Crucial T700 2TB SSD Review

The latest Gen 5 SSD to enter the fray is also the fastest seen to date. Aimed at professionals, gamers and enthusiasts, Crucial's T700 comes with read and write ratings of 12,400MB/s and 11,800MB/s respectively. The drive is built around Phison's PS5026-E26 8-channel controller and Micron's own 232-layer 3D TLC NAND running at 2000MT/s.

Crucial's T700 model lineup comprises three capacities; 1TB, 2TB and 4TB and is available in two guises, one with a heatsink, and one without. As noted above the 2TB and 4TB are rated at up to 12,400MB/s and 11,800MB/s for read and writes respectively. The 1TB drive is rated as up to 11,700MB/s for reads and up to 9,500MB/s. Random performance is quoted as up to 1,350,000 IOPS for reads and up to 1,400,000 IOPS for the 1TB model. Both the 2TB and 4TB models are rated as up to 1,500,000 IOPS for read and writes.

Using the ATTO benchmark we couldn't quite get to the maximum Sequential figures with test results of 11,000MB/s for reads and 11,003MB/s for writes. However, using the default CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we could confirm the official Sequential figures with test results of 12,402MB/s for reads and 11,821MB/s for writes.

As for random performance, using the Peak Performance profile of the CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we could confirm the official maximum IOPS figure of 1,500,000 IOPS for read and writes with test results of 1,572,724 IOPS for reads and 1,660,353 IOPS for writes.

One thing to remember if you decide on the non-heatsink version of the drive you must use it with a motherboard heatsink to keep it cool, in fact, there is a warning on the back of the box on this very point. The drive has been designed to start throttling back if it goes above 81° C and will thermally shut down at 90° C.  To give an idea of just how important it is to use cooling with the drive, we tried running the ATTO benchmark on it without using the motherboard heatsink. In a couple of minutes the drive hit 81° C and started to throttle back almost instantly, reads dropping from 9GB/s to 5.5GB/s and writes falling from 11GB/s to 7.6GB/s. Under the motherboard heatsink, the hottest the drive got during an ATTO run was 45° C with an average temp of 35° C.

Crucial's T700 is the fastest Gen 5 drive and the fastest consumer SSD we've seen to date, and as such it tops most of our result charts. But it comes with quite a price tag and needs attention paid to keeping it cool.

We found the 2TB Crucial T700 on Crucial's website for £329.99 (inc VAT) HERE.

Pros

• Extremely fast Sequential performance.
• PCIe 5.0 interface.

Cons

• Needs a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot to get the best out of it.
• Must be used with motherboard cooling.
• Pricey.

KitGuru says: Crucial's T700 drive is the fastest consumer SSD we've seen to date and offers a glimpse at the sort of performance that may be to come in the coming months from Gen 5 drives. But, and it's an important but, the standard T700 must be used with some form of motherboard cooling.

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