Crucial’s new T700 SSD lineup will reach speeds of over 12,000 MB/s with the help of PCI Express 5.0.
A few years ago, NVMe-based SSDs were new, transfer rates above 2,000 MB/s were more than enough to impress users. PCI Express 4.0 further upped the bar with faster models that could reach 7,500 MB/s. With PCI Express 5.0, consumer SSDs take another leap forward toward higher speeds.
Crucial is now about to release the T700, a new model series in capacities of 1 TB, 2 TB, or 4 TB – and read and write speeds of up to 12,400 and 11,800 MB/s, respectively. According to the manufacturer, this makes the T700 the fastest client SSD in the world.
The T700 uses Phison’s new E26 controller and comes with an LPDDR4 cache. Like others of its kind, there will also be support for Microsoft’s Direct Storage API, allowing games to load textures and other things directly from the SSD to the graphics card for decompression, as opposed to taking a detour via the CPU.
The 1 TB capacity is slightly slower at 11,700 and 9,500 MB/s for reading and writing, respectively, whereas the larger models are equally fast, although the 4 TB model has twice the guaranteed lifespan at 2,400 terabytes written (TBW).
To take advantage of the speeds, a computer with an M.2 card slot and PCI Express 5.0 support will be required. Prices start at USD 180 for 1 TB, up to USD 600 for 4 TB of storage space.