Gen5 SSDs — Welcome to the Future of Data Storage

PCIe 5.0 SSDs will be the future gold standard for data storage — for peak-performance gamers, creators, and professionals who want to be part of the next-gen revolution in gaming and content creation.

Harnessing the power of PCIe 5.0, Gen5 SSDs promise:

• The fastest data transfer times — Gen5 SSD speeds are up to 2x faster than Gen4
• Boosted in-game performance when paired with DDR5 and high-performance graphics cards, taking advantage of new technologies such as DirectStorage. DirectStorage enables future applications to be designed to take advantage of blazing Gen5 SSD performance
• Backward compatibility with Gen3 and Gen4 computer hardware

Micron Technology, the parent company of Crucial, is leading this new era, thanks to their 232-Layer 3D NAND.

Micron has collaborated with Phison, AMD, Intel and motherboard manufacturers to enable the Gen5 ecosystem. Some of the first Gen5 SSDs to be released to market are powered by Micron 232-Layer 3D NAND.

Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to hear about future Crucial Gen5 SSDs.

PCIe 5.0 is the latest iteration of the PCIe data transfer interface standard, which offers bandwidth capabilities of 32GT/s, compared to Gen4’s bandwidth limit of 16GT/s.

Below are the CPUs capable of harnessing PCIe Gen5’s lightning-fast data transfer speeds:

1. Intel® Core™ 12th generation CPU ("Alder Lake") – released in November 2021
2. Intel® Core™ 13th generation CPU ("Raptor Lake") – released in October 2022
3. AMD’s Ryzen 7000-series Zen 4 CPU – released late 2022
4. Please check with your motherboard compatibility

Find out what else you'll need to upgrade to benefit from PCIe 5.0. 

Micron is a key driving force to enable the Gen5 ecosystem, thanks to their revolutionary 232-Layer 3D NAND, and their collaboration with key partners.

In July 2022, Micron shipped the world's first 232-Layer 3D NAND, providing unrivalled data input/output (I/O) speed of 2.4GB/s per second – about 50% faster than the next best NAND.

Each layer is also denser (14.6Gb/mm² if you want the numbers), so higher capacity data storage can be created for a smaller physical space.

Together, the number, density, size, and power efficiency of these layers have made Micron 232-layer memory today's go-to for data-centric workloads – including artificial intelligence, unstructured databases, real-time analytics, and cloud computing.

This same technology will help bring Crucial's first Gen5 SSD to life.

Current Gen4 SSDs have a data read/write bandwidth of up to 7GB/s, while Gen5 SSD speeds will be ≥10GB/s.

New features such as DirectStorage will, for the first time, allow GPUs to use an SSD to boost the performance of games and other data-intensive applications by reducing load times and CPU utilization.   

This means that a Gen5 SSD will not only support faster gaming performance, but also photo and video editing, rendering, VFX, and 2D and 3D CAD/CAM applications 

Gen5 SSDs will quickly become the new gold standard for professional gaming, and the go-to storage solutions for tomorrow's gamers.

In the future, Gen5 SSDs will pioneer technology for enthusiasts who demand the best from their applications, such as enthusiasts, gamers, and creatives alike.

Enthusiasts who've invested in an Intel 13th Generation or AMD Ryzen 7000 Series CPU and compatible motherboard will greatly benefit from the increased Gen5 SSD speeds!

Gamers who demand low latency and faster load times from their games will love the advanced technology and next-level speeds of the Gen5 SSD.

Creators and professionals working with large amounts of data, such as audio and video rendering, will need a fast, reliable storage and the Gen5 SSD is the perfect solution.

Crucial will be launching our first Gen5 SSD very soon. It will come with excellent features, capabilities and qualities that Crucial has to offer!

To keep up with all the latest updates, news, and Crucial PCIe 5.0 SSD release dates, sign up for our newsletter.

Not ready to upgrade to Gen5 quite yet? Crucial has a strong Gen4 performance product – the T500. The Crucial T500 SSD with heatsink delivers remarkable speed and data protection with sequential reads up to 6600MB/s for transformative computing. It’s engineered for hardcore gamers, professionals, and creatives who demand high-performance computing.