Side-by-side: Crucial T710 1TB ($227) vs Crucial P510 1TB ($172). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
Gen 5 at 1 TB is one of the most contested SSD segments in 2026, and Crucial T710 1TB versus Crucial P510 1TB captures that competition well. The decision rarely comes down to peak speeds — both drives saturate typical workloads.
Hardware-wise, the Crucial T710 1TB runs on SMI's SM2508 silicon, which became the default Gen 5 controller for power-conscious flagships. The Crucial P510 1TB pairs the DRAM-less Phison E31T, built specifically for budget Gen 5 drives that prioritize cost over peak speed.
Prices favor the Crucial P510 1TB by $55.00/TB ($172.00/TB versus $227.00/TB). Not a huge gap, but enough to be the tiebreaker if performance is similar.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: Crucial T710 1TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Crucial P510 1TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
PS5 owners get no measurable benefit from either drive's peak speed because Sony's internal NVMe controller throttles to ~5,500 MB/s; treat Crucial T710 1TB and Crucial P510 1TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. Video editors will gravitate toward the Crucial T710 1TB for its write headroom (12,000 MB/s sustained). Project saves and proxies move faster, which compounds across a workday. Heads-up — these are full-length 2280 drives. Steam Deck and most current handhelds require shorter 2230 modules, so check capacity-specific 2230 variants if that's your target platform.
Market context: we track 6 Gen 5 1 TB drives, and by price per terabyte the Crucial T710 1TB currently sits #2 while the Crucial P510 1TB sits #1. 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 T710 1TB for meaningfully faster reads (14,900 MB/s), higher sustained writes (12,000 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. Crucial's T-series tends to undercut Samsung and WD on price while using comparable Micron silicon — a value play hiding in a flagship form factor.
Go with the Crucial P510 1TB for the lower retail price ($172 vs $227), and better $/TB economics ($172.00/TB).