The Crucial T700 sample in the lab today is the world’s fastest consumer SSD, at least so far, delivering up to 12.4 GB/s sequential throughput and 1.5 million random IOPS on a PCIe 5.0 interface. That’s 70% faster than today’s top PCIe 4.0 SSDs and 20% faster than current PCIe 5.0 drives.
The T700 is set to be the first in a new set of faster PCIe 5.0 SSDs, offering even better performance than we’ve seen with the first PCIe 5.0 SSDs we’ve previously covered. Phison E26 SSD controller previewThe T700 uses the Phison E26 SSD controller.This is a robust design used in some other 5.0 SSDs and a quick 232 layer TLC This will create the fastest SSD we have tested in our lab. Delivering this level of performance with passive cooling is impressive thanks to a well-designed heatsink, but if the heatsink is removed, the SSD also performs well on a motherboard that properly covers his M.2 heatsink. increase.
The drive is DirectStorage enabled for maximum performance in games that support this feature. Crucial provided an early T700 sample of his for testing. The drive will be available in the next few months (by the end of Q2). Let’s see what they look like when they arrive.
specification
| product | 1TB | 2TB | 4TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| price | to be decided | to be decided | to be decided |
| form factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| interface/protocol | PCIe5.0×4 | PCIe5.0×4 | PCIe5.0×4 |
| controller | Phison E26 | Phison E26 | Phison E26 |
| DRAM | LPDDR4 | LPDDR4 | LPDDR4 |
| flash memory | 232 layer micron TLC | 232 layer micron TLC | 232 layer micron TLC |
| Sequential read | 11,700MBps | 12,400MBps | 12,400MBps |
| Sequential write | 9,500MBps | 11,800MBps | 11,800MBps |
| random read | 1,350K | 1,500K | 1,500K |
| random write | 1,400K | 1,500K | 1,500K |
| safety | none | none | none |
| Endurance (TBW) | 600TB | 1,200TB | 2,400TB |
| part number | – | – | – |
| guarantee | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
The Crucial T700 delivers up to 12.4 / 11.8 GBps of sequential read/write throughput on 2TB+ models and 1.5/1.5 million IOPS for random read/write workloads (1TB models are slightly slower). The drives are available in 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacities, and pricing is yet to be determined. Crucial backs the drive with a 5-year warranty and an endurance of 600 TB of writes per 1 TB of capacity.
The drive supports AES-256 encryption and TCG Opal 2.01 including cryptographic erase (TCG OPAL was not implemented at the time of testing). Crucial has made other optimizations as well, but the drive we’re testing is considered an engineering sample (ES), so the firmware isn’t final. Crucial expects to improve performance on random write workloads in the future.
Software and accessories
Crucial offers its own Crucial Storage Executive SSD Toolbox with the common features you’d expect. This utility includes drive information, SMART attributes, firmware updates, secure erase/sanitize, over-provisioning, and other features related to encryption. The T700 is not explicitly supported on his Crucial website, but that could change once the drive arrives at retailers. Third-party software such as CloneZilla is recommended for cloning and imaging.
look carefully
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The T700 may or may not come with a heatsink, depending on your needs. If your motherboard already has enough M.2 heatsinks, or if you want to install your own solution, you can choose a bare drive. If so, the drive has a copper thermal label that is not meant to be peeled off. This SSD is not intended for use without a heatsink, such as in a laptop or PlayStation 5.
The default model comes with a pyramidal central T-pose heatsink designed to cool the drive without active cooling. The heatsink is constructed from multiple materials and has air channels to maximize heat dissipation via airflow within the case. SSD components (SSD controller, NAND flash, power management integrated circuit (PMIC), and voltage regulator) are in good contact with the heatsink through thermal materials. The backside of the heatsink is nickel-plated copper that provides support and heat spreading, while the top is aluminum with a significant surface area for heat dissipation.
All T700 models are double-sided, two NAND packages per side, four total. On top of the SSD is the required SSD controller package and a single DRAM package.
The Phison E26 is the first consumer grade PCIe 5.0 SSD controller on the market. We previously did preview testing of engineering samples and now a number of drives are arriving with this controller. This controller has DirectStorage optimized firmware. previewed Before official release. Its firmware is already embedded in one PCIe 4.0 SSD. Safe Rocket 4 Plus G.
The Inland TD510 has been around for a while, so the T700 isn’t the first PCIe 5.0 SSD on the market. The T700 is also not the first to be announced under a big brand name, as you can see with the Corsair MP700. It can reach up to 12.4 GBps for read workloads. This contrasts with the 1600 MT/s flash used in his early E26 SSD, which is limited to around 10 GBps. The E26 controller supports flashes up to 2400 MT/s. This gives an upper limit of about 15 GBps. But so far the T700 is the fastest.
The T700 has a DRAM identified as D7CJG, which means it’s LPDDR4 in a 1G x 32b configuration. LPDDR4 is more power efficient than DDR4 memory (the advantage of LPDDR4X is Lexar Professional NM800 Pro review).
In this configuration, we have 4 GB of DRAM against 2 TB of NAND, just like the E26 preview. There may be a reason for such a high memory-to-flash ratio, but you should check how much is used in other capacities.
The 232-layer Micron TLC (B58R) flash occupies the mantle of Micron’s highly successful 176-layer TLC (B47R). Micron went from 4 planes to 6 planes and made other improvements to speed up multiplane operations for better internal parallelism. Moving beyond 512Gb (64GB) to 1Tb (128GB) is also an important capacity consideration. Bigger die, more storage.
Higher die density also means fewer dies are required, so less relative parallelism for the same capacity. This is mitigated to some extent by internal parallelization or increased planes. The T700 can reach peak performance at 2 TB like older PCIe 4.0 SSDs, but could go even better at 4 TB depending on multiplanar optimizations. TLC flash performance during sustained write workloads may also improve without a corresponding read latency improvement, but independent plane advancements should improve overall read performance.
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