Side-by-side: Crucial P510 1TB ($172) vs WD Blue SN5100 1TB ($182). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
This is a generational matchup at 1 TB: the older-gen drive offers proven reliability and better $/TB, while the newer-gen sibling brings raw bandwidth that most users never tap.
Hardware-wise, the Crucial P510 1TB runs on the DRAM-less Phison E31T, built specifically for budget Gen 5 drives that prioritize cost over peak speed. The WD Blue SN5100 1TB pairs the SanDisk controller.
Read speeds favor the Crucial P510 1TB: 11,000 MB/s versus 6,600 MB/s for the WD Blue SN5100 1TB, a 40% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The Crucial P510 1TB writes about 43% faster (9,500 MB/s vs 5,400 MB/s). Whether that matters depends entirely on what you write to the drive — gameplay capture and large project saves benefit, browsing and gaming do not.
For PlayStation 5 builds, the console's internal M.2 slot tops out around 5,500 MB/s sustained, so both Crucial P510 1TB and WD Blue SN5100 1TB hit the same wall — pick whichever is cheaper at the moment you buy. Comparing across generations always invites the same question: does the bandwidth gap convert into user-visible improvements? Honest answer for the Crucial P510 1TB vs WD Blue SN5100 1TB pairing: only for sustained sequential reads of multi-GB files. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the Crucial P510 1TB's 9,500 MB/s sustained write speed. Both drives use the 2280 form factor, which is too long for Steam Deck or ROG Ally — you'd need a 2230 variant if either manufacturer offers one, or a dedicated handheld-format drive instead.
Market context: the Crucial P510 1TB ranks #1 of 6 Gen 5 1 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the WD Blue SN5100 1TB ranks #1 of 4 Gen 4 1 TB drives. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
At $172.00/TB, the Crucial P510 1TB is already among the cheapest 1 TB drives we track — nothing in this class undercuts it. See the full $/TB ranking.
Go with the Crucial P510 1TB for the lower retail price ($172 vs $182), better $/TB economics ($172.00/TB), meaningfully faster reads (11,000 MB/s), and higher sustained writes (9,500 MB/s).
The WD Blue SN5100 1TB fits buyers who prefer its specific performance profile or have brand preference for WD.