Crucial T705 Review: The Fastest SSD For Gamers And Creators
HDTune v5.75 Benchmarks
HD Tune Pro also had the Crucial T705 leading the pack in both read and write bandwidth, and latency, though all of the Phison-based Gen 5 drives offered similar latency overall in this benchmark.
CrystalDiskMark x64 Benchmarks
CrystalDiskMark is a synthetic benchmark that tests both sequential and random small and mid-sized file transfers using incompressible data. It provides a quick look at best and worst case scenarios with regard to SSD performance, best case being larger sequential transfers and worse case being small, random transfers.
CrystalDiskMark's sequential tests had the Crucial T705 leading all of the other drives at Q1, but the MSI Spatium M570 Pro has an ever so slight advantage at the higher queue depth. Perhaps the massive cooler on the MSI drive helps it a bit as the controller is getting hammered with requests.
The random 4K transfer tests tell a somewhat similar story. Here, the Samsung drive lands in the pole position, but the MSI drive and Crucial T705 trade blows, depending on the queue depth. We'd argue the Q1T1 benchmark is most important for consumer workloads, and that's where the Crucial T705 shines relative to the other Phison-based drives.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Game Level Load Times
We also tested game level load times using the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker benchmark. This tool loads an array of different game levels during its graphics benchmark and outputs the average result when complete.
The Crucial T705 performed very well in the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker benchmark, offering the fastest level loads we have seen to date from any consumer SSD.
UL's 3DMark Gaming Storage Benchmark
UL recently added a gaming-centric storage benchmark to 3DMark that leverages trace-based tests of actual PC games and gaming-related activities (such as streaming with OBS) to measure real-world gaming performance in a variety of scenarios. The tests include things like loading Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Overwatch from the initial launch to the main menu, recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS while playing Overwatch, installing The Outer Worlds and saving game progress. And finally, copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from one drive to another.
3DMark's storage tests also shows the Crucial T705 leading overall in terms of peak bandwidth across the various tests that make up the benchmark suite.
While it's not a clean sweep across every test, the Crucial T705 also leads the pack in terms of latency according to 3DMark.
With leading bandwidth and latency, it should come as no surprise that the Crucial T705 scores another overall victory here, besting all of the other drives we tested in the 3DMark Storage Benchmark.
With leading bandwidth and latency, it should come as no surprise that the Crucial T705 scores another overall victory here, besting all of the other drives we tested in the 3DMark Storage Benchmark.
UL's PCMark 10 System Drive Storage Test
We like PCMark 10's new quick storage benchmark module for its real-world application measurement approach to testing. PCMark offers a trace-based measurement of system response times and bandwidth under various scripted workloads of traditional client / desktop system use cases.
It was a photo finish, but the Crucial T705 also led the pack in terms of latency and bandwidth in the PCMark trace-based storage benchmark, which results in the fastest overall score we have recorded to date.
Crucial T705 PCIe Gen5 SSD: The Verdict
All things considered, the Crucial T705 is the best all-around performing consumer-class SSD we have ever tested. The combination of Micron's own leading-edge NAND flash and Phison’s proven E26 PCIe Gen 5 controller, work together to produce some fantastic numbers. The Crucial T705 outpaced the other drives we tested in terms of sequential transfers, while offering highly competitive random 4K transfers and latency, with class-leading game level load times and productivity performance.
The only real downsides to the Crucial T705 are pricing and the requirement for adequate cooling, though the latter shouldn’t be an issue in any properly-configured, enthusiast-class system, which is where the T705 belongs. As long as there’s some sort of heatsink or heat-plate attached and proper air-flow in the system, the Crucial T705 should perform well across the board. As you’d expect form arguably the fastest SSD currently out there, the Crucial T705 also commands somewhat of a price premium. The 2TB model with heatsink we showed you here has an MSRP of $439, the non-heatsink model is about $40 less at $399. At MSRP, that works out to about $0.21 per gigabyte, which is markedly higher than a competing drive like the MSI Spatium M570 Pro or even the Crucial T700. We suspect street prices will ultimately come down a bit, once availability ramps up and some of Phison’s other partners introduce similar offerings, but we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure.
Ultimately, if you’re building a top-end system and want the fastest M.2 SSD money can buy, at this moment the Crucial T705 is it.
Ultimately, if you’re building a top-end system and want the fastest M.2 SSD money can buy, at this moment the Crucial T705 is it.
