Crucial T710 2TB NVMe SSD Review: Speed Tested
▼ Summary
– The Crucial T710 SSD uses Micron’s proprietary 276-layer 3D TLC NAND and Silicon Motion SM2508 controller to challenge Sandisk’s SN8100 in the PCIe 5.0 market.
– It delivers near-top-tier performance with read speeds of 14,145 MB/s and write speeds of 13,181 MB/s, though it slightly trails the SN8100 in sequential and 4K read performance.
– The T710 operates significantly cooler than the SN8100, maintaining temperatures 5 degrees lower under identical testing conditions.
– As Micron’s consumer brand, Crucial benefits from in-house NAND production, eliminating middleman costs and enabling aggressive pricing strategies.
– The T710’s competitive pricing has driven down costs across the SSD market, including forcing a 22% price drop on the SN8100 within weeks of its launch.
The Crucial T710 2TB NVMe SSD delivers outstanding performance and value, positioning itself as a serious contender in the competitive PCIe 5.0 storage market. By leveraging Micron’s advanced in-house technology, this drive offers near-top-tier speeds at a surprisingly accessible price, all while maintaining impressive thermal efficiency.
This drive represents a direct challenge to established leaders like the Sandisk SN8100, which has dominated the high-performance SSD space in recent months. While the SN8100 still holds a slight performance edge, the T710 narrows the gap significantly, making it a compelling alternative for enthusiasts and gamers seeking premium speed without the premium cost.
Crucial benefits from its relationship with Micron, one of the world’s leading memory manufacturers. This connection allows the brand to utilize proprietary NAND flash directly, eliminating middlemen and reducing production costs. The result is a drive that not only performs exceptionally but also arrives at a price point that pressures the entire market.
Under the hood, the T710 employs the Silicon Motion SM2508 controller, an eight-channel design built on TSMC’s 6 nm process. This hardware is paired with Micron’s 276-layer 3D TLC NAND, the company’s densest and fastest memory to date. This combination enables sustained read speeds up to 14,500 MB/s and write speeds of 13,800 MB/s, placing it among the fastest consumer SSDs available.
Benchmark results confirm the T710’s capabilities. It achieved sequential read speeds of 14,145 MB/s and writes of 13,181 MB/s in testing. Random 4K performance is also strong, with write speeds reaching 354 MB/s, among the highest recorded. However, its 4K read speed of 104 MB/s falls slightly short of the SN8100, and overall sequential performance trails by about 5–6%.
In real-world gaming tests, the T710 posted a load time of 6.834 seconds in Final Fantasy XIV, a blistering result that nonetheless lags behind the SN8100’s 6.509 seconds. Similar margins appeared in 3DMark’s storage benchmark, where latency gave Sandisk’s drive a clear advantage.
Where the T710 truly shines is in thermal management. Even under elevated ambient temperatures, it ran 5 degrees cooler than the SN8100 during identical stress tests. This efficiency ensures consistent performance during extended use, a critical factor for demanding applications and gaming sessions.
Perhaps the most significant impact of the T710 is its effect on pricing. At $230 for the 2TB model, it matches the SN8100’s current street price, which has dropped from $280 since its release. This aggressive pricing strategy benefits consumers across the board, driving down costs for PCIe 5.0, PCIe 4.0, and even budget drives as manufacturers adjust to remain competitive.
For those seeking flagship performance without the flagship price, the Crucial T710 is an excellent choice. It offers exceptional speed, cool operation, and outstanding value. However, if every fraction of a second counts and budget is no concern, the SN8100 remains the performance king, for now.
(Source: pcgamer)
