Crucial T700 4000GB

The Crucial T700 is Crucial’s flagship consumer PCIe 5.0 NVMe drive, using the Phison PS5026-E26 controller paired with Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND (B58R). The 4000GB variant includes a dedicated 4GB LPDDR4 DRAM cache for low latency on random I/O and sustained performance stability. As a vertically integrated product that combines a third-party controller with parent-company NAND, it serves as a primary reference point for the Phison E26 ecosystem. The drive is notable for its thermal behavior: reaching multi-gigabyte/s speeds generates rapid heat and the controller will thermally throttle aggressively above about 81°C, making a robust heatsink (often active cooling for the 4TB model) necessary. The drive supports Microsoft DirectStorage and early firmware revisions exhibited high idle power states that were addressed in later updates.

Key Specifications

• Interface: PCIe 5.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0
• Controller: Phison PS5026-E26 (12nm process)
• NAND Flash: Micron 232-Layer 3D TLC
• Sequential Read/Write: 12,400 MB/s / 11,800 MB/s
• DRAM Cache: Yes (4GB LPDDR4)
• Form Factor: M.2 2280 (Double-sided PCB for 4000GB capacity)
• Endurance: 2400 TBW
• Encryption: TCG Opal 2.01 support

Hardware Alternatives

• Corsair MP700 Pro: Utilizes the same E26/Micron 232L configuration and is often distinguished by the inclusion of an active fan cooling solution.
• Samsung 990 PRO: A PCIe 4.0 alternative with a proprietary Pascal controller that competes closely in random 4K read/write performance and power efficiency.
• WD Black SN850X: A PCIe 4.0 drive that remains relevant in real-world gaming load times despite lower raw bandwidth.