Essential is unveiling the newest addition to its Gen5 shopper NVMe SSD lineup right now – the T705 PCIe 5.0 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD. It takes over flagship duties from the Essential T700 launched final yr. The corporate has been placing give attention to the high-end shopper SSD section in the previous couple of quarters. The T700 was one of many first to supply greater than 12 GBps learn speeds, and the T705 being launched right now is among the first drives obtainable for buy within the 14+ GBps learn speeds class.
The Essential T705 makes use of the identical platform because the T700 from final yr – Phison’s E26 controller with Micron’s B58R 232L 3D TLC NAND. The important thing distinction is the B58R NAND working at 2400 MT/s within the new T705 (in comparison with the 2000 MT/s within the T700). Micron’s 232L NAND course of has now matured sufficient for the corporate to place out 2400 MT/s variations with sufficient margins. Just like the T700, this drive is focused in direction of avid gamers, content material creators, {and professional} customers in addition to data-heavy AI use-cases.
The transfer to 2400 MT/s NAND has allowed Essential to say a rise within the efficiency of the drive in all 4 corners – as much as 20% sooner random writes, and 18% larger sequential reads. Moreover, Essential additionally claims extra bandwidth in an identical energy window for the brand new drive.
The T705 is launching in three capacities – 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. Each heatsink and non-heatsink variations can be found. Essential can be providing a white heatsink restricted version for the 2TB model. This caters to customers with white-themed motherboards which might be more and more gaining market presence.
Phison has been pushing DirectStorage optimizations in its high-end controllers, and it’s no shock that the T705 advertises using Phison’s ‘I/O+ Know-how’ to enchantment to avid gamers. Given its high-performance nature, it’s no shock that the E26 controller must be geared up with DRAM for managing the flash translation layer (FTL). Essential is utilizing Micron LPDDR4 DRAM (1GB / TB of flash) within the T705 for this function.
| Essential T705 Gen5 NVMe SSD Specs | ||||
| Capability | 1 TB | 2 TB | 4 TB | |
| Mannequin Numbers | CT1000T705SSD3 (Non-Heatsink) CT1000T705SSD5 (Heatsink) |
CT2000T705SSD3 (Non-Heatsink) CT2000T705SSD5 (Black Heatsink) CT2000T705SSD5A (White Heatsink) |
CT4000T705SSD3 (Non-Heatsink) CT4000T705SSD5 (Heatsink) |
|
| Controller | Phison PS5026-E26 | |||
| NAND Flash | Micron B58R 232L 3D TLC NAND at 2400 MT/s | |||
| Type-Issue, Interface | Double-Sided M.2-2280, PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 | |||
| Sequential Learn | 13600 MB/s | 14500 MB/s | 14100 MB/s | |
| Sequential Write | 10200 MB/s | 12700 MB/s | 12600 MB/s | |
| Random Learn IOPS | 1.4 M | 1.55 M | 1.5 M | |
| Random Write IOPS | 1.75 M | 1.8 M | 1.8 M | |
| SLC Caching | Dynamic (as much as 11% of consumer capability) | |||
| TCG Opal Encryption | Sure | |||
| Guarantee | 5 years | |||
| Write Endurance | 600 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
1200 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
2400 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
|
| MSRP | $240 (24¢/GB) (Non- Heatsink) $260 (26¢/GB) (Heatsink) |
$400 (20¢/GB) (Non- Heatsink) $440 (22¢/GB) (Black Heatsink) $484 (24.2¢/GB) (White Heatsink) |
$714 (17.85¢/GB) (Non- Heatsink) $730 (18.25¢/GB) (Heatsink) |
|
Essential is assured that the provided passive heatsink is sufficient to maintain the T705 from heavy throttling underneath prolonged use. The firmware throttling kicks in at 81C and protecting shutdown at 90C. Flash pricing will not be fairly as little as it was final yr, and the 2400 MT/s flash permits Micron / Essential to put a premium on the product. On the 4TB capability level, the drive will be bought for as little as 18¢/GB, however the conventional 1TB and 2TB ones go for 20 – 26 ¢/GB relying on the heatsink choice.
There are a selection of Gen5 shopper SSDs slated to look out there over the following few months utilizing the identical 2400 MT/s B58R 3D TLC NAND and Phison’s E26 controller (Sabrent’s Rocket 5 is one such drive). The Essential / Micron vertical integration on the NAND entrance could provide some benefit for the T705 in the case of the pricing facet in opposition to such SSDs. That mentioned, the Gen5 shopper SSD market continues to be in its infancy with just one mass market (Phison E26) controller within the image. The rise in shopper demand for these high-performance SSDs could coincide with different distributors equivalent to Innogrit (with their IG5666) and Silicon Movement (with their SM2508) gaining traction. At the moment, Essential / Micron (with their Phison partnership) is the one Tier-1 vendor with a high-performance shopper Gen5 SSD portfolio, and the T705 cements their management place within the class additional.
