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Acer FA100 vs Crucial P5: Comparison
Acer FA100 vs Crucial P5: the sequential write difference
Sequential write is where these two genuinely part company, Acer FA100 2700 MB/s against Crucial P5 3000 MB/s, a 10% lead for Crucial P5. The benchmark result agrees. Speed Score puts Crucial P5 10% ahead, 7.1 against 6.4. On sequential read there is little in it, 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
Buy the Acer FA100 for everyday storage use where 3300 MB/s reads are fast enough. The same goes for budget laptop or desktop upgrades wanting 2000 GB on a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot. It is not the one for buyers wanting PCIe 4.0 performance, as this drive is limited to 3300 MB/s reads. Take the Crucial P5 for PCIe 3.0-only systems where Gen 4 bandwidth would go unused anyway. It also earns its place with 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 Our rating of the Crucial P5 (7.3/10): A solid, dependable Gen 3 drive from a trusted brand, now mostly superseded by Crucial's own P5 Plus.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 B47R)
- 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.