Crucial T500 Pro Gen4 2TB SSD Review – Move Over Expensive 8-Channel High End SSDs!

Don’t really know where to start with this.  Every now and then reviewers have product sent to them that breaks the norm.  It does things it shouldn’t.  Next thing you know there is alot of jabbering back and forth and everyone runs their tests again wondering what the heck?!?!  The Crucial T500 Pro is on our Test Bench right now and it did just that.  Let’s cut to the chase.  The T500 Pro sat right beside the Samsung 990 Pro in every test we threw at it but for Real Data Transfer Testing where it blew away every SSD we have tested, except for the 990 Pro 4TB version.

Now you may not think much of what we have just stated, at least until we tell you that the Crucial T500 Pro is a 4-channel PCIe 4.0 SSD, vice 8-channel which is the trademark of every fine high-end SSD today.  This will disrupt the industry.  Prices will come down.  Money is key with just about every consumer when buying tech and if I told you you could save a ton in buying a higher performing 4-channel SSD…would you?  Of course you would.  Let’s get to the meat and gravy…

The Crucial T500 Pro is a PCIe 4.0 x4 (4-lane)  M.2 2280 (22mm wide x 80 mm long) SSD that runs on NVMe 2.0 protocol and is just about the most unusual SSD we have seen in some time.  First off, look at the angle of that Phison PS5025-E25 NVMe 4-channel SSD controller.

It is smaller than the norm which allows that.  Bit unusual as we have never seen this controller prior and it is based on a 4-channel DRAM based architecture which again, is not the norm.  Let’s add to that 2-packages of Micron’s 232-Layer 2400MT B58R NAND flash memory which is as good and as speedy as it gets.

We have only seen 2400MT start showing its speeds in the past while and, well, when is the last time you saw an odd number of memory chips, three to be exact.  This SSD is available in 500GB, 1 and 2TB capacities and performance is variable at 7200MB/s read and 5700MB/s write for 500GB, 7300MB/s read and 6800MB/s write for 1TB and 7400MB/s read and 7000MB/s write for the 2TB version.  Endurance is listed at 300TBW which doubles for every capacity jump and IOPS are listed at up to 1.4 million.

What’s even better is that the Crucial T500 Pro is a single-sided SSD and fully capable of being thrown in any laptop.  Two versions are available, with and without the heatsink as shown above and that heatsink makes it fully PS5 compatible as well.

Pricing is where the Crucial T500 Pro Gen 4 SSD is going to make its mark.  It is truly a 4-channel SSD that acts like an 8-channel SSD and priced right where it should be we think with the 500GB MSRP coming in at $140, 1TB at $159-$169 and we are seeing the 2TB version for $179 at Amazon right now.  If you want the heatsink, add $10 to the price.

Let’s see what the Crucial T500 Pro is truly capable of…