The SSD market moves almost as fast as the drives that populate it, with PCIe Gen5 options now leading the charge in terms of raw speed. This change in leadership conveniently knocks down the price of older, but still speedy storage making it more affordable to give your system a boost. Now, you’ll find former flagship models such as Crucial’s T500 at far more affordable prices.
Crucial T500
“Fuel your system performance with the Crucial T500 Gen4 NVMe SSD.” – Crucial
Over on Amazon US, you’ll find a T500 2TB for $135.99 netting you a saving of 30% ($64) compared to its list price. A 1TB model is also available for $89.99 with a 42% ($66) discount, crucially (pun intended) returning to its lowest ever price.
Across the pond, Amazon UK are selling T500 2TB for £116.99, down 35% (£63) from its RRP and a match for lowest ever pricing. Meanwhile you can bag a 1TB version for £74.99, slashing 42% (£55) from its usual price.
I believe T500 2TB is the better option of the two, if your budget can stretch to it. Not only is it the larger drive but it’s faster too, boasting respective sequential write and read speeds of 7,000MB/s and 7,400MB/s. Every MB helps in terms of space and speed, whether you’re moving large files or loading up a saved game.
These particular versions of T500 also come with their own pre-installed heatsink, making it easy to install into any motherboard without fear of it thermal throttling. It’s also compatible with PlayStation 5, if you’re in search of more storage for your console as well as your computer.
Like other NVMe SSDs, T500 has a comfortably large endurance rating of 600-1,200TB depending on the capacity of drive you opt for. Crucial also includes a five-year warranty with each model for added peace of mind. Suffice to say, any data on this solid-state drive is in safe hands.
