Launched by Micron® in 1996, Crucial® has grown into a major supplier of computer components, building up a following among PC builders for their Crucial internal solid state drive (SSD) and memory chips. Before buying RAM or storage from Crucial, assess your needs in terms of capacity, compatibility and speed. Whether you are building a new PC or upgrading your existing rig, Crucial products are a formidable choice.
Get a wide variety of Crucial internal SSDs ranging in capacity from 256GB to 2TB. SATA drives typically work with newer and legacy motherboards, and are adequate for most consumers. Users who are looking for super-fast performance should consider buying Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSDs to maximize booting and application speeds. Some older motherboards don't have Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) slots, so opt for an adapter to maximize the NVMe SSD transfer speeds on such boards. Regular 2.5-inch SSDs are fine if you have plenty of space in your tower, but space-saving M.2 drives are also available. Crucial SATA SSDs in the MX500 provides read speeds of up to 560MBps and write speeds of up to 560MBps. They are suitable for regular office PCs.
P1 Series NVMe SSDs with read speeds of up to 2,000 MBps and write speeds of up to 1700 MBps are a viable option for a gaming or creation rig. Enthusiasts seeking the ultimate in speed can invest in P5 Series products. These storage units clock in at speeds of up to 3,400 MBps read and 3,000 MBps write. You can also buy a Crucial portable SSD in the X8 Series. These external SSDs typically have USB 3.1 Gen-2 connections with sequential reads and writes of up to 1050MBps.
Crucial memory kit offerings cater to consumer, professional and gaming users. You can get Crucial desktop memory in a variety of form factors, including UDIMM, EUDIMM, RDIMM, LRDIMM, NVDIMM and ESODIM. Notebook owners looking for a memory upgrade should seek out SO-DIMM laptop memory modules that are compatible with notebook motherboards. RAM from Crucial is available for both PC and Mac. Crucial DDR3 memory and DDR2 chips range in capacity from 1 to 16GB with speeds of up to 1600MHz, and are adequate for standard computers.
For high performance, professional users and gamers can consider buying newer DDR4 chips with clock speeds of up to 4000MHz. Targeted towards gamers and creators, Ballistix Elite Series modules are available in kits ranging from 4 to 32GB. Gaming professionals who want to add a pop of color to their tower setup can check out vibrant red and gray modules in the Ballistix Sport Series. Ballistix MAX and Ballistix Tactical Tracer Series RAM chips boast RGB lights, and are a good choice for PCs with transparent side panels. Micron Series memory is ideal for RAM-hungry workstations and typically packs up to 64GB in a single module. Users shopping for networking needs should look out for specialty server memory modules.