Crucial T710 2 TB

[W1zzard]

The Crucial T710 PCIe 5.0 SSD is built using the new Silicon Motion SM2508 controller paired with Micron's new 276-layer 3D TLC NAND flash. This is a winning combo, which makes the SSD the fastest drive we have ever tested. Energy efficiency is also improved over SSDs using the Phison E26 controller.

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[Kwadratowicz]

It's nice and all but i'm curious if there are interesting hdd there anywhere, cause ssd is here, but it's more and more pricier(like 140usd per TB for me is outrageous) , so it could be that next drive that I'm planning to buy would be hdd, and If You considered to review hdd, or made a comparison between hdd and ssd in 2025?
Cause after gaming on sata ssd for around 1 month I don't see much decrease in performance vs nvme on pcie 3.0.

 

[Grimling]

in practicality, all the gen5 drives are not that much faster that a good gen4 drive in real life application. but they consume much more power and they are getting very hot. so i personally do not see any reason to buy them, especially if they are more expensive.

 

[Chomiq]

Cause after gaming on sata ssd for around 1 month I don't see much decrease in performance vs nvme on pcie 3.0.

That's because Direct Storage isn't really implemented in any meaningful way. But if you look at access times, read and write performance you'd quickly realize why using HDD for gaming isn't a thing in 2025. They are good for one thing only now - mass storage, nothing else.

 

[Ten Shin Han]

I have 2 x Crucial T705 4 TB (https://www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/crucial-t705-4-tb.d1926), and I am happy with them.

But I am confused by this statement in this review:

"Crucial's sticker is just a plastic sticker, there is no metal core, which could otherwise help to dissipate heat."

Does it mean the sticker should be removed (without warranty loss ?) for better heat dissipation ?

Please advise.

 

[chrcoluk]

in practicality, all the gen5 drives are not that much faster that a good gen4 drive in real life application. but they consume much more power and they are getting very hot. so i personally do not see any reason to buy them, especially if they are more expensive.

This is why I want to see them tested on a gen 4 system, at least in terms of the power and temperature tests.

 

[W1zzard]

Does it mean the sticker should be removed (without warranty loss ?) for better heat dissipation ?

No sticker at all has (slightly) worse thermal properties than the sticker. Reworded my text a little bit, maybe that helps

 

[_roman_]

Very dissapointing. It'S nice to see DRAM, the PCIE 5.0 sticker is not justified or needed. The power consumption makes this drive even worse.

Such labels should be put on the empty backside or somewhere else where they do not impact the drive. I never saw such criticism in the first place.
the label is just an insulator and has it's purpose to hide the chip names behind it.

 

[b1k3rdude]

"Crucial's sticker is just a plastic sticker, there is no metal core, so the thermal properties are slightly worse than a sticker with a metal core."
I dont dont get why manufactures do this, I would use a hair dryer to gentrly remove it and store with the packaging.

Now this is what I am talking about, reads that have finally cracked the 100MB/s mark. And it seems to sustain is max througput for longer than my Rrock4plus.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

That's because Direct Storage isn't really implemented in any meaningful way. But if you look at access times, read and write performance you'd quickly realize why using HDD for gaming isn't a thing in 2025. They are good for one thing only now - mass storage, nothing else.

Even then, using HDD's is debatable, too expensive for what they bring to the table.

 

[csendesmark]

Looks like a great drive for OS!

 

[Makaveli]

Even then, using HDD's is debatable, too expensive for what they bring to the table.

nah they are perfect for Storage.

I removed all HDD's from my desktop rig in 2019 and only use them in my NAS now.

 

[mechtech]

nah they are perfect for Storage.

I removed all HDD's from my desktop rig in 2019 and only use them in my NAS now.

Same

Where are all the affordable 8TB nvmes?!?!

 

[dyonoctis]

Same

Where are all the affordable 8TB nvmes?!?!

Capitalism won't make that a reality for a few looong years. Prices dropped in 2023, until SSD makers realised that they didn't needed a price drop to sell them. The prices have been fairly stable since mid 2023 to now. 2TB will stay the mainstream sweetspot for a while

 

[mechtech]

Capitalism won't make that a reality for a few looong years. Prices dropped in 2023, until SSD makers realised that they didn't needed a price drop to sell them. The prices have been fairly stable since mid 2023 to now. 2TB will stay the mainstream sweetspot for a while

Looking like it will never happen..............can barely even find an 8TB nvme................the WB black is now the exception so I guess that's a start.

Just sad when one can buy four 2TB nvme's for less than a single 8TB nvme, 4x the controllers, 4x the ram, 4x PCBs, etc.

 

[Nikson]

A comparison with the WD 8100 would be interesting... We are waiting....

 

[_roman_]

I wonder how many controllers are out there who can handle 8GB or 16Gb nvme on a single 2280 nvme

 

[Chrispy_]

All gen5 drives run too hot, and don't raise the bar for IOPS or access latency, which seems to be the bottleneck for the vast majority of situations these days.

However, if I was in the market for a Gen5 I would probably be looking at the Kioxia Exceria Plus G4, or something else with Phison's E31 in it. Sure, it's peak sequential writes are lower than the competition at "only" 9GB/s but it's doing that for a little over 4W which means it shouldn't really throttle with your motherboard's provided M.2 heatsink. Phison E26 and SM2508 drives are basically perma-throttling with your typical motherboard heatsink so they're non-viable for laptops, and only usable in desktops if you have enough physical space to mount a large active cooler to them. Without that heatsink they're worse than several Gen4 drives that can avoid throttling even as completely bare drives!

A comparison with the WD 8100 would be interesting... We are waiting....

Same controller, so same disappointingly-hot result that cannot be used at full speed without a massive cooler strapped to it. Reviews elsewhere paint the SN8100 as fast, but strong caveats on both price and temperature as you'd expect.

 

[InVasMani]

Gen 5 just isn't worth it yet for the average consumer given the temperature, power, and relative performance difference between it and Gen 4 that doesn't have the same temperature and power issues while being overall more affordable by no small amount. It feels like they've focused too heavily on the performance side which still isn't showing much practical upside while power and temperature is still too much of a issue for Gen 5. I guess it'll take another year or two of maturity to really start to hit it's stride finally and even them the uplift will be a bit muted, but at least the other issues might be better resolved.

 

[chrcoluk]

nah they are perfect for Storage.

I removed all HDD's from my desktop rig in 2019 and only use them in my NAS now.

My PC will eventually be all NAND but it will be over time, for me it is if a HDD fails or I remove for any other natural reason, it will be replaced with a NAND drive. NAS is my main mass storage. If there was 8TB NVME it may have already been done. editing my specs, as I did already do a replacement but not edited

 

[RogueSix]

I'm slightly surprised about the thermal throttling because the WD Black SN8100 with the same SM2508 controller has not exposed such behavior even with no heatsink at all in other reviews. Maybe the Micron NAND somehow stresses the controller more than the Kioxia NAND?

If I had to buy a PCIe 5.0 SSD right now then I would definitely go with the WD Black SN 8100 as it seems to offer the best overall package in terms of performance and efficiency. I hope TPU will get to review the SN 8100 soon, too, and if it turns out to be the winner here as well like on other tech sites (The SSD Review even called it the Optane Slayer and TweakTown at least gave it credit for Approaching Optane).

 

[chrcoluk]

I'm slightly surprised about the thermal throttling because the WD Black SN8100 with the same SM2508 controller has not exposed such behavior even with no heatsink at all in other reviews. Maybe the Micron NAND somehow stresses the controller more than the Kioxia NAND?

If I had to buy a PCIe 5.0 SSD right now then I would definitely go with the WD Black SN 8100 as it seems to offer the best overall package in terms of performance and efficiency. I hope TPU will get to review the SN 8100 soon, too, and if it turns out to be the winner here as well like on other tech sites (The SSD Review even called it the Optane Slayer and TweakTown at least gave it credit for Approaching Optane).

Could also be firmware differences.

 

[Gucky]

So you need a FBH (f..ing big heatsink) to effectively use it 100% all the time.

 

[pabzab]

Do you think there is any real world difference for gaming and photoshop between my 970evo plus (gen3) and a gen 4 for me ? I’m using b550 chipset.
I load game almost as fast as my colleague using gen5 (the finals using ue5) he has something like one second of advance on me.
I feel like any gen 4 and gen 5 are not worth for people already on gen 3.

 

[W1zzard]

he has something like one second of advance on me

There's your real world difference, it's small, but definitely there. Up to you to decide how much it is worth to you