Crucial T710 2TB SSD Review - Low Power with Massive Performance

TweakTown Rating: 98%

Our Verdict

Tier 1 Gen5 performance along with superior thermal characteristics make the Crucial T710 a must-have SSD for enthusiasts everywhere.

Pros

• Power efficiency
• User experience performance
• Gaming performance
• Single-sided PCB design

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

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Introduction & Drive Details

Until today, Crucial's T705 SSD has reigned supreme as its flagship performance SSD. In fact, the T705 2TB sat alone as our performance champion for exactly one year, at which point it was unseated by its parent company, Micron's SSD 4600 OEM Client SSD. Micron's 4600 ushered in a new era of Silicon Motion SM2508 controlled SSDs, bringing along with it the best performance to power ratio ever seen from any consumer SSD.

The Micron 4600 pairs its G9 TLC flash with the SM2508 controller, and the results are spectacular, so we knew it would be only a matter of time until Micron's retail arm, Crucial, would bring forth a retail version. And that's exactly what we have in Crucial's newly minted T710 SSD. As its new flagship offering, Crucial's T710 third-generation PCIe Gen5 SSD is not directly replacing its highly successful Phison E26 controller/G8 arrayed, second-generation PCIe Gen5 T705 SSD, as it will still be available at what appears at this point to be reduced pricing.

The T710, strictly in terms of sheer performance, isn't much of an upgrade over the T705, as both SSDs deliver real-world performance in a similar fashion. Where the T710 holds the biggest advantage over its predecessor is in its versatility. The T710 can go places where the T705 simply cannot. They are both 14,000 MB/s capable SSDs, but that's where the similarities end.

The 2TB and 4TB T705 are built on a double-sided PCB, so right off the bat, the T705 is not suitable for notebooks or other forms of portable computing. Furthermore, the T705's 12nm architecture Phison E26 controller uses 11.25 watts of power, so it requires significant thermal mitigation, both of which again limit its suitable implementation to strictly the desktop realm.

Compare that with the T710's power usage of only 8.25 watts and single-sided PCB design, and it becomes crystal clear that Crucial's third-generation PCIe Gen5 flagship performer is a whole different animal altogether. Crucial's T710, with its 6nm architecture SM2508 controller, uses 26.6% less power than its previous 8-channel controlled Gen5 drives, so it produces less heat and enables longer battery life. This doesn't mean that the T710 doesn't need a bit of thermal mitigation to run throttle-free under full load, but compared to the T705, it doesn't require anything special, as it, for the most part, doesn't produce any more heat than a standard PCIe Gen4 SSD.

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We put ours to the test by running 27 iterations (9x3) of CDM sequentials back-to-back to back, using nothing but the motherboard heatsink and zero airflow. The hottest temp we encountered was 59c, which is 15c cooler than the T705 under the same conditions. For some perspective, 59c is about what we expect to see from a fast Gen4 SSD under the same test conditions, so this is an excellent result.

The T710 SSD, optimized for DirectStorage, features advanced controller technology, ninth-generation flash, low power consumption, low heat, and a single-sided PCB, making it highly desirable even before benchmarks. Speaking of benchmarks, let's dive in and see what Crucial's T710 2TB SSD can do for you by the numbers.

Further SSD Reading – Our Latest Reviews

• Corsair MP700 Micro 4TB SSD Review - Tiny but Huge
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• Biwin Black Opal X570 2TB SSD Review - First 8-Channel DRAMless

Drive Details

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The T710 will be sold as a bare drive and a PS5-friendly heatsink version.

As it is with most Crucial storage products, Crucial offers for free its excellent toolbox software - Crucial Storage Executive as well as Acronis True Image for Crucial for drive cloning, backup and imaging.

Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

AMD Test System

Please note: We employ an M.2 AIC for testing on our Intel Core Ultra 9 285K platform.

Best Deals: Crucial T705 2TB SSD

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$159.99 USD	$198.50 USD	-	Buy
	$238.25 USD	$213.25 USD	$212.75 USD	Buy
	$321.86 CAD	$289.99 CAD	-	Buy
	$350.98 CAD	-	$289.99 CAD	Buy
	£184.99	£182.99	-	Buy
	$159.99 USD	$198.50 USD	-	Buy
	$429 AUD	$429 AUD	$379 AUD	Buy
* Prices last scanned 11/16/2025 at 2:28 pm CST - prices may be inaccurate. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We earn affiliate commission from any Newegg or PCCG sales.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we include results for PS5-compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available Here.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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Our test subject delivers as good as it gets for fast PlayStation 5 storage expansion. Additionally, its thermal characteristics make it ideal for such implementation.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Max IOPS, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. In terms of sequential read throughput, we are falling a bit short of the quoted up-to-factory specs. This may be due to our testing as OS disk vs. empty secondary device, or maybe our hardware configurations just can't quite get there. Whatever the case may be, we are plenty satisfied with the results as they are right there with the best.

4K QD1 read throughput is outstanding, in fact, tied for the fifth best we've encountered to date. Note how closely the T710 is matched with the Micron 4600. This is because they are essentially the same SSD, with slightly different firmware.

Max IOPS

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Crucial's T710 2TB SSD is factory spec'd for up to 2,200k random read IOPS and up to 2,300k random write IOPS. We have no issues in attaining factory max random read specs on both of our test platforms. This is excellent because read performance is so important in the consumer space. We fall a bit short of factory max random write specs, but we don't consider write performance an important metric in the consumer space anyway, so we are again more than satisfied with our results here.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of QD4 sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. At a queue depth of four, our 2TB contender favors sequential transfers of 128KB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128KB or larger when programming (writing) data. Stunning small file performance - exactly what we are looking for from any SSD.

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 a game is installed vs. how many times it's played. Here our test subject delivers plenty good enough for our liking.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) is typically an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. Here we find our test subject again delivering exceptionally well when serving data to the host. 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 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 most DIY consumers, especially for the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience.

Our test subject delivers slightly better than its predecessor, the T705, taking over the sixth-best spot on our chart. Excellent.

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. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This test writes 204GB of 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 such as 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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Again, our test subject performs identically to its cousin, the Micron 4600 2TB, where it is tied for fifth place on our chart hierarchy. Again, it slightly outperforms its predecessor, the T705.

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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Of all the benchmarks we run, it can be argued that this one offers the best reflection of a typical consumer use case scenario. Here, where it matters most, the T710 again delivers massively, this time taking over third place. Outstanding.

Final Thoughts

As we see it, Crucial's T710 2TB is a worthy successor to the T705. Its performance is indeed impressive, being overall slightly more powerful than both the T705 and its cousin, the Micron 4600. While its performance is fantastic at third best for a retail-ready SSD, we find its build characteristics even more impressive.

The T710 is Crucial's first PCIe Gen5 performance flagship to feature a single-sided PCB at 2TB and 4TB. For us, this is the single best improvement over the T705. Not to be overlooked either is its low power consumption of 8.25 watts, resulting in thermal characteristics that are vastly superior to the T705 and, in fact, are so good that Crucial's 14,500 MB/s capable flagship will certainly find its way into many portable computing devices.

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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. Currently, we consider a user experience score of 17K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. It's the third best for any retail-ready SSD we've encountered.

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It's a masterpiece of both performance and efficiency, earning Crucial's T710 2TB SSD our highest award. Editors' Choice.