Final Score:89 out of 100
On just a quick perusal of the charts one could easily be forgiven for having a bad case of ennui when it comes to the T705’s 1TB capacity model. Some may even feel downright displeased with the T705 after the curb stomping the T700 gave to the entire enthusiast NVMe SSD industry. Yes. The T705 has massive shoes to fill but the reality is the T705 is a fantastic model in its own right and a great addition to Crucial’s Pro T7xx series. Yes. Unlike the T700 it surpasses as Crucial’s flagship model, the T705 is an iterative and not paradigm shifting series. Yes. The 1TB capacity version of the T705 is ‘only’ as fast as the 2TB capacity T700 model. Yes. Only by buying the T705 2TB variant is one even going to be able to glimpse the power 2400MT/s R.G. NAND can offer. Even Yes. This letting up on the throttle lets Samsung, Western Digital, Corsair… MSI and the rest of the industry time to catch up with Crucial.
None of that really matters. Take a close look at those charts again and realize that yes. The T705 1TB is (basically) as fast as T700 2TB. Then realize what that means for the average consumer. A buyer who usually does not want to spend as much on the their ‘C’ / OS drive as they do their CPU. Then realize that for the first in a long time we have an enthusiast grade 1TB model that is not a major let down. Rather, it is so bloody fast that few are going to care about the ‘loss’ of performance they had to sacrifice in order to get a sub-200 (USD) enthusiast grade SSD.
That is the true power of unleashing the full speed of Micron’s B58R CuA NAND. That is what the new gold standard is going to demand from all future PCIe 5.0 SSD series. That is certainly going to be a tall order for the competition, as Crucial has done all that and also made it nearly impossible to justify nosebleed prices for those now inferior models. Now that is how you follow up an award winning, best in class, series.
When taken as a whole the T705 1TB represents an incredible value. One sure to send shock waves through the industry and help both further advancement of NAND storage technology and created downward pressure on pricing. Just understand that it is the upper-mainstream / entry enthusiast option. Not the ‘true’ enthusiast option. Getting true ‘enthusiast grade’ from the T705 (once again) requires stepping up the 2TB capacity option. As such, be careful on what your requirements are, and chose wisely… but do not overlook the 1TB option just because it is relatively inexpensive. You may just overlook one of the best bang for your buck options available right now.
The Review
Crucial T705 1TB
The Crucial T705 1TB SSD, while not as groundbreaking as the T700, offers impressive performance at a lower cost. Matching the speed of the 2TB T700, it uses Micron’s B58R CuA NAND to set a new standard for affordable high-performance SSDs. Ideal for budget-conscious consumers, it challenges competitors to provide similar value, making the 1TB T705 one of the best options in its price range.
