Evaluating the T710 2TB Solid-State Drive: A Stealthy Powerhouse

The Crucial T710 SSD, developed and produced by Micron Technology, has entered the market as a high-end PCIe 5.0 drive, competing with the likes of the Sandisk WD_Black SN8100, Samsung 91100 Pro, and upcoming drives based on Phison's E28 controller.

The T710 is the most efficient PCIe 5.0 drive to date, leaving older E26-based drives in the dust. However, its peak power consumption, at 8.83W, is slightly higher than the 8.25W stated by Crucial. This efficiency makes it a good choice for laptop or HTPC use, or in situations where you'll be running multiple drives.

In terms of copy performance, the T710's DiskBench results are disappointing when compared to the Phison E28 and WD_Black SN8100. These competitors have shown to be faster in handling various file sizes in a workload. The T710 does have a decent cache layout with good TLC write speeds, but it falls short in some areas.

The T710 first writes in a superfast, single-bit pSLC mode at just over 13.1 GB/s for 30 seconds, resulting in a 394GB cache, which is a moderate-sized cache, larger than what's on the T705 but smaller than the WD_Black SN8100's.

The T710's peak temperature during testing was 81°C, which is hot but below the 86°C primary throttling point. This indicates that the drive can handle intensive workloads without significant overheating.

For budget-minded consumers, there are mid-range PCIe 5.0 options based on Phison's E31T, like the Corsair MP700 Elite. On the other hand, the Teamgroup MP44, a budget drive built on the MAP1602 or E27T controllers, might feel like outdated technology compared to newer options.

The Sabrent Rocket 5 Plus is faster than the T710 in terms of sustained writes. Meanwhile, the WD Black SN850X and Samsung 990 Pro are excellent mature Gen 4 drives, with the former being the best option for 8TB.

The WD_Black SN8100, which has the same controller as the T710 but uses BiCS8 TLC flash, is noticeably faster than the T710 in certain benchmarks, especially when testing 1TB drives. This suggests that the choice of flash can significantly impact performance.

The Sandisk WD_Black SN8100 remains the best high-end PCIe 5.0 SSD on the market, but upcoming E28-based drives may disrupt this dominance. The Phison E28 engineering sample has given the WD_Black SN8100 a run for its money in some benchmarks, indicating potential optimizations for this controller in certain tests.

In conclusion, the Crucial T710 offers good efficiency and decent performance, particularly for 1TB drives. However, it faces competition from other high-end PCIe 5.0 drives and budget-friendly options. As the market evolves, we can expect to see improvements in performance and efficiency from drives like the T710.