What’s the difference between the P5 Plus and 970 EVO Plus?

The P5 Plus is a new M.2 solid state drive from Crucial. You can check out this comparison guide at Seeking Tech to see how it stacks up against the Samsung 970 EVO Plus.

Quick Summary

Being a PCIe Gen 4.0 solid state drive, the Crucial P5 Plus is substantially faster than the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, which uses PCIe Gen 3.0, at maximum sequential reading and maximum sequential writing.

So, if your computer is compatible with PCIe Gen 4.0, then we recommend picking up the P5 Plus over the 970 EVO Plus.

When it comes to reliability, the Crucial P5 Plus is expected to last longer than the Samsung 970 EVO Plus. With that said, the 970 EVO Plus is the only one out of these SSDs that can be repaired.

Both products have the same endurance and warranty coverage.

P5 Plus vs. 970 EVO Plus Comparison Chart

You can check out Seeking Tech’s comparison table for the P5 Plus and 970 EVO Plus below.

Capacity Options

When it comes to available capacities, the 970 EVO Plus is the only product in this comparison to offer a 250 GB.

You can check out all the available options for these two internal SSDs below:

Crucial P5 Plus:

• 500 GB
• 1 TB
• 2 TB

Samsung 970 EVO Plus:

• 250 GB
• 500 GB
• 1 TB
• 2 TB

Model Numbers

You can also find the model numbers tied to each of the aforementioned capacities below:

• 500 GB Crucial P5 Plus: CT500P5PSSD8
• 1 TB Crucial P5 Plus: CT1000P5PSSD8
• 2 TB Crucial P5 Plus: CT2000P5PSSD8

• 250 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: MZ-V7S250B
• 500 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: MZ-V7S500B
• 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: MZ-V7S1T0B
• 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: MZ-V7S2T0B

Form Factor

The Crucial P5 Plus and Samsung 970 EVO Plus are both M.2 2280 solid state drives.

Memory Components

As for the memory components, the P5 Plus uses 3D NAND while the 970 EVO Plus uses Samsung V-NAND 3-bit MLC.

Interface

When it comes to the interface, the P5 Plus utilizes PCIe Gen 4.0 while the 970 EVO Plus utilizes PCIe Gen 3.0.

Maximum Sequential Read Speed

The Crucial P5 Plus is 3100 MB per second faster, or 88.57% faster, than the Samsung 970 EVO Plus at maximum sequential reading.

You can find a breakdown of the sequential read speed specifications for every capacity option of both products below:

• 500 GB Crucial P5 Plus: Up to 6600 MB per second
• 1 TB Crucial P5 Plus: Up to 6600 MB per second
• 2 TB Crucial P5 Plus: Up to 6600 MB per second

• 250 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3500 MB per second
• 500 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3500 MB per second
• 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3500 MB per second
• 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3500 MB per second

Maximum Sequential Write Speed

When you compare the same capacities, the 500 GB Crucial P5 Plus is 400 MB per second faster, or 12.5% faster, than the 500 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus at maximum sequential writing.

Moreover, the 1 TB and 2 TB versions of the Crucial P5 Plus are 1700 MB per second faster, or 51.52% faster, than the 1 TB and 2 TB versions of the Samsung 970 EVO Plus.

You can check out the maximum sequential write speed specs below:

• 500 GB Crucial P5 Plus: Up to 3600 MB per second
• 1 TB Crucial P5 Plus: Up to 5000 MB per second
• 2 TB Crucial P5 Plus: Up to 5000 MB per second

• 250 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 2300 MB per second
• 500 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3200 MB per second
• 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3300 MB per second
• 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: Up to 3300 MB per second

PlayStation 5 Compatibility

The Crucial P5 Plus meets the interface and reading speed requirements to be compatible with the PlayStation 5. However, you will need to get a heatsink for the SSD.

The 970 EVO Plus is not compatible with the PS5.

Endurance

When you compare the same capacities, the P5 Plus and 970 EVO Plus have the same rated endurance.

You can find the Terabytes Written (TBW) specs below:

• 500 GB Crucial P5 Plus: 300 TBW
• 1 TB Crucial P5 Plus: 600 TBW
• 2 TB Crucial P5 Plus: 1200 TBW

• 250 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: 150 TBW
• 500 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: 300 TBW
• 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: 600 TBW
• 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus: 1200 TBW

Reliability

As for reliability, although the Crucial P5 Plus is expected to last longer, it is not repairable like the 970 EVO Plus.

You can find the rated reliability for both storage drives below:

• Crucial P5 Plus: 2,000,000 hours Mean Time to Failure
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus: 1,500,000 hours Mean Time Between Failures

Warranty

A 5-year warranty is included in both the Crucial P5 Plus Solid State Drive and Samsung 970 EVO Plus Solid State Drive.

Resources:

• https://www.crucial.com/content/dam/crucial/ssd-products/p5-plus/flyer/b2c/crucial-P5-plus-productflyer-consumer.pdf
• https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-970-evo-plus-nvme-m-2-250gb-mz-v7s250b-am