Crucial's new T705 SSD certainly looks impressive on paper: it claims to be 25x faster than SATA and almost 2x faster than Crucial's fastest Gen4 SSD, with sequential reads/writes up to 14,500/12,700MB/s.
The drive, which is available in capacities up to 4TB, is designed with Micron's 232-layer TLC NAND3 and is compatible with 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core desktop CPUs and AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs. Features Additional features include an aluminum and copper heat sink, adaptive thermal protection, and hardware encryption for storage security.
If you've had your eye on the SSD since it was announced, the good news is that early reviews are out and it's just as impressive as you'd expect, but with some major caveats.
Fast, but expensive
serve the homeThe review reveals the exceptional performance of the Crucial T705, stating that it is “right at the limits of what a PCIe Gen 5 x4 link can support.” The review notes that the SSD's performance in the tests was “the best sequential read and write performance” the reviewer has ever seen, despite a slight drop in sequential write speed in the larger CrystalDiskMark test. The review concludes by saying that the T705 “is in a class by itself” and is a “serious contender” for anyone who wants the fastest SSD available.
PC world expressed the same opinion, stating that the T705 is “reserved” in terms of performance. He highlighted that while the unit “posted some eye-catching numbers in benchmarks, these don't always translate to the real world. A lot depends on your system and CPU,” although he praised the “glorious sequential results” of the synthetic benchmarks. . He summed up the review of it like this: “If you want the absolute best performance out of your PCIe 5.0 system, then yes, the T705 is the best.”
Tom Hardware had more reservations, stating that while the T705 is “the fastest SSD on the planet,” it “comes with a hefty price tag.” He also noted that “the T705 may be a suitable upgrade from a SATA or PCIe 3.0 SSD, sure, but right now PCIe 4.0 SSDs make more sense for most users.” If you're still considering purchasing it, the site warns: “Even with the rising prices of SSD and NAND flash drives, the low gigabytes per dollar factor here is quite disappointing. “You will have to pay a high price for cutting-edge SSD performance.”
hot hardwareThe review gushed that “All in all, the Crucial T705 is the best-performing consumer SSD we've ever tested.” Like the other reviews, he agrees that “the only real downsides to the Crucial T705 are the price and the requirement for adequate cooling,” although he notes that the latter shouldn't be a problem “in any properly configured enthusiast class.” “. system, which is where the T705 belongs.” He ends on a very positive note: “Ultimately, if you're building a high-end system and want the fastest M.2 SSD you can buy, right now the Crucial T705 is the one for you.”
TweakTown He was also very impressed, stating that “the T705 is the ultimate enthusiast storage platform, delivering the most where it matters most.” Backing up that claim with its test scores, the site said: “We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience as expressed by PCMark 10 Storage and 3DMark Gaming Storage tests. We consider a user experience score of 15K or higher to verify that an SSD is a TweakTown Elite performer. Crucial's 2TB T705 is the first flash-based SSD of any type, retail or ES, to cross the 22,900 plateau. Epic.”
If you are excited to buy Crucial's T705 SSD, you can purchase it here. The 1TB model costs $259.99 with a heatsink, or $239.99 without. The price goes up to $439.99 (with) or $399.99 (without) for the 2TB model, and then jumps to $729.99 (with) or $713.99 (without) for the 4TB model.