Crucial is keen to drum up early interest for an upcoming SSD model, and the Linus Tech Tips team has received and tested a sample unit. The T700 is a PCIe Gen 5 NVMe M.2 SSD storage solution based around a Phison PS5026-E26 controller, which is a very common choice for the current generation of PCIe 5.0 SSDs available on the market. Micron 3D NAND chips look to be present on the T700's PCB, and a Crucial-branded heatsink is mounted to the provided sample unit. It is interesting to note that the uncovered T700 unit bears a striking resemblance to Phison's E26 Engineering Reference sample, although the latter appears to feature SK Hynix memory chips, instead of Micron.

The LTT team posted benchmark results from a Crystal Disk Mark test session, and the T700 achieved maximums of 12.4 GB/s sequential read and 11.9 GB/s write speeds. This represents an almost two fold jump over the performance of Crucial's PCIe 4.0 based P5 Plus SSD, which is a substantial improvement and also very impressive considering the T700's usage of a passive cooling solution.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the upcoming availability of two new consumer storage products, the Crucial P3 Plus Gen4 NVMe and Crucial P3 NVMe solid state drives (SSDs), as an expansion of its award-winning Crucial NVMe SSD product portfolio. The all new Crucial P3 Plus SSD product line will deliver attractive price-performance metrics with sequential read/write speeds up to 5000/4200 MB/s, while next-generation Crucial P3 SSDs will provide read/write speeds up to 3500/3000 MB/s. Both drives will be available in capacities up to 4 TB, making them the ideal scalable storage solutions that professionals, creatives, gamers and other high-performance users need.

"For users that have been waiting to upgrade their PCs to Gen4 SSDs, the wait is over. With the forthcoming availability of the new Crucial P3 Plus SSD, anyone seeking high-performance SSDs can upgrade to NVMe Gen4 storage and affordably futureproof their PC," said Teresa Kelley, vice president and general manager of Micron's Commercial Products Group. "Both the Crucial P3 Plus and P3 SSD products will strengthen our overall SSD portfolio and NVMe product category by offering competitive choices for high-performance storage that enables users to get more done in less time."

Out of nowhere, Micron has announced that it will end production of its Ballistix RAM products that are the high-performance and gamer focused RAM products from its Crucial brand. The details available so far doesn't state a reason for the discontinuation of these products. That said, Crucial has launched a wide range of DDR5 products, but so far none under the Ballistix brand and that is obviously a permanent move now. The company said it would focus on "the development of Micron's DDR5 client and server product roadmap, along with the expansion of the Crucial memory and storage product portfolio."

Furthermore the press release mentioned that "the company will continue to support the performance compute and gaming communities with its award-winning SSD products, such as the Crucial P5 Plus Gen 4 PCIe NVMe SSD, Crucial P2 Gen 3 NVMe SSD, and the popular Crucial X6 and Crucial X8 portable SSDs." It seems like Micron has decided to change the focus of it's consumer focused Crucial brand yet again, as the company has done several times in the past, but it's going to remove a major player in the consumer DRAM market, which isn't a good thing, especially as Micron was one of few DRAM manufacturers to offer high-end RAM modules, since neither Samsung or SK-Hynix is in this market. That said, it looks like Crucial will at least continue to offer its standard RAM modules, but they tend to follow JEDEC spec and aren't particularly exciting.

Micron, today announced the immediate availability of Micron Crucial DDR5 desktop PC memory products that deliver up to 50% faster data transfer speeds over previous-generation DDR4 memory, providing mainstream PC users with enthusiast-level performance. Whether a PC is used for business, learning, creativity, interactive entertainment or personal use, the computing experience is defined by performance, flexibility and efficiency. Micron's DDR5 memory technology advancements offer higher bandwidth per core, nearly doubling the effective memory bandwidth to provide multi-core CPUs with the data they need for multi-tasking and other demanding PC applications.

DDR5 allows for better power efficiency, decreasing operating voltage to 1.1 volts. Plus, its unique features enable future chip density to grow from today's 16 GB up to 24 GB, 32 GB and beyond, quadrupling the module density of DDR5 over DDR4 DRAM. This provides headroom and future scalability for DDR5-enabled systems. Improved bus efficiency results in higher effective bandwidth. By combining higher bandwidth, lower power and higher density, DDR5 enhances performance for emerging PC applications such as 4K and 8K content creation, interactive entertainment, personal and business productivity, and virtual reality experiences. By feeding hungry multi-core CPUs, DDR5 memory also helps make multitasking more efficient without bogging down system performance.

If you're looking at getting your hands on some DDR5 memory for your new Alder Lake build once it launches, a leak of validated RAM has popped up on Twitter, that should give you an idea of what to expect. The list is only a couple of weeks old and it's not what we'd call a long list, as it only covers five companies, out of which three are actual DRAM manufacturers and one is a subsidiary of one of those companies, there are no real surprises here.

All the DDR5 modules tested are rated at 4800 MHz and are either 8, 16 or 32 GB in size, with all modules using 16 Gbit chips. All modules were tested with timings of 40-39-39 at 1.1 V. Kingston is the only outlier here, since they're not a DRAM manufacturer, unlike SK hynix, Samsung and Micron/Crucial. Intel is listing all the modules as non ECC, which should put an end to the claims of all DDR5 being ECC memory.

Crucial, Micron's global consumer brand of memory and storage, today launched an expansion of its award-winning portable solid-state drive (SSD) portfolio to offer consumers more options for external storage performance, capacity and value at any price point. The new products include the high-capacity 4 TB portable SSD at a RRP of 489.95 USD, and a new 500 GB portable SSD for a wallet-friendly RRP of 69.95 USD. Consumers looking to store large gaming libraries or more movies for long road trips will find an ideal solution in the Crucial X6.

With read speeds up to 800 MB/s, the 4 TB drive performs up to 5.6 times faster than portable hard drives in the market and are drop-proof up to 6.5 feet. Similar to the existing products in the Crucial X6 portable SSD lineup, the 4 TB and 500 GB versions deliver compact portable SSDs in these capacities to consumers for the first time. The entire award-winning Crucial portable SSD product line is compatible with the latest USB-C-enabled devices, such as PCs, Macs, PlayStation 5, Android devices and more. When used with the Crucial USB-C to USB-A adapter, the portable drives also work with PS4, Xbox One, XBOX Series S|X and other USB-A devices.

Overclocking is always fun and almost everyone can do it, however, when it comes to extreme overclocking, there are only a handful of persons doing it. Today, a Chinese extreme overclocker "baby-j" has managed to establish a new world record frequency with his Crucial Ballistix Max DDR4-4000 (BLM16G40C18U4B.M8FB1) memory kit. Using liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling for the DIMMs, the overclocker managed to push the memory kit to an amazing 7004.2 MHz, making it the world's highest frequency hit on DDR4 memory. What is more amazing is the fact that the platform used for the new record-setting overclock, is based on AMD's B550 motherboards running with AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G processor, which seems to have a very good memory controller. The timings were a bit relaxed with them running at 22-26-26-46-127-1 (tCAS-tRC-tRP-tRAS-tCS-tCR) settings.

Crucial, Micron's global consumer brand of computer memory and storage, today announced its limited edition Crucial Ballistix MAX 5100 gaming DRAM. Expanding on the award-winning legacy of the Crucial Ballistix product portfolio, this latest offering provides consumers with an optimal gaming memory option, boasting the highest speeds available to date for purchase.

Crucial Ballistix is the only brand of gaming DRAM that incorporates custom tuning at the die level, resulting in world record-setting performance. In fact, these same gaming DRAM modules were recently used by a competitive overclocker to hit a blistering 6,666MT/s, the fastest ever for DDR4 modules. The record-breaking frequency and valid CPU-Z screenshot are posted on HWBOT. Like Micron's leading products and solutions for enterprise and personal computing, Crucial gaming memory is purpose-built, making it the only gaming memory that's vertically integrated - designed, engineered and manufactured from start to finish in-house. This unique approach is unmatched by competitors, allowing the new 5100MT/s modules to deliver blazing fast speeds to hardcore gamers and maximized results to overclocking enthusiasts.

Crucial, Micron's global consumer brand of memory and storage, today announced the new Crucial X6 portable solid-state drive (SSD). This new transportable, ultra-sleek drive expands the company's award-winning SSD portfolio and offers more value, capacity and performance options, making it perfect for customers who require instant access to all their digital content.

"The need for flexible access to digital content is essential right now - and the Crucial X6 and X8 portable SSDs bring Micron's unparalleled quality in storage technology directly to customers' fingertips," said Teresa Kelley, vice president and general manager of Micron's Consumer Products Group. "Whether working remotely, staying home with family, preparing for a virtual class, or getting out for an adventure, storing and accessing digital files has never been easier - even without an internet connection or access to the cloud."

A new HWBot entry has proven what some thought impossible years ago: AMD apparently features the best memory controller in the x86 consumer space. A user going by the alias Bianbao XE achieved a 6,666 MHz frequency on a single stick of Crucial Ballistix Max. The stick's original rating is for a mere 2,666 MHz - doesn't that put things in perspective?

Another thing that puts things into perspective is that the support for such an overclocking feat was a ROG Strix B550-I Gaming motherboard (min-ITX means smaller tracing distance between CPU and memory, and thus higher signal integrity) paired with none other than AMD's Ryzen 7 4700GE 'Renoir'. The APU was underclocked and overvolted - a technique that aimed to increase stability of the memory controller whilst also reducing operating temperatures (balancing the higher voltage and lower frequency). Of course, memory timings were loosened to achieve this feat (timings of 30-27-27-58 aren't what you'd usually like to see), but then again, this wasn't meant to power the utmost memory performance - only the highest frequency. And that was definitely achieved.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced a comprehensive enablement program which will provide early access to technical resources, products and ecosystem partners. The Technology Enablement Program will aid in the design, development and qualification of next-generation computing platforms that use DDR5, the most technologically advanced DRAM available.

Today's news builds on Micron's January announcement of DDR5 RDIMM samples and brings the industry one step closer to unlocking the value in next-generation, data-centric applications. Companies joining Micron in the DDR5 Technology Enablement Program include Cadence, Montage, Rambus, Renesas and Synopsys.

Crucial is expanding its P-series M.2 NVMe SSD lineup with the introduction of the P5. Available in capacities of 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB, and built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the drives are still based on PCI-Express gen 3.0 x4 host interface with NVMe 1.3. The P5 implements a DRAM-cache cushioned controller, and 3D TLC NAND flash memory.

Performance on offer includes sequential read speeds of up to 3,400 MB/s, and sequential write speeds of up to 3,000 MB/s (up to 1,400 MB/s writes for the 250 GB model), while Crucial rates endurance (TBW) at 150 TBW for the 250 GB model, 300 TBW for the 500 GB model, 600 TBW for 1 TB, and 1.2 PBW for the 2 TB model. The performance numbers are a class above the P2 or P1 mid-range drives. The drives are backed by 5-year warranties. The company didn't reveal pricing.Many Thanks to TheLostSwede for the tip.

Here's the first picture of the Crucial P2, the company's second M.2 NVMe client SSD series based on QLC NAND flash memory, and successor to the Crucial P1. The drive sticks to PCI-Express gen 3.0 x4 as its host interface, but increases sequential read speeds over the P1. Available in 250 GB and 500 GB models to begin with, the P2 offers sequential transfer rates of up to 2100 MB/s reads with up to 1150 MB/s writes for the 250 GB variant; and up to 2300 MB/s reads with up to 940 MB/s writes on the 500 GB variant. There's no word on whether the P2 uses the same QLC NAND chips as the P1, but we do spy a DRAM cache chip. Endurance of the P2 is rated at 150 TBW, and Crucial is backing them with 5-year warranties when they come out in the near future. Pricing in Europe is expected to be about 59€ for the 250 GB model, and 70€ for the 500 GB one.

Update 15:54 UTC: Crucial launched the drive Stateside at $54.99 for the 250 GB model, and $64.99 for the 500 GB model. We've added more images.

Crucial at CES 2020 showcased their upcoming changes to their memory portfolio, with their Crucial Ballistix lineup being condensed into just three brands: Ballistix, Ballistix RGB, and Ballistix MAX. These lineups replace the company's Ballistix Sport, Tactical, and Elite products under a redesigned portfolio and aesthetic language.

Ballistix will be the mainstream memory solutions, ranging through speeds from 2400 MHz to 3600 MHz and densities of 4 GB to 32 GB. The new, modernized aluminium heatspreader design is available in black, red, or white colors, and in DIMM or SODIMM form-factors. Ballistix RGB are basically the same sticks, but with an added 8 zones and 16 LEDs of RGB lighting to the heatspreader via usage of a diffuser.

Crucial has started shipping a 2 TB version of its famous, budget/minded BX500 Series of SATA SSDs. As pricing on NAND density has come down, it makes sense that budget solutions start to increase their capacities as well, since there is no longer a premium on new, advanced technologies. The Crucial BX500 2 TB model features the same 3D TLC NAND as the other capacities in Crucial's portfolio: 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory mated to an SMI SM2258XT DRAM-less controller.

Since it maintains the communication protocol (SATA), and the hardware is virtually unchanged except for higher densities, don't expect improved performance: the 2 TB drive is still rated for up to 540 MB/s reads and up to 500 MB/s writes. Pricing is set at $214 (or €241) for the 2 TB model, which means price per GB stands at roughly $0.10.

Micron has curiously been releasing client-segment SSDs these recent weeks. The company's main brand was focused on enterprise products, while subsidiary brands Crucial and Ballistix catered to the client-segment. Following up on its late-February launch of the 1300-series client-segment SSDs, Micron unveiled the even faster 2200-series. These drives ditch Silicon Motion-sourced controllers in favor of a new controller Micron designed in-house. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, taking advantage of the NVMe protocol. This in-house controller is mated with Micron's 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash, cushioned by its own LPDDR4 DRAM cache.

Available in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB, the Micron 2200 is rated to offer sequential transfer rates of up to 3000 MB/s reads, with up to 1600 MB/s writes, up to 240,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 210,000 IOPS 4K random writes, with an endurance rating of 75 TB, 150 TB, and 300 TB, for the 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB variants, respectively. Micron-exclusive features also make their way, such as native power-loss data-protection, and TCG Opal SED. The company hasn't revealed pricing or availability for these drives.

Crucial late Thursday rolled out a 960 GB variant of its entry-level BX500 SATA SSD series (model: CT960BX500SSD1). The BX500 earlier came in capacities only up to 480 GB. The drive implements Micron's latest 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory mated to an SMI SM2258XT DRAM-less controller. Its rated performance is same as the 480 GB model, with up to 540 MB/s reads and up to 500 MB/s writes. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, the drive takes advantage of the SATA 6 Gbps interface. The drive is now selling for USD $129.99 ($0.13 per GB).

It may be quite difficult to find bargains when it comes to DDR4 system memory or high-end graphics cards these days, but at least SSDs are more affordable now to help bandage that wound. This price drop of solid state storage has been happening throughout this year, and some units have reached a cost of 10 cents per gigabyte, a milestone difficult to have imagined a couple of years ago. The 2 TB variant of the Crucial MX500 SSD, for example, can be found now at $209, and those interested may want to check out our review of the 1 TB version before committing to a purchase.

This is great news already, but there is even better news coming as that cost will reportedly continue to drop. NAND flash could drop to $0.08 per gigabyte in 2019 according to some analysts, and some alternatives such as QLC drives from Samsung could push that trend even further. The traditional HDD market is also getting more inexpensive and better bang-for-your-buck, with a 2017 report from BackBlaze showed for example how cost per gigabyte was approaching $0.02 per gigabyte a year ago on some units. As always, price prediction reports tend to come out with the US market as a case study, but our own global TechPowerUp team is appreciating having more SSDs on deck for files and programs alike.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the next step towards market leadership for its quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology with immediate broad market availability of the popular Micron 5210 ION enterprise SATA SSD, the world's first QLC SSD, which began shipping to select customers and partners in May of this year. Available through global distributors, the Micron 5210 ION enterprise SATA SSD further accelerates Micron's lead in the QLC market, enabling replacement of hard disk drives (HDDs) with SSDs and building on Micron's recent launch of the Crucial P1 NVMe QLC SSD for consumer markets.

Enterprise storage needs are increasing as data center applications deliver real-time user insights and intelligent and enhanced user experiences, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data and real-time analytics. At the same time, there is a growing consumer need for higher storage capacity to support digital experiences. QLC SSDs are uniquely designed to address these requirements.

Compared to hard disk drives, the logic that makes solid-state drives (SSDs) tick is far more complex, involving a far more powerful SoC, complete with native storage, and sophisticated firmware that tells the controller where each bit of user data is physically stored across an array of NAND flash chips. Not surprisingly, the more sophisticated you make your SSD firmware, the more security vulnerabilities you leave, as cyber-security researchers at The Radboud University found out.

A research paper draft published by Carlo Meijer and Bernard van Gastel tells us that hardware data encryption technologies built into modern SSDs are easy to bypass and recover protected data, rendering technologies such as TCG Opal useless. Most modern SSDs offer native data encryption, which encrypts data using popular methods such as AES, without posing an overhead for the host machine. "We found that many hardware implementations [of native encryption] have critical security weaknesses, for many models allowing for complete recovery of the data without knowledge of any secret."

Crucial , a leading global consumer brand of Micron Technology for memory and storage upgrades, today announced a new 32GB Nonvolatile DIMM (NVDIMM) to help companies preserve critical data in the event of a system power loss and limit costly downtime. The first Crucial NVDIMM to operate at 2933 MT/s, the new module provides companies powerful and persistent memory performance while reducing the amount of NVDIMMs needed in a server.

In fast-paced business environments, sales and customer satisfaction are decided in milliseconds. Crucial NVDIMMs give organisations the advantage when data transactions hang in the balance by fusing memory with on-module NAND, providing near-instant access with data persistence. In the event of a system power loss, the NVDIMM would back up DRAM data to the NAND with help from an ultracapacitator, its backup power source. Crucial NVDIMMs are compatible with the latest 2.5 inch drive bay and HHHL PCIe AgigA Tech PowerGEM ultracapacitors, enabling continual power to up to four NVDIMMs during power loss until a backup is completed.

Crucial, a leading consumer brand of Micron Technology for memory and storage upgrades, today announced the availability of the Crucial P1 SSD, a PC storage device that leverages the NVMe PCIe interface and Micron's leading-edge QLC technology to deliver fast capacity for less. This is an expansion of Crucial's award-winning portfolio of dependable, high-performing, and affordable SSDs.

The Crucial P1 SSD delivers category-leading, real-world performance. PCMark 8 benchmarks show that the drive is capable of mixed-mode throughputs of up to 565 MB/s, with a composite score of 5,084, which outperforms similar SSDs within the price category. With sequential read/write speeds up to 2,000/1,700 MB/s, the P1 provides unwavering performance via hybrid-dynamic write acceleration, a unique SLC cache implementation. The drive offers an MTTF of 1.8 million hours and an endurance of up to 200 TB total bytes written, with power usage at an active average of 100mW.

Crucial has become one of the biggest players in the consumer SSD market due to their excellent price/capacity/performance ratios (their SSDs consistently score highly in our own resident wizard's reviews for some reason, after all). Now, the company is looking to lower price/GB even more as it launches the BX500 series to the market - available in capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB using Micron 3D NAND chips.

Yes, it's a SATA III SSD. And yes, the SATA III connector really is a limiting factor in this SSD's performance - but remember that SATA III controllers are much less costly than NVMe implementations. Sequential performance is rated for up to 540MB/s read and 500MB/s write (4K performance is sadly absent). The whole plethora of usual SSD technologies are here as well - multi-step data integrity algorithm, thermal monitoring, SLC write acceleration, active garbage collection, TRIM support, self-monitoring and reporting technology (SMART) and error correction code (ECC)... For the pricing, these are likely of the DRAM-less variety of SSDs, which means SLC caching is of utmost importance for performance. But pricing really is some of the lowest ever - Crucial is quoting $29.99 for the 120 GB model, $49.99 for the 240 GB one and $89.99 for 480 GB worth of BX500 storage. Crucial will start shipping out orders on August 31st.

Crucial , a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced the immediate availability of DDR4 2933 MT/s Registered DIMM server modules, a new offering in its server memory product portfolio. Designed to keep servers running at full speed and peak efficiency in support of Intel's next-generation Xeon processor product families, the new RDIMM modules enable IT users to get the most out of their server infrastructure deployments.

"Our new DDR4 2933 MT/s RDIMMs are designed to deliver the speed required to maximise the memory throughput in the next generation of servers," says Teresa Kelley, VP & GM, Micron Consumer Products Group. "Today's data centres are running memory intensive applications that require a higher degree of overall system performance, and our new RDIMM modules were designed to meet this next level of system performance."

Ballistix, a leading global brand of gaming memory, today announced the immediate availability of Ballistix Sport AT memory in support of ASUS' TUF Gaming Alliance. Developed as a collaboration between ASUS, Ballistix, and other trusted industry partners, TUF Gaming Alliance ensures easier building, the best compatibility, and complementary aesthetics from components to cases.

"Our TUF Gaming Alliance relationship with Ballistix, the memory brand of choice for so many gamers, offers customers and partners an exciting new product for PC builds," said Sharon Pan, Division Director of the ASUS Motherboard Channel PM Department. "On the heels of all the positive feedback at Computex 2018, we're looking forward to a successful collaboration with Ballistix as we continue to create products that excel in both performance and aesthetics."