Seagate FireCuda 540 2TB SSD Review - 10,000 MB/s of awesome

TweakTown's Rating: 98%

The Bottom Line

Seagate's first Gen5 SSD is the best performing of the 10,000 MB/s SSDs to date.

Pros

• + Throughput
• + Gaming
• + User experience

Cons

• - Not PS5 compatible

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Buy at Amazon

Buy at Newegg

Introduction & Drive Details

Seagate's newest SSD isn't exactly the first of its kind. We've reviewed a ton of 10,000 MB/s class PCIe Gen5 SSDs this year including Corsair's MP700, SSTC's Tiger Shark, inland's TD510 2TB, and GIGABYTE's AORUS Gen5 10000. To date, all of these 10,000 MB/s class PCIe Gen5 offerings sport the same hardware configuration, being Phison E26 controlled and arrayed with a Micron 1,600MT 232-Layer TLC flash array. Even the firmware has been identical across the board to this point.

Enter Seagate. Seagate's first PCIe Gen5 SSD, the FireCuda 540, represents the first of these 10,000 MB/s class PCIe SSDs to come from a major storage company. Now it's true that Crucial's T700 was the very first PCIe Gen5 SSD brought forth by a major storage company, but that's a 12,000 MB/s class SSD which is more expensive and spoiler alert, the only flash-based SSD we've tested to date that can outperform Seagate's newly minted Gen5 offering.

Again, the FireCuda 540, like all PCIe Gen5 10,000 MB/s class SSDs to date, is Phison E26 controlled and arrayed with Micron 232-Layer B58R 1,600MT flash. However, we notice two important and interconnected differences between the FireCuda 540 and its similarly configured predecessors; firmware and endurance rating, with higher endurance being a byproduct of Seagate's custom firmware.

This is as expected, because Seagate, even though they may offer SSDs sporting the same hardware as its competitors, still customizes its SSDs via custom firmware. Seagate does this not only to differentiate its SSDs from the competition, but also because they offer additional piece of mind for the consumer by including a Seagate exclusive 3-years "Rescue" data recovery services with all their flagship SSD offerings. This is what Seagate means by the FireCuda 540's Seagate-validated E26 controller. So the same hardware as the rest, but at the same time, not the same, if that makes sense.

PCIe Gen5 brings unprecedented throughput, and that's, in a nutshell, the appeal of these fire-breathing monsters. Naturally, increased throughput generates more heat than the average PCIe Gen4 SSD, and for optimal performance, the FireCuda 540 requires the use of a heatsink (motherboard or discreet). Some motherboards are well suited for taming the heat coming off of these Gen5 powerhouses. However, many are not, so be sure to factor in appropriate cooling when purchasing the FireCuda 540 or any PCIe Gen5 SSD, for that matter.

Okay, now that we have a handle on what the FireCuda 540 is and what makes it somewhat unique compared to its direct competition, let's see what Seagate's flagship gaming SSD can do for you by the numbers.

Drive Details

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The FireCuda 540 is rated for a whopping 30% more endurance than all other E26-controlled SSDs we've come across to date, potentially making it a better overall value than the rest. In addition to what is spec'd above and worthy of mention here, is the fact that all E26 controlled SSDs come with Phison's exclusive I/O+ DirectStorage optimized technology baked right in. Gamers take note because this matters if you are into future proofing.

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Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Tachyon
• CPU: Intel Core i9-13900KS - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

AMD Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE B650E AORUS Tachyon
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

Because we at TweakTown like to be first at everything whenever we can, we will present our storage performance results for the test subject on both 13th Gen Intel and 7000 Series AMD platforms going forward for the foreseeable future. Because Intel still delivers the best real-world storage performance, (Look Here), our running chart will continue to be Intel-based until AMD can deliver better real-world storage performance than its rival.

Seagate FireCuda 530 ZP2000GM3A013 2TB SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$194.84	$194.84	$186.63	$167.18	Buy
	-	-	$185.99	$170.19	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 9/28/2023 at 3:27 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. The FireCuda 540 2TB delivers that 10,000 MB/s sequential read/write throughput we've come to expect from this hardware configuration. Excellent.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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We are looking for a read score of 12K here, and the FireCuda delivers the goods on both Intel and AMD platforms. Nice.

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We employ Anvil's random read test as our standard for measuring max random read IOPS. This test is very accurate as it at its core is Iometer skinned over. We test at QD128. 1.29 million IOPS here, even if it falls a little short of factory up to specs, is more than satisfactory considering our more demanding user state of system disk with 150GB of data onboard. Additionally, we note the FireCuda 540 is delivering the most random throughput we've extracted to date for any 10,000 MB/s class SSD. Maybe it's the firmware? It could very well be.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. Our test subject favors sequential transfers of 4MB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 64K or larger when programming (writing) data. Notably, our test subject delivers the second-best 128K read throughput we've obtained from any SSD running on our Intel platform. Excellent.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data. Ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance random or sequential, is an infrequent operation, and as such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example being how many times is a game installed vs. how many times it's played. Intel has the advantage when writing large blocks of data.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) data is always an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. AMD has the advantage here because the transfer is relatively sequential in nature. Again, the FireCuda 540 rewards us with another best-ever for a 10,000 MB/s SSD. Impressive.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is in fact the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to the majority of DIY consumers, especially to the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. This is performance that matters, and Seagate's newest delivers the third-best we've ever obtained from a flash-based retail consumer SSD. Seagate is directly targeting gamers with the FireCuda 540, so if you are a gamer looking for an edge, this SSD can give you that edge.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This particular test writes 204GB data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games, including Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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The FireCuda 540 cranks out yet another best-ever for 10,000 MB/s SSD running in our user state. That's impressive because this is performance where performance matters most. Seagate enhanced? Maybe so.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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The FireCuda 540 2TB delivers at minimum 6% more muscle than the very best Gen4 can muster. At maximum, 285% better than the lowest spot on our chart. Another clear demonstration of PCIe Gen5 superiority.

Final Thoughts

As fully expected based on how Seagate tends to operate, the FireCuda 540 isn't the first of its kind on the scene. The storage giant doesn't necessarily care about being first as much as it cares about doing it the right way through more extensive validation and tweaking firmware knobs so it can offer a bit more than the standard fare. This is what we've come to know and love about Seagate's flagship enthusiast offerings.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. We consider a user experience score of 14K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. We are of the opinion, that it's no coincidence that the FireCuda 540 2TB is, as this chart indicates, is a bit better than the rest of the 10,000 MB/s class SSDs.

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Seagate's FireCuda 540 2TB is offering best-in-class overall performance along with best-in-class endurance, making it worthy of our most prestigious award. Editor's choice.