Seagate FireCuda 540 2TB Gen 5 SSD Review

The latest SSD drive from storage giants Seagate is their first Gen 5 offering, the FireCuda 540. The drive takes over flagship duties from the Gen 4 FireCuda 530 and is, needless to say, (at the time of writing) the fastest Seagate consumer drive.

Seagate's FireCuda 540 uses the same controller/NAND combination as the other three Gen 5 drives we've tested; Phsion S5026-E26 controller and 232-Layer Micron B58R TLC NAND, with Seagate paying close attention to the controller firmware. The E26 supports NAND data transfer speeds of up to 2,400 MT/s but Seagate have chosen to run the NAND at 1,600MT/s, hence the 10,000MB/s Sequential speed ratings. Running at this speed offers a better balance of performance and thermal control which is especially important as the drive doesn't come with a heatsink.

At launch, the FireCuda 540 range consists of just two models, 1TB and 2TB with a 4TB drive an option some time in the future.

Seagate rates the Sequential performance of the 2TB FireCuda 540 as up to 10,000MB/s for both reads and writes. Using the ATTO benchmark we couldn't quite get to the maximum Sequential figures with test results of 8,960MB/s for reads and 9,500MB/s for writes. Switching over to the CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we could confirm the official figure with test results of 10,076MB/s for reads and 10,194MB/s for writes.

As for random performance Seagate quotes figures of up to 1,490K IOPS for reads and up to 1,500K IOPS for writes. Using our normal four-threaded tests we couldn't get close to these figures with test results of 512,320 IOPS and 487,369 IOPS for reads and writes respectively. Once again switching to the CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark confirms the official figures. Using the Peak Performance profile we saw a best test result of 1,493,269 IOPS for reads and 1,675,256 IOPS for writes.

One thing to remember if using this drive is that it needs some form of motherboard cooling or dedicated heatsink. There is a warning sticker on the back of the box on this very point.

Seagate has used its experience in the enterprise SSD sphere to provide the FireCuda 540 with class-leading endurance figures. The 2TB drive has a 2,000TB TBW (works out a rewriting 1TB of data for the length of the 5-year warranty) rating which is 600TBW more than its nearest competitor. Not only does Seagate back the drive with a 5-year warranty you also get three years of their Rescue Data Recovery Services.

We found the 2TB Seagate FireCuda 540 on Overclockers for £299.99 (inc VAT) HERE

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Pros

• Fast performance.
• Rescue Data Recovery Services included.
• Endurance.

Cons

• Needs a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot to get the best out of it.
• Some form of extra cooling is required.

KitGuru says: Seagate's new flagship consumer SSD is a fast-performing drive that comes with excellent endurance and three years of the company's Rescue Data Recovery Services bundled with it. Just remember it needs some form of cooling to keep it happy.

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