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Crucial T700 4TB Gen5 NVMe SSD: features, specs and who it suits
A PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD with 4TB capacity and sequential speeds up to 12,400MB/s. What Gen5, DirectStorage and heatsinks mean, and what to check first.
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The Crucial T700 is an internal M.2 solid state drive built on PCIe 5.0, the newest generation of the NVMe storage interface. This 4TB model is aimed at gaming, photo and video work, 3D rendering and other heavy workloads. It is a drive for a desktop PC or a laptop with a suitable M.2 slot, and it needs cooling to perform as intended.
What Gen5 means
PCIe is the connection between the drive and the processor. Each generation roughly doubles the bandwidth of the last. Crucial rates the T700 at sequential reads of up to 12,400MB/s and writes of up to 11,800MB/s, with random reads and writes of up to 1,500K IOPS. Crucial compares that with the listed 6,600MB/s of its own Gen4 P5 Plus and 560MB/s of a SATA drive. These are peak figures measured with CrystalDiskMark under specific conditions, so everyday results vary with the system.
Backward compatibility
Crucial says the drive is backward compatible with Gen3 and Gen4 motherboards. In that case it runs at the older slot's speed, so the Gen5 advantage only appears on a Gen5 M.2 slot. Crucial mentions Intel 13th Gen and AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs as the platforms it was produced for.
DirectStorage
Microsoft DirectStorage lets supported games load assets straight from the drive to the graphics card, with decompression done by the GPU. Crucial says this can give up to 60% faster texture renders and up to 99% less CPU utilization, based on internal tests with a supported GPU. It needs a game that supports it, along with compatible hardware.
Heat and the heatsink
Fast drives get hot. Crucial states the T700 must be installed with a heatsink and access to appropriate airflow. The listing says it works with your motherboard's heatsink, and that versions without a heatsink need a motherboard or other heatsink for best performance. Check your motherboard's M.2 cover or buy a suitable heatsink if one isn't fitted. A tight laptop chassis may not offer enough cooling.
Capacity and build
The drive offers up to 4TB. It uses Micron 232-layer TLC NAND, made in-house by Crucial's parent company. Its size is about 3.1 x 0.9 inches (roughly 80 x 22 mm), the standard M.2 2280 format. As with all drives, some capacity is used for formatting. The listing states a 5-year warranty or a limit on total bytes written, whichever comes first.
Who it suits
It suits builders with a Gen5-ready motherboard who work with very large files: video editors, 3D artists and photographers. Anyone on a Gen3 or Gen4 system, or doing ordinary office and web tasks, would not use much of the extra speed.
What to check before you buy
- Slot support: confirm your motherboard has an M.2 slot that supports PCIe 5.0 x4 and the 2280 size.
- Cooling: make sure a heatsink and airflow are in place.
- Fit: check clearance under graphics cards or laptop covers.
- Workload: check that your software can use these speeds.
- Warranty terms: read the endurance (TBW) limits in the datasheet.
- Backups: keep important data copied elsewhere.
The short version
- Crucial T700 4TB, PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 internal SSD, model CT4000T700SSD3.
- Up to 12,400MB/s reads and 11,800MB/s writes, as rated by Crucial.
- Works with Gen3 and Gen4 slots at their lower speeds.
- Supports Microsoft DirectStorage.
- Must be installed with a heatsink and airflow.
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