Side-by-side: Samsung 990 PRO 2TB ($388) vs Crucial P310 2TB ($292). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
Gen 4 at 2 TB is one of the most contested SSD segments in 2026, and Samsung 990 PRO 2TB versus Crucial P310 2TB captures that competition well. The decision rarely comes down to peak speeds — both drives saturate typical workloads.
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.
Prices favor the Crucial P310 2TB by $48.00/TB ($146.00/TB versus $194.00/TB). Not a huge gap, but enough to be the tiebreaker if performance is similar.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: Samsung 990 PRO 2TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Crucial P310 2TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
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.
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 Samsung 990 PRO 2TB and Crucial P310 2TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. 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.
How do these two fit the wider Gen 4 2 TB field? Out of 11 tracked drives, the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB is #10 on $/TB and the Crucial P310 2TB is #4. Neither cracks the top of the value table, so it's worth glancing at the alternatives below before picking either.
As of July 27, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB and Crucial P310 2TB on $/TB:
Go with the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB for 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.
Go with the Crucial P310 2TB for the lower retail price ($292 vs $388), and better $/TB economics ($146.00/TB).