Compare Samsung 990 PRO 2TB and Crucial P310 2TB: prices, speeds, $/TB. Which to buy in May 2026? Full spec breakdown.
Both the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB and Crucial P310 2TB sit in the Gen 4 category at 2 TB, so the matchup turns on controller efficiency, cache topology, and current pricing rather than raw class differences.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB runs on Samsung's 8nm Pascal controller, the silicon powering the 990 PRO line. The Crucial P310 2TB pairs Phison's E27T — a four-channel Gen 4 controller for HMB designs.
Price separates these two meaningfully. The Crucial P310 2TB costs $77.50/TB versus $109.50/TB for the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB — a 29% premium that needs justification in real benchmarks, not just spec-sheet bragging.
The Samsung 990 PRO 2TB carries a dedicated DRAM chip for FTL (Flash Translation Layer) mapping; the Crucial P310 2TB relies on HMB (Host Memory Buffer), borrowing 64 MB from system RAM. The practical gap shows up only under sustained random write loads.
On warranty endurance the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB carries 1,200 TBW against Crucial P310 2TB's 880 TBW. Both will outlast typical use, but the gap matters if you're doing professional content work.
Heading to a PlayStation 5? Both drives drop into the console's M.2 bay and report identical real-world benchmarks since the PS5 caps storage at PCIe 4.0 speeds. The Crucial P310 2TB wins this matchup on $/TB. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB's 6,900 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.
Pick the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB if you value a higher TBW endurance rating (1,200 TBW), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. Samsung's PRO line has the longest track record for firmware reliability — over a decade of consumer SSDs with global RMA support.
Pick the Crucial P310 2TB if you value the lower retail price ($155 vs $219), and better $/TB economics ($77.50/TB).