By: Jonathan Kwan
December 29, 2023
Over time, I learned that there is not always a big correlation between how good someone is at something versus how loud someone is about being good at something. I think what we can agree on is being loud about being good at something, regardless of whether you are actually good at something or not, is generally annoying. A few months ago, we were on the way to camp, and a friend came to my house to pick me up. He was also driving a couple of other guys, and since I got off the plane from Texas only a few hours earlier, I was running a little bit late, so I asked them to entertain themselves on my Tornado foosball table in my basement while they waited. One of the guys is loud about being good at pretty much everything, and quickly claimed that he will wreck my friend -- who I practice with regularly and is actually pretty good -- at the game. My friend just laughed, did not say a word, and just accepted the challenge, which ended up with my friend quickly winning every match five-nothing, including the time he was playing with one hand. As we can see here, some people are loud but are not very good, while others are subtle but are very good. Crucial is a company who has always been subtle about their performance credentials. They recently released a new PCIe 4.0-based flagship SSD, the T500, which slots below their flagship PCIe 5.0-based T700. Compared to the P5 Plus 2TB, the T500 2TB uses a Phison 5025-E25 controller and Micron B58R 232-layer TLC rather than B47R 176-layer NAND chips. Will this be a quietly dominating drive? Let us read on to find out!
Our review unit of the Crucial T500 2TB arrived in a medium-sized brown corrugated cardboard box from Brownsville, Texas, which is nowhere near any Micron offices. However, this is where Avant Technology is located, which Micron partners with. Using the FedEx International Priority service, everything arrived in excellent condition to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for our review today.
There was another box inside the shipping box, which was clearly designed to contain a lot more than one SSD. I spent some time digging through the packing paper and eventually got to the Crucial T500 2TB's retail packaging. Crucial's retail package designs have always been about business, and the T500 2TB is no different. The simple, environmentally friendly box features the latest design thematically consistent with the recently reviewed Crucial P5 Plus 2TB (Heatsink Version). This relatively compact hanging box delivers the SSD into the hands of consumers with miscellaneous information printed on the back. As you can see in our photo above, the box art evokes a strong business feel. A photo of the Crucial T500 NVMe SSD is shown in front of a silver background. At the top, you will find Crucial's logo. Across the center inside a black band, you will find the T500 model name and the line "with heatsink" next to it in small font. Its product description, PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD, and a sticker indicating its speed and capacity are located in various areas. We can also spot indicators showing this is part of the company's Pro series.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the specifications of the Crucial T500 2TB, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
Interface: NVMe (PCIe Gen 4 x4)
SSD Endurance (TBW): 1200TB
Form factor: M.2 (2280)
SSD series: T500
Capacity: 2TB
Speed & timing:
- Sequential Read: 7400 MB/s
- Sequential Write: 7000 MB/s
Warranty: Limited 5-year
Opening the box reveals the Crucial T500 2TB itself placed on a clear plastic tray. There is also a multi-language quick start guide that points you to the company's website. This is it -- out of the box, you will get nothing more than what you need. Not that we need them anyway, of course.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 8.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 5.70
7. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 10
8. Benchmark: PCMark 10
9. Benchmark: 3DMark
10. Conclusion
