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Acer FA100 vs Crucial P5: Comparison
What is the difference between Acer FA100 and Crucial P5?
Start with sequential write, because it is the widest measured gap between them: Acer FA100 2700 MB/s against Crucial P5 3000 MB/s, 10% in favour of Crucial P5. The benchmark result agrees. Speed Score puts Crucial P5 10% ahead, 7.1 against 6.4. Sequential read is closer, 3300 MB/s on the Acer FA100 versus 3400 MB/s on the Crucial P5. There is a split on bus interface as well, PCIe 3.0 x4 on the Acer FA100 versus PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe on the Crucial P5. They differ on dram cache too, DRAM-less on the Acer FA100 versus DRAM on the Crucial P5.
Acer FA100 vs Crucial P5: which one fits your build
The Acer FA100 suits everyday laptops and desktops with a PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot. It also earns its place with budget upgrades needing 2000 GB of NVMe storage in a standard M.2 2280 slot. It is not the one for anyone wanting PCIe 4.0 speeds, since this drive tops out at 3300 MB/s reads. Take the Crucial P5 for PCIe 3.0-only systems where Gen 4 bandwidth would go unused anyway. It is equally the pick for buyers who specifically want Crucial's in-house NAND and DRAM cache combination on a Gen 3 drive. Avoid it for anyone with a PCIe 4.0-capable motherboard. Crucial's own P5 Plus, covered elsewhere on this site, nearly doubles the bandwidth for a modest price step up. Our rating of the Crucial P5 (7.3/10): A solid, dependable Gen 3 drive from a trusted brand, now mostly superseded by Crucial's own P5 Plus.
What Acer FA100 and Crucial P5 have in common
Where they agree, they agree completely, nand type, form factor and drive type included, so the decision does not turn on any of those.
Specs and benchmarks
Speed Score
- Acer FA100
- 6.4/10-10%
- Crucial P5
- 7.1/10Best
How fast this drive is, rated from its read and write speeds, cache and NAND type. 10 is the fastest.
Brand
- Acer FA100
- Acer
- Crucial P5
- Crucial (Micron)
Model Number
- Acer FA100
- Acer FA100 (Micron B27B)
- Crucial P5
- P5
Series
- Acer FA100
- FA100
- Crucial P5
- P5
Drive Type
- Acer FA100
- Internal
- Crucial P5
- Internal
Bus Interface
- Acer FA100
- PCIe 3.0 x4
- Crucial P5
- PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe
Form Factor
- Acer FA100
- M.2 2280
- Crucial P5
- M.2 2280
Sequential Read
- Acer FA100
- 3300 MB/s-3%
- Crucial P5
- 3400 MB/s
Sequential Write
- Acer FA100
- 2700 MB/s-10%
- Crucial P5
- 3000 MB/s
DRAM Cache
- Acer FA100
- DRAM-less (HMB)
- Crucial P5
- DRAM
NAND Type
- Acer FA100
- TLC
- Crucial P5
- TLC
Which one should you pick?
Choose Acer FA100 if you already have it on hand or find it at a lower price.
Choose Crucial P5 if you want the higher speed score (7.1 vs 6.4), the higher sequential read (3400 MB/s vs 3300 MB/s) and the higher sequential write (3000 MB/s vs 2700 MB/s).
Verdict
Crucial P5
7.3 / 10 Expert Rating
A solid, dependable Gen 3 drive from a trusted brand, now mostly superseded by Crucial's own P5 Plus.