INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Unlike PCIe 3.0 Gen3 and 4.0 Gen4 based M.2 NVMe solid state drives PCIe 5.0 Gen5 models have faced serious thermal issues from the very start and was obviously something many of us expected. This was of course due to the extraordinary read & write speeds the PCIe 5.0 interface was able to deliver making it impossible for the NAND controller (primarily) to keep cool even with a large M.2 heatsink over it. Yes, going from 2000-25000MB/s (Gen3 SSDs) to 5000-7500MB/s (Gen4 SSDs) wasn't easy either (which is why Gen4 drives came in two waves) but surpassing the 10000MB/s (10GB/s) barrier (with over 12GB/s being the end goal) was clearly something entirely different. So, just like with Gen4 drives Gen5 ones will also be coming out in waves and after reviewing the T700 model with heatsink by Crucial today with me i have the T705 model with heatsink.

    We are an industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions, transforming how the world uses information to enrich life for all. With a relentless focus on our customers, technology leadership and manufacturing and operational excellence, Micron delivers a rich portfolio of high-performance DRAM, NAND and NOR memory and storage products through our Micron® and Crucial® brands. Every day, the innovations that our people create fuel the data economy, enabling advances in artificial intelligence and 5G applications that unleash opportunities — from the data center to the intelligent edge and across the client and mobile user experience. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), visit micron.com. http://www.micron.com/

    Unlike the T700 the new T705 line of PCIe 5.0 Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs by Crucial is currently available either with or without a black or white (limited edition) aluminum and nickel plated copper heatsink and in 3 different capacities (1/2/4TB). Strangely enough however at first glance everything else seems to remain the same between the T700 and T705 with the client-grade PS5026 (E26) PCIe 5.0 Gen5x4 NAND flash controller by PHISON being at the center alongside Micron's 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash (B58R) and LPDDR4 DRAM (1GB per TB of NAND flash). One thing has changed however and that's no other than the speed of the 232-layer NAND flash used with the T705 which thanks to Micron advancements can now reach 2400MT/s as opposed to the 2000MT/s of the one used in the T700. With this the 1TB variant of the brand new T705 can surpass 13GB/s in reads (10GB/s in writes) whereas the 2/4TB variants can surpass 14GB/s in reads (12GB/s in writes). Once again, the 8-channel (32 CEs) dual-CPU (ARM Cortex-R5) E26 NAND flash controller by PHISON is NVMe v2.0 compliant, features Pison’s 5th generation LDPC ECC & RAID ECC together with SmartECC (RAID ECC), End-To-End Data Path Protection, TRIM and AES 256-bit encryption (with SHA 512 and RSA 4096) and supports Toggle 5.0, ONFi 5.0 and TCG Opal 2.0. Crucial typically covers the entire T705 line of Gen5 SSDs with a 5-year limited warranty and reports a TBW (Terra Bytes Written) of 600 for the 1TB model, 1200 for the 2TB model and 2400 for the 4TB model. 

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crucial is using a similar package as that of the T700 so at the front we find a picture of the T705, their logo, product performance and warranty.

 

 

A few words about the product are printed at the rear in 9 languages.

 

 

Just the T705 M.2 NVMe Gen5 SSD and its user manual are placed inside the box.

 

 

 

THE T705 2TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heatsink used with the T705 is almost identical to that of the T700 so nothing new here.

 

 

Again, details for the drive are printed on a sticker located at the base of the heatsink.

 

 

Removing the heatsink is not hard, do keep in mind however that doing so probably voids your warranty.

 

 

Like with the T700 at the top of the T705 we find the PHISON PS5026 (E26) NAND flash controller together with a 2GB LPDDR4-4266 DRAM module and two 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules by Micron.

 

 

Turning the drive over we find two more 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules.

 

STORAGE EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just like with past SSDs by Crucial you can download their Storage Executive software for more control over the T705 (also remember to update the NVMe driver from standard to the Micron one - I did after taking screenshots).

Typically, from the first tab you can check basic details of both your system memory and the SSD(s) installed.

 

 

The drive details tab lists exactly what it says.

 

 

Of course, the software also allows you to check the drives details including its SMART page.

 

 

You can also check for new firmware updates via the Storage Executive software.

 

 

The T705 doesn't support features like sanitize, flex capacity and namespace management but it does support PSID revert, momentum cache and over provisioning for people who want to push performance even more.

 

 

There's also a self-test function which can be useful if you are afraid something's wrong with your T705.

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   I've been using pretty much the same testing methodology for PCIe 3.0 Gen3 and PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSDs for far too many years now so i decided to "tweak" it for PCIe 5.0 Gen5 models. Needless to say, Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs will be tested using one of my latest test rigs (AMD Ryzen 9 7900X / ASRock X670E Taichi) and unlike with both Gen3 and Gen4 SSDs i will not be using the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) IOMeter benchmarks since they proved to be rather heavy for Gen5 SSDs, at least for current models (temperature issues). Instead, I decided to use the latest versions of AIDA64, AS SSD, ATTO, Crystal Disk Mark, HD Tune Pro, HD Tach RW, Performance Test, IOMeter (4k Random Writes) and Sandra Titanium 2021 for performance measuring and ForSpoken for all of you who might be wondering just how well Gen5 SSDs do in regards to Microsoft's DirectStorage API/Technology. Each test will be run a total of 5 times after which the average number will be recorded in each chart.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SANDRA TITANIUM / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - PERFORMANCE TEST / FORSPOKEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    When I first heard that Crucial was introducing a new Gen5 SSD line with the name T705 a few months back I initially thought I heard wrong and that its name was T750. Well, in the end it wasn’t and judging by today’s results it does make sense that Crucial didn’t distance the name a lot. In all honesty even the original T700 did great (leaving out heavy workloads of course under which even the large heatsink couldn’t cope with temperatures) and if we consider the capabilities of the PHISON E26 controller I never did expect a huge boost in speeds, regardless of what NAND flash was used. This effectively means that I just don’t see any gains (real world ones) by moving from the T700 to the T705. Even in benchmarks these two drives trade blows so I’d only recommend moving to the T705 if you don’t already own an T700 drive. Also worth pointing out is that the T705 2TB did manage to pass one of my SNIA IOMeter tests (unlike the T700) so my guess is that PHISON tweaked something in the firmware (v5101 for the T700 and v5111 for the T705 - that would also account for the reduced performance in some tests compared to the T700).

    As I type these lines the T705 Pro (heatsink) 2TB Gen5 SSD by Crucial retails for USD318.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 493.60Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is very good, at least on the other side of the Atlantic. Overall there’s not much to say about the T705, it may not be a valid upgrade from the T700 but it does surpass even 14GB/s at some tests (so I guess it works as advertised) which is why it also gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Quality
- Top Performance (Over 14000MB/s)
- Large Heatsink
- DirectStorage Improvements
- 5 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Price (EU)
- Temperatures (Alas Better Compared To The T700)