Seagate FireCuda 540: 90-second overview
The Seagate FireCuda 540 is without doubt one of the first high-profile Gen 5 NVMe SSDs to hit the market for many who are working one of many greatest processors for gaming and greatest motherboards which are PCIe 5.0 appropriate.
It’s greater than only a successor to the extensively fashionable Seagate FireCuda 530 from a few years in the past, although, it’s a drive that exhibits you precisely what the following technology is able to, however at a price.
The best price shall be to your pockets, as a result of this flagship Gen 5 NVMe SSD carries a very excessive MSRP no matter the place you’re on the planet. That’s as a result of present motherboard assist for Gen 5 NVMe SSDs is restricted to the latest AMD CPU technology with socket AM5 and the present crop of Intel LGA 1700 choices. You’re paying a reasonably penny to be an early adopter with out factoring in the price in, finally.
Talking of price, the Seagate FireCuda 540 at the moment retails for $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) for 1TB and $319.99 (roughly £260 / $AU$500) for 2TB which is way from low-cost.
For context, you possibly can at the moment discover Gen 4 options such because the aforementioned FireCuda 530 and the superb Kingston Fury Renegade SSD for a fraction of the worth for round a 30% efficiency discount. That’s lengthy been the case with early adoption, nevertheless, you’re paying a premium to be on the bleeding edge, and the outcomes do converse for themselves.
That’s as a result of the Seagate FireCuda 540 completely lives as much as its claims of 10,000 MB/s sequential efficiency with each its reads and writes when plugged into to a Gen 5 appropriate NVMe M.2 port. The query stays of whether or not you want this stage of sequential efficiency proper now, or in the event you simply need to be prepared for when a number of the greatest PC video games will take benefit.
Contemplating simply how sluggish the adoption of Gen 4 SSDs had been to the mainstream, having launched in 2019 earlier than being adopted in 2020 and 2021 for PC and PS5we could possibly be ready a few years to essentially see software program push this {hardware} in any significant method. Nonetheless, the Seagate FireCuda 540 is undoubtably a prime contender for greatest SSD of 2023, even when it nonetheless feels a bit forward of its time.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Worth & availability
- How a lot does it price? Beginning at $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300)
- When is it accessible? Out there now
- The place are you able to get it? Out there within the US, UK, and Australia
The Seagate FireCuda 540 is at the moment accessible within the US, the UK, and Australia with a beginning worth of $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) for 1TB and $319.99 (roughly £260 / $AU$500) for 2TB.
For distinction, that’s an analogous worth that you’ll count on to pay for Gen 5 choices such because the Corsair MP700 which carries an MSRP of $179.99 (about £147.99 / AU$280) for 1TB and $284.99 (round £230 / AU$430) for 2TB. Merely put, these Gen 5 drives are not at all low-cost and you’re paying a premium when getting in on the bottom ground.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Specs
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Seagate FireCuda 540 | Seagate FireCuda 530 |
|---|---|---|
| Worth | Beginning at $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) | Beginning at $69.99 (about £60 / AU$110) |
| Capacities | 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| Interface | PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe 2.0 | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.4 |
| Rated Sequential Learn | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 7,300MB/s |
| Rated Sequential Write | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 6,900MB/s |
| TB Written | As much as 2000TB | As much as 5100TB |
| Guarantee | 5-year Restricted | 5-year Restricted |
Seagate FireCuda 540: Design & options
Issues are saved easy when it comes to the bodily and visible design of the Seagate FireCuda 540, and that’s for the perfect contemplating it would reside below a motherboard heatsink from the second it’s put in into your PC. A easy sticker covers the controller and the DRAM with the corporate’s emblem and the title of the drive itself on one facet and that’s your lot.
Extra fascinating is the selection of controller itself. That’s as a result of the Seagate FireCuda 540 is working the Phison E26 controller, which is considerably sooner than the already wonderful Phison E18 controller as featured in lots of the greatest M.2 SSDs to hit the market over the past 4 years. That’s just one facet of the story, although, as a result of additional including to the lightning-fast efficiency right here is the 232-Layer Micron TLC flash reminiscence on board coupled with LPDDR4 DRAM cache for brief time period reminiscence reads, as many top-end drives embrace.
Whereas it is a Gen 5×4 drive by way of and thru, it’s additionally backwards appropriate with older 4×4 NVMe slots as effectively and can cap the efficiency out at round 7,300 MB/s learn and write respectively, nevertheless, in the event you don’t personal a PCIe 5.0-ready motherboard then you definitely’re burning cash shopping for considered one of these to serve because of this. The rated write endurance can be stable and roughly works out blow-for-blow with the capability itself. Our overview unit is rated at 2000TB for 2TB, nevertheless, the 1TB variant is sweet for 1000TB which is fairly first rate total.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Efficiency
It might price a reasonably penny however there’s no denying that the Seagate FireCuda 540 completely excels as on the top-end of what NVMe drives are bodily able to in 2023. In our industry-standard checks, equivalent to with CrystalDiskMark 8, the drive was completely in a position to hit the quoted efficiency caps by delivering 10,092.67 MB/s learn and 10,144.55 MB/s writes respectively which completely blows even the main Gen 4.0 fashions out of the water.
That is additional compounded by the random 4K learn and writes in addition to the Seagate FireCuda 540 supplied up 625.68 and 476 learn and write respectively, which is among the many greatest I’ve personally seen from an NVMe SSD in all my years of testing. AnvilPro additional highlighted the finesse of this drive with a complete total rating of 30,163.68 which I hadn’t personally seen go so excessive in all my many critiques of NVMe {hardware}. Typically talking, a top-end Gen 4 drive would output round 25,000, in order that’s a great 20% improve straight out of the gate.
Moreover, in our in-house 25GB file switch take a look at, the Seagate FireCuda 540 additional shined with a time of simply 16 seconds which comprised a complete of three,716 recordsdata together with paperwork, movies, pictures, and applications. That’s significantly quick, and goes to indicate the facility of the Phison E26 controller in tandem with the 232-Layer Micron TLC flash reminiscence.
When it comes to real-world file switch occasions, from a Gen 4 NVMe drive over to the Seagate FireCuda 540 is equally spectacular. This may be evidenced with Murderer’s Creed Valhalla’s mammoth file dimension of 158.78 GB transferring to the Gen 5 mannequin in simply 58 seconds. Equally, smaller titles equivalent to Deathloop with its 30.98 file dimension made the soar in solely 11 seconds which works out to round 3GB/sec. That’s blisteringly quick, and additional cements the sequential prowess of this drive in motion.
There’s a caveat, although, and that’s the truth that no PC video games proper now are actually optimized for blisteringly fast sequential efficiency on supply proper now. That isn’t to say that future releases gained’t be capable to take benefit, however video games don’t even want a Gen 4 but to run optimally barring a small listing of exceptions. What you’re finally shopping for is futureproofing and insurance coverage in order that greater video games that profit from an SSD will run flawlessly for additional overhead as an alternative of being an important buy proper now.
Do you have to purchase the Seagate FireCuda 540?
Purchase the Seagate FireCuda 540 if…
You need main sequential efficiency out of your NVMe SSD
The Seagate FireCuda 540 is unequalled in its sequential efficiency excelling as much as 10,000 MB/s learn and write respectively which few NVMe drives can boast proper now.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Additionally contemplate
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Seagate FireCuda 540 | WD Black SN850 | Kingston Fury Renegade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worth | Beginning at $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) | Beginning at $49.99 (about £40 / AU$75) | Beginning at $79.99 (about £65 / AU$125) |
| Capacities | 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| Interface | PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe |
| Rated Sequential Learn | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 7,000MB/s | As much as 7,300MB/s |
| Rated Sequential Write | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 5,100MB/s | As much as 7,000MB/s |
| TB Written | As much as 2000TB | As much as 1200TB | As much as 4000TB |
| Guarantee | 5-year Restricted | 5-year Restricted | 5-year Restricted |
First reviewed November 2023
