CONCLUSION

   Even though Crucial still all but leads the Gen5 M.2 NVMe market right now with their T700 drives they didn’t release a significantly fast Gen4 model and that’s what the T500 line aims to do. Of course, with all the recent Gen4 drives using MaXio and Innogrit NAND controller it does make sense that Crucial would use something better and well, the PS5025-E25 model by PHISON seems to be just that (and as expected since it’s a cut-down version of their Gen5 E26 controller). So, in terms of performance the T500 does very well across the board. Yes, it’s neither the fastest or the most durable Gen4 SSD currently in the market (although a TBW of 1200 for the 2TB variant is more than plenty for normal workloads) but it’s also DirectStorage compatible and overall, I had no complaints during testing. As expected, the large heatsink all but eliminates thermal issues (even during almost the entire duration of my SNIA tests) and let’s not forget that it’s also PS5 compatible. Unlike previous reviews due to a flash drive error (and no time to take screenshots again) this time over I didn’t cover Crucial’s storage executive software (you can check it in my T700 review) which is obviously one of the best SSD toolkits out there.

   With a current price tag set at USD159.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 177.13Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the T500 2TB Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD with heatsink from Crucial is priced just about right, especially on the other side of the Atlantic. Once again, I don’t have any complaints from the brand new T500 SSD by Crucial (at least aside the lack of capacities over 2TB, for now anyways). Yes, I do feel that it’s a drive they should had released like a year ago (alas with a different controller, again by PHISON) but it does deliver where it counts and for that it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Quality
- Very Good Performance
- Large Heatsink (PS5 Compatible)
- DirectStorage Improvements
- Storage Executive Software
- Good Durability (1200 TBW / 2.000.000 MTBF)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (USA)

CONS

- Price (EU)
- Available Capacities