Crucial T700 - M.2 PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD - 4TB

The Crucial T700 was Crucial's first PCIe Gen5 NVMe drive, built around the Phison E26 controller with 232-layer TLC NAND and a DRAM cache. It reaches 12,400/11,800 MB/s sequential speeds, putting it in the first wave of Gen5 consumer drives. It's fast, but it runs hot, and that caveat shapes almost every purchasing decision around it.

Performance

Sequential read and write speeds are strong within the Gen5 tier, and the DRAM cache keeps random I/O consistent across workloads. The Phison E26 controller is a known quantity at this point, used across several Gen5 drives from different brands, with a well-understood performance profile.

Thermals

The T700 runs hot enough under sustained load that Crucial offers a heatsink variant, and using it without any cooling, either the integrated heatsink or a motherboard-mounted solution, is not recommended. Thermal throttling is not hypothetical on this drive; it happens under real workloads in uncooled configurations. Active airflow over the heatsink variant further improves sustained performance.

Capacities and Endurance

Available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. The 4TB carries 2400 TBW. Five-year warranty across all capacities.

Limitations

As a first-generation Gen5 drive, the T700 has been eclipsed in efficiency by newer designs. The Phison E26 platform is power-hungry relative to later Gen5 controller designs. If you're comparing Gen5 options today, newer drives have improved the power-to-performance ratio considerably.

Best for: Users on Gen5 platforms who need strong sequential throughput and are prepared to manage thermals with the heatsink variant or a motherboard heatsink with good airflow.

Avoid if: You're unwilling to deal with active cooling requirements, prefer a more power-efficient design, or can step up to a newer Gen5 drive at a similar price.