Crucial T710 2TB SSD Review: A Subdued Lion

Crucial continues to be a pioneer in the high-end SSD space with the introduction of the T710, the presumed successor to the once 'fastest SSD on the planet,' the T705. How could that drive possibly be one-upped by Crucial, and is the new drive able to retake the crown from the recent and celebrated Sandisk WD_Black SN8100? The T710 certainly has a surprise or two up its sleeve, but as we’ll find out, it’s not exactly a dragon slayer.

Crucial has taken its high-end T705 design and improved on it with better hardware; in this case, a newer, more efficient controller and a newer generation of TLC flash. As the previous-gen T710 was already pushing the limits of the PCIe 5.0 interface, we can’t expect much. Performance is, in fact, relatively similar between the two, although the T710 is, on paper, the fastest 1TB drive available. Improvements come, instead, in the way of much improved power efficiency, which also means significantly less heat output. This is a blessing for laptop and HTPC users in particular.

It’s well-known that high-end PCIe 5.0 drives pull a lot of power, to the point that active cooling was recommended for the earliest solutions. With firmware maturity and an air-cooled environment, a passive heatsink was, in most cases, more than sufficient. However, the use of the drive without a heatsink was essentially prohibited. This has changed with the advent of newer, more efficient controller technology, and the T710 is the pinnacle of this development. This is good news for enthusiasts with workstations, content creators, and others who want the fastest storage possible without the normal downsides.

That doesn’t mean the T710 is perfect or for everyone who wants a high-end PCIe 5.0 solution. There are faster and less expensive options that achieve the same goal. Those on tighter budgets will likely want to look elsewhere as well. But it’s a compelling drive that aptly carves out its own niche.

Crucial T710 Specifications

The Crucial T710 is available at 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB with MSRPs at $179.99, $279.99, and $549.99. For $20 more, you get a heatsink, which is recommended for a PCIe 5.0 performance SSD. Crucial has opted out of offering a lower capacity option, which would not be able to realize the full performance of the SSD controller, and a higher capacity, which would be quite expensive and has proven difficult to achieve at this performance level. These prices are reasonable when compared to competing drives, but they are quite high when compared to PCIe 4.0 drives that offer a similar experience for most users.

The T710 is rated for up to 14,900/13,800 MB/s for sequential reads and writes, and up to 2,200K/2,300 K IOPS for random reads and writes. The 1TB SKU has a higher sequential read rating than the 2TB and 4TB, which is different from the Sandisk WD_Black SN8100 using the same controller. Additionally, the T710 has a significantly higher sequential write speed than the WD_Black SN8100 at 1TB. This is due to a difference in flash – Micron’s TLC flash uses six planes for the T710, with greater internal parallelization, while the BiCS8 TLC on the WD_Black SN8100 is four-plane with generally better latency. This means that if you are specifically looking at a 1TB solution that you should opt for the T710 to maximize potential throughput.

Crucial backs the T710 with a standard five-year, 600TB of writes per TB capacity warranty. The drive supports encryption under the TCG Opal 2.01 specification.

Crucial T710 Software and Accessories

Crucial offers two primary pieces of software for the T710: Acronis and the Crucial Storage Executive. The first is a well-known cloning and backup application that is offered by multiple SSD manufacturers. If you would rather use a non-OEM, universal program, we recommend MultiDrive or Clonezilla. The second piece of software is Crucial’s SSD toolbox, an all-in-one solution that helps you track drive health and control drive features. For general drive information, we recommend CrystalDiskInfo.

Crucial T710: A Closer Look

The Crucial T710 is a single-sided drive, which means it should be compatible with more systems and can be easier to cool. Due to its increased power efficiency, it should be suitable for use in laptops. Running this drive in a Gen 4 / PCIe 4.0 slot will reduce its bandwidth potential, but the drive will otherwise be fast and even more power efficient. This makes it an option for future-proofing regardless of the system you’re using it in, although we would recommend something less expensive for the PlayStation 5. If using the drive in a desktop, we recommend going for the heatsink version of the drive.

The T710 is using Silicon Motion’s SM2508 controller, also used in the excellent Sandisk WD_Black SN8100, which has proven to be powerful and very efficient. In particular, this is a worthwhile change from early adopter Phison E26-based drives, such as the Crucial T705, which suffered from poor power efficiency, especially at idle. The T710 also utilizes LPDDR4 for its DRAM cache, which may provide a slight power efficiency boost to the drive compared to the WD_Black SN8100’s DDR4. We also tested this controller with LPDDR4 but older 232-Layer Micron TLC flash in our Acer Predator GM9000 review.

The choice in flash is an important consideration with a drive of this caliber and should factor into your decision of what drive to get. The GM9000, with its older flash, is likely to be less expensive while providing the bulk of the Gen 5 benefits. The T710, with newer Micron TLC flash, has potentially higher bandwidth potential – especially at 1TB – and better power efficiency. The WD_Black SN8100, using BiCS8 TLC, offers the best latencies. If you want to save money and don’t need to worry about power efficiency, then the T705 remains a good choice.

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