It is not fair to compare a Gen 4.0 SSD with a Gen 5.0 SSD. I don’t know why people are interested in comparing the Samsung 990 Pro vs the Crucial T700. But, I believe there is a reason for the same. These both SSDs are from different leagues.
Except for the PCIe generation, the Samsung 990 Pro and Crucial T700 has many similarities such as the TBW. The prices are also not very far from each other. You can easily get a 1TB Crucial T700 by paying around 15 bucks more. I think the confusion is coming from there. Crucial T700 has beaten the Samsung 990 Pro in almost all the benchmarks. This should be enough for you make the decision if you are a performance seeker.
Samsung 990 Pro has its advantages and the biggest one is its better and bigger pseudo-SLC write cache. Samsung 990 Pro also runs pretty cooler compared to the T700 even during heavy workloads.
I hope I haven’t contributed to your confusion more. But, let’s get started with our comparison and see which SSD is the perfect match for your specific requirements.
Theoretical Specifications
| Specification | Samsung 990 Pro | Crucial T700 |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 | PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 |
| NAND Type | Samsung V-NAND 3-bit MLC (176-layers, 3D TLC) | Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND |
| Sequential Read Speed | Up to 7,450 MB/s | Up to 12,400 MB/s |
| Sequential Write Speed | Up to 6,900 MB/s | Up to 11,800 MB/s |
| Random Read IOPS | Up to 1.4 million IOPS | Up to 1.5 million IOPS |
| Random Write IOPS | Up to 1.55 million IOPS | Up to 1.7 million IOPS |
| Capacity Options | 1TB, 2TB | 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| Endurance (TBW) | 600 TBW (1TB), 1,200 TBW (2TB) | 600 TBW (1TB), 1,200 TBW (2TB), 1,800 TBW (4TB) |
| Warranty | 5 years | 5 years |
| Power Consumption | Average: ~5.8W (active) | Average: ~8.5W (active) |
| Controller | Pascal (S4LV008) | Phison E26 |
With a much denser 3D TLC NAND (232 layers), the Crucial T700 surely has more room for parallelism through the NVMe 2.0. I believe this is the key reason behind those huge sequential numbers alongside the higher Gen 5.0 bandwidth. Even after exhausting the pseudo-SLC cache, the steady state write performance (1MiB, QD32) is around 3600 MB/s.
The Samsung 990 Pro, on the other hand, shows better power efficiency and great numbers based on the PCIe 4.0 interface. It uses Samsung’s TLC V-NAND with 176 layers.
Benchmark Scores and Comparison
Note: I do not have these SSDs and have arranged the comparisons from different websites like TomsHardware and PCWorld. However, I am responsible for the accuracy of the scores and comparison.
Crystal Disk Mark Benchmark Scores
Let’s compare the crystaldiskmark benchmark scores of both the SSDs. This is a simple but pretty explanatory benechmark when it comes to determining any SSD’s performance in both sequential and random read/write operations. Below are the benchmark comparisons.
Sequential Performance
Random Performance
So, the gap in the sequential performance is pretty huge. But, when it comes to the random benchmark scores, the bars are very far off. In fact, both SSDs have almost hte same random 4K read speed. The write speed is higher with the T700.
What does that mean? Well, in the real-world applications like running software, editing videos, booting computer, and playing games would not get big benefits when you choose the T700 over the Samsung 990 Pro. The 990 Pro will give you almost similiar results in terms of daily computer usage. However, if your work included moving big files here and there, the T700 surely have got an edge over the 990 Pro because of its high sequential performance.
PCMark 10 Benchmark Scores
The PCMark 10 Overall Storage Test replicates real-world SSD/HDD usage by simulating tasks like app launches, document editing, file copying, and even gaming-related loads. A good PCMark 10 score means faster app launching, file transfer, and application responsiveness.
If we talk about the results, the difference isn’t very huge but still the Crucial T700 has better result reaching near around 4,000. You can’t expect a big bump in the performane with the T700 but still, you will see some advantages.
3DMark Storage Test Scores
The 3DMark Storage Test is a synthetic benchmark used to evaluate an SSD’s gaming-related performance. This includes the game load times, level loading, streaming, and saving/loading the games. So, a better 3DMark score means a better gaming performance.
Now, the results are again in favour of the Crucial T700. Surely, you will see better gaming performance going with thise SSD mainly because of its better random performance. But, still, the 990 Pro isn’t far off from these T700.
PCMark 10 Adobe Creative Program Launching
Overall, the Crucial T700 has better results in sequential, random, gaming, and productivity benchmark tests. So, it is surely worth picking if you are an extreme performance enthusiasts. The 990 Pro, on the other hand, may seem like a loser but it surpass many leading SSDs in its own league.
TBW and Warranty
| Capacity | Crucial T700 (TBW) | Samsung 990 Pro (TBW) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 TB | 600 TBW | 600 TBW |
| 2 TB | 1200 TBW | 1200 TBW |
| 4 TB | 2400 TBW | 2400 TBW |
There is no different in the TBW of both the SSDs in all the variants. Both have got the same 5-years of warrant period. The MTBF and DWPD are also the same. So, there isn’t any different when it comes to these drive’s reliability, endurance, and warranty.
Price
Which SSD should you buy: Samsung 990 Pro or Crucial T700?
If you need the absolute fastest Gen 5.0 sequential read/write performance which can go beyond 10GB/s, you should definitely choose the Crucial T700. The only requirement is that you have a slightly bigger budget and a Gen 5.0-compatible system. However, high sequential performance isn’t important for most users. But, Crucial T700 is still beneficial for users with extremely high-performance needs. This may include content creators, video editors, 3D Artists, Gaming enthusiasts, overclockers, IT professionals running virtualization environments, etc.
Samsung 990 Pro is more than enough for most of the users whether they are gamers or productivity-seekers. The random read/write performance is what matters the most when it comes to running the software. Samsung 990 Pro offers good random performance. And this is why it is definitely a good option for those who don’t have to do anything with the big sequential read/write numbers.
But, still, if you want best of the best for your computer, Crucial T700 is the best. Samsung 990 Pro is still great for most of us.
I hope this helps!