue with any SSD I ever purchased was the 980 PRO with "BAD" firmware.

I think even if you got a cheapo it would be fine for most ust users.

Good luck!

 

[Lafong]

I just took a look at Newegg under 40 dollars for circa 500 GB from semi-major brands.

There's only maybe 5 or 6 choices. Some are gen 4, which might tilt the odds in their favor?

Seems to be some funky pricing going on that I've seen elsewhere in the recent past.....drives that are clearly "inferior" (as measured by benchmarks I suppose) are often priced noticeably higher than "superior" drives of the same capacity.

Not sure what that's about......some drives mistakenly over-stocked? Buyer decisions affected one way or another by "dramless"? Continued belief that "name brand" carries a certain respect....or doesn't any more? Behind the scenes negotiations and demands from manufacturers?

Dunno.

 

[AgentBirdnest]

500GB Samsung 980 (not Pro) is $40. DRAM-less, TLC, 300TBW endurance rating.
I put one of these in my dad's PC that he uses for browsing, videos, hobbyist photo scanning and editing, and searching tens of thousands of genealogy dos and photos. It's been two or so years, and is still snappy as ever, no complaints at all.

 

[punkncat]

I am rather glad I took my time thinking about this. Was able to pick up the P3 Plus 500GB model for the same $31 price due to an Amazon sale. The 1TB model is just over $40. Now I just have to gather the desire to take down the HTPC and do the clean install and get all the settings and apps set (again)....

This particular PC was built up of (mostly) spare parts I had around, of that including an old Intel 545s. This new drive is 10X + faster. I don't really anticipate much difference for average viewing tasks, but it sure should help boot time and responsiveness.