Crucial P5 vs WD Blue SN550: which cheap M.2 SSD should you buy on Prime Day?

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You'll save more cash and the WD Blue SN550 will last longer

Crucial P5 and WD Blue SN550 on orange background with badge that reads "don't miss"
(Image credit: Future)

Just like any other Amazon Prime Day, there are a ton of SSD deals out there, but two stick out for being both affordable and capacious: the Crucial P5 and WD Blue SN550. Both are PCIe 3.0 NVMe drives, but they're pretty different from one another. 

Right now, you can get a sizable Prime Day deal on both drives, with the 1TB version of the Crucial P5 going for $91, down from $174, while the WD Blue SN550 goes for $84 for the 1TB model, while it usually goes for $124. So, it's pretty clear, right? Go for the WD Blue because it's cheaper for the same space? Well, kind of.  

Crucial P5 | 1TB | $174 $91 at Amazon

Crucial P5 | 1TB | $174 $91 at Amazon
If you're looking for a speedy drive that won't break the bank, the Crucial P5 is an easy pick. It's rated for 3,400MB/s and with the 1TB model going for just $91 on Prime Day, it's a bargain. 

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WD Blue SN550 | 1TB | $124 $84 at Amazon

WD Blue SN550 | 1TB | $124 $84 at Amazon
The WD Blue lineup has always been about delivering mainstream SSDs at a cheap price, and the SN550 is no different. This NVMe drive will load all your apps and games in a flash, and it's just $84 for Amazon Prime Day.

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The Crucial P5 is a faster drive, which might make it worth picking up at the higher price. It's rated at 3,400MB/s, which is close to the maximum speed its PCIe 3.0 interface can reach. Meanwhile, the WD Blue SN550 is only rated for 2,400MB/s reads, which is significantly slower.

The Amazon store listing for the WD Blue SN550 is a bit misleading though. It claims that it has an endurance rating of "Up to 900 TBW" (terabytes written), but that's not exactly right. It's based on the capacity of the drive, with more capacious versions lasting longer. The 1TB version we're looking at isn't 900 TBW, it's 600 TBW, which is the exact same rating as the faster Crucial P5. 

Both drives are warrantied for 5 years or until they reach that max endurance mark, which means they'll both last about as long. 

For most people the max speed of a drive really isn't going to make a night-and-day difference. Windows 10 is still going to load up in seconds, and your PC game load times probably won't be noticeably affected.  Both of these SSDs are going to be great if you're looking for a large SSD that's also fast, but we'd probably go with the WD Blue SN550 just to save a bit of cash. 

Although, if that extra bit of speed is super important to you, you might want to go for the Crucial P5, as it'll be significantly faster when pushed, especially if you are constantly transferring files and you want to save some time. 

More SSD deals

If you're not in the US, don't worry. We've included the best Prime Day SSD deals down below, so you can get yourself some speedy storage for less wherever you are.

Bill Thomas
Bill Thomas

Bill Thomas (Twitter) is TechRadar's computing editor. They are fat, queer and extremely online. Computers are the devil, but they just happen to be a satanist. If you need to know anything about computing components, PC gaming or the best laptop on the market, don't be afraid to drop them a line on Twitter or through email.