Klevv CRAS C925 SSD Review: Competent but uninspiring

We’re happy to have another Klevv SSD come across our desk, as this is a growing brand that brings more SK hynix flash into the market. We’re still waiting for the Platinum P51, but today we can look at its flash as the same NAND gets used on the CRAS C925. As with the CRAS C930, this gives us a chance to put different hardware through its paces to get an idea of how it fares. This is especially true with a drive like this, as it fits into the all-popular “budget” PCIe 4.0 SSD category, which is probably the highest-selling area for upgrades and new builds.

Klevv is an odd name with the double V at the end, and it's a bit of a strange brand as well. In reality, it’s just part of the SK Group — a group which includes SK hynix — with a focus on retail drives. Klevv is known for its “strictly-selected 3D NAND flash,” which some observers might take to mean it’s a variable-hardware SSD in disguise. In reality, Klevv not only states that the C925 is using TLC flash but strictly-selected in this case means SK hynix flash. This is unique in that such flash is not commonly found in other NVMe SSDs and, when it is, it’s usually an older generation of flash. Klevv has access to more or less contemporary flash and this helps the brand stand out a bit.

As for the controller, Klevv isn’t using an in-house drive like many of SK hynix’s most popular drives, such as the Gold P31 and Platinum P41. Most recently, Klevv has been moving towards Maxiotech and the C925 is using the MAP1602 controller. This controller is well-known in storage circles as a popular high-end DRAM-less solution. That means it does technically lean budget, but it’s almost always found with Chinese YMTC flash. When we reviewed the C930 — a drive with the InnoGrit IG5236 controller, which is normally paired with Micron flash — we basically came to the conclusion that the Klevv drive was capable but didn’t really bring anything new to the table. It’s hard not to feel the same about the C925.

This drive is rare in that its street pricing is reasonable right out of the gate, at least for the 1TB model. Too often drives have an unreasonably high MSRP and then even the street prices are too high for what the drive delivers. The C925 knows what it is and is priced appropriately. Except we can't find retail pricing for the 2TB drive that we're reviewing — it's supposed to be priced around $100–$110, and would compete with drives using the same MAP1602 controller but with YMTC TLC, like the Silicon Power US75 2TB. The 2TB model is not currently in stock at Amazon or elsewhere, however.

The C925 could be a decent choice for a one-size-fits-all drive, as its relatively decent power efficiency makes it fit for any type of system. It’s probably best as a secondary games or storage drive on a desktop PC, but would work in a PS5 or as the primary drive in a laptop. The included heatspreader is also a nice touch since it’s useful for this controller in any environment. It’s just that the drive itself doesn’t really stand out and this flash doesn’t match the controller particularly well, so you have to manage your expectations from this decidedly budget SSD. The one exception would be for enthusiasts who take a drive’s TBW into consideration, in which case the C925 does stand out from the pack with its high write endurance rating.

The Klevv CRAS C925 is theoretically available at 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB for $46.99, $66.99, and $107.99, respectively. This pricing is a refreshing change of pace as most drives we review are overpriced by MSRP or street price. You can certainly do better with careful shopping, but these prices are good enough to keep the C925 on your list if you’re not looking for anything special. But while the 500GB and 1TB models can be found, the 2TB is currently out of stock (or really never in stock, according to Amazon).

The C925 can reach up to 7,400 / 6,500 MB/s for sequential reads and writes and up to 700K / 1000K random read and write IOPS. This is pretty standard for a PCIe 4.0 SSD of this class. Where the drive isn’t standard is with the rated write endurance — the five-year warranty includes coverage of writes up to 1,200TB per TB capacity. This is double the normal value, but we emphasize that TBW is usually not that meaningful. Still, if it’s something you look at then the C925 is high for its range.

Klevv CRAS C925 Software and Accessories

You might be surprised to learn that Klevv does offer application support for its SSDs. This comes in the form of an SSD toolbox and, for data migration, Acronis True Image. The SSD toolbox shows SSD health information, including SMART, allows for optimization a.k.a. TRIM, and lets you secure erase the drive. True Image is useful for backing up your data when upgrading to a new SSD.

Klevv CRAS C925: A Closer Look

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Addressing the box first, it describes the C925 as being NVMe 1.4 compliant but the updated data sheet indicates 2.0. We can confirm this by checking the controller revision, as the MAP1602A-F3C is NVMe 2.0 compliant. Regardless, this has no impact on consumer use and can be essentially ignored.

Moving on to something more important, the C925 comes with an installable heatspreader. This adds an additional 1.25mm to the drive’s height which should not be an issue for most laptops and portable devices. It’s probably worth installing as the Maxio MAP1602 controller is known to act as a hotspot and spreading this heat to the flash during operation is a win-win.

The C925’s layout is nothing special, although spacing out the flash in this manner could be beneficial for cooling, especially with the applied heatspreader. We’ve seen plenty of drives using this controller in the past with a variety of flash. The C925’s SK hynix flash is unique, though. We’ve seen SK hynix flash on the Klevv CRAS C930, which makes sense as Klevv is part of the SK Group, but that was using 176-Layer (V7) TLC flash while the C925 appears to be using the newer 238-Layer (V8) variant.

This flash is expected to be used in SK hynix’s upcoming Platinum P51, so it's fairly cutting-edge. There isn’t a huge amount of information available on this flash’s characteristics, but it shares some similarities to Samsung’s 236-Layer TLC flash that's used in the 4TB 990 Pro. That is, it has four planes rather than the six that Micron’s 232-Layer flash has, and it also has a higher layer count than Kioxia’s BiCS8.

It’s not using any sort of wafer bonding, which is utilized in many other MAP1602-based drives like the Lexar NM790 with 232-Layer YMTC flash. On the whole, this means the flash is capable but doesn’t seem to have any characteristics that would help it stand out on paper. Our testing supports this conclusion but we expect this flash would be better when paired with a controller optimized for it.

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