By: Jonathan Kwan
July 12, 2019
How do you know when something has moved from a niche market to the mainstream? When someone mentions "electric car", I am confident Tesla is the first brand that comes to mind for many people. But this was not always the case. I remember about ten years ago, someone mentioned they saw a car with a "T" on the road and could not figure out which brand it was. When I told them it was Tesla, I only got blank stares. In the last few years, this relatively unknown brand has risen to an electric car powerhouse that has received a cult following akin to Apple that is unrivaled in innovation, performance, and status. But Tesla is no longer the lone serious advocate of electric cars as it was in 2008. Now, traditional car brands like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar, Chevrolet, and Ford has committed to an electric future -- cementing the status of electric vehicles to a feasible eventuality for the mainstream car buyer within the next few decades. In roughly the same time as the ongoing electric car revolution, we have witnessed the SSD revolution. From non-traditional storage makers like OCZ, Kingston, and Patriot in the earlier years to now, a lot of things have changed. Traditional manufacturers like Western Digital bought SanDisk and is now a major supplier of SSDs, while Seagate slowly but steadily is making inroads into this market. Early renditions of Seagate's SSDs were not big in performance nor targeted towards the enthusiast, but all of this is about to change. The Seagate FireCuda 510 1TB is a flagship NVMe SSD that wants to run against the best of the best. Will it deliver as promised? Read on to find out!
Our review unit of the Seagate FireCuda 510 1TB arrived in a UPS-branded shipping box from the company's American headquarters in Santa Clara, California, USA via MJR Print and Fulfillment, a local print shop. Seagate has always shipped to us with MJR Print and Fulfillment, and it was no exception this time. Using UPS Saver, the package arrived on our doorstep here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in excellent condition for our review today.
Although I have covered tons of Seagate hard drives here at APH Networks, this is the first time for me to review a Seagate SSD. SSDs from other brands, including their main competitor Western Digital, have always shipped their SSDs in retail packaging. However, Seagate shipped their FireCuda 510 in OEM packaging, just like their hard drive lineup. That said, while the Seagate FireCuda 510 1TB only came in an anti-static bag, there was a ton of bubble wrap inside to keep everything safe and sound throughout the entire journey. I am pretty sure solid state drives are shock-proof, but hey -- you can never be too careful.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the specifications of the Seagate FireCuda 510 1TB, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
Specifications
Standard Model (TCG Pyrite): ZP1000GM30001
Interface: PCIe G3 ×4, NVMe 1.3
NAND Flash Memory: 3D TLC
Form Factor: M.2 2280-D2
Performance
Sequential Read (Max, MB/s), 128KB: 3450
Sequential Write (Max, MB/s), 128KB: 3200
Random Read (Max, IOPS), 4KB QD32 T8: 620,000
Random Write (Max, IOPS), 4KB QD32 T8: 600,000
Endurance/Reliability
Total Bytes Written (TB): 1300
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF, hours): 1,800,000
Warranty, Limited (years): 5
Power Management
Active Power, Average (W): 5.3
Idle Power PS3, Average (mW): 20
Low Power L1.2 mode (mW): 2
Environmental
Temperature, Operating Internal (°C): 0 to 70
Temperature, Nonoperating (°C): –40 to 85
Shock, Nonoperating: 0.5ms (Gs): 1500
Special Features
TRIM: Yes
S.M.A.R.T.: Yes
Halogen Free: Yes
RoHS Compliance: Yes
Physical
Length, Max (mm): 80.15
Width, Max (mm): 22.15
Height, Max (mm): 3.58
Weight (g): 8.1
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 6.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 5.70
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 9.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark 7
10. Benchmark: PCMark 8
11. Conclusion
