{"id":998092,"date":"2026-01-09T02:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/VzDwPALJEfjnA5ZnQkJv6"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:53:22","slug":"crucial-p310-2-tb-nvme-ssd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/crucial-p310-2-tb-nvme-ssd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Crucial P310 2 TB NVMe SSD review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It might not be the 1990s anymore (that\u2019s the late 1900s to the Gen Zers), but that doesn\u2019t mean console gaming is done and dusted, no sir. We\u2019ve seen a whole slew of handheld gaming PCs arise over the last couple of years, and with it, a positive boom in the number of folk on the hunt to expand their storage on these plucky little devices too. After all what\u2019s the point of picking up a handheld gaming PC if you can\u2019t, you know, play all your favorite games on it when you\u2019re on the move.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit of a complicated mess, that said, the number of handhelds that support the M.2 2230 form factor is numerous, yet with an armada of PCIe drives out there, all touting different hardware configurations in the tiniest of form-factors, finding the right drive is, well, challenging. Crucial\u2019s P310 2TB is breaking the mold a little bit on this one though. Not only is this thing radically affordable, coming in at just $220 for a 2 TB number it also delivers some stellar bursts of performance as it does so regardless of the PCIe spec it\u2019s plugged into. Although with some fairly hefty caveats.<\/p>\n

On the surface, the P310 is quite the intriguing prospect. It\u2019s a single-sided M.2 2230 PCIe 4.0 drive (that form factor required to make it compatible with everything from the Steam Deck OLED<\/a>, to the Asus ROG Ally, to even the biggest of gaming PCs as long as you have a heatsink on your mobo). It\u2019s paired with a Phison E27T controller plus an array of Micron 232-Layer QLC NAND Flash to back it all up.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s that last part that\u2019s the curious little addition. Although radically more affordable, and typically available in higher densities and capacities, QLC doesn\u2019t usually provide performance at the same caliber as TLC NAND. In my experience, manufacturers will often pair QLC memory with a substantial DRAM cache on the drive to boost up sequential and random 4K performance, but once that cache is filled, that performance generally falls off a cliff. That cache is something the P310 lacks in its controller, so it doesn\u2019t have that \u201csafeguard\u201d so to speak.<\/p>\n

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P310 specs<\/div>\n
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(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Capacity:<\/strong> 2 TB
Interface:<\/strong> PCIe 4.0 x4
Memory controller: <\/strong>Phison E27T controller
Flash memory:<\/strong> Micron 232-layer QLC NAND
Rated performance: <\/strong>7,100 MB\/s sustained read, 6,000 MB\/s sustained write
Endurance: <\/strong>440 TBW
Warranty:<\/strong> Five years
Price: <\/strong>$215<\/a> | \u00a3220<\/a> | AU$300 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Still, that performance degradation just isn\u2019t something I\u2019m seeing. Running it through our suite of benchmarks, and it quite comfortably smashes out read and write speeds well into the 7 and 6 GB\/s mark respectively in the sequential tests. Jump into the Random 4K performance (typically more synonymous with how PC games load) and equally figures stays solid throughout that too, snapping up 76 MB\/s on the read and 315 MB\/s on the write respectively. Compare it to WD\u2019s SN770M (PCIe 4.0 and M.2 2230 as well), and it pips it to the post in both the sequentials and in the random 4K writes here too.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s worth mentioning I am testing this on one of Asus\u2019s ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming Wifi motherboards, with AMD\u2019s latest Ryzen 9 9900X<\/a> processor here, and that does come with a fairly meaty heatsink keeping temps under control for it (another factor that can affect long term performance) rather than in an Asus ROG Ally<\/a>, or one of the numerous other gaming handheld PCs out there. Still this gives us a clear picture of how drives perform in more aggressive testing scenarios than just loading into Siege on a Friday night.<\/p>\n