KITGURU SHORTLISTS: THE BEST SOLID STATE DRIVE OF 2024

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. The 2TB and 4TB are rated at up to 12,400MB/s and 11,800MB/s for read and writes respectively.  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.

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.

Motherboard manufacturers have been proudly boasting about having motherboards with PCIe 5.0 supporting M.2 slots for a while without there actually being anything remotely Gen5 to stick in them. Well all that changes with the launch of Gigabyte's AORUS Gen5 10000 SSD. What's with the "10000" part of the name you might ask, ah well that's the official maximum Sequential read rating for the drive, well for the 2TB drive to be exact, 10,000MB/s.

Corsair is back with an even faster Gen5 SSD - we put it through its paces today

At launch the KC3000 line-up consists of four capacities; the entry-level 512GB, 1TB, 2TB (the drive we are reviewing) and the flagship, 4TB model. With the new 176-layer NAND being able to run at the E18's top 1,600 MT/s transfer rate, the KC3000 comes with an impressive set of performance figures. All four drives in the range are rated up to 7,000MB/s for Sequential reads with Sequential writes varying with capacity.