Which is better, Crucial T705 2TB or Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB? July 2026 side-by-side with prices, specs, and verdict.
Both run on Gen 5 hardware but at different capacities: 2 TB for the Crucial T705 2TB versus 1 TB for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB. Whether the larger drive's $/TB advantage justifies the higher upfront cost depends on how much you actually need.
Hardware-wise, the Crucial T705 2TB runs on the Phison E26 — the first widely-deployed Gen 5 controller, capable but thermally demanding. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB pairs the dual-mode Samsung Piccolo silicon that uniquely runs PCIe 5.0 x2 or PCIe 4.0 x4.
Crucial T705 2TB's $203.00/TB pricing edges out Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB's $244.00/TB by about 17%. Not transformative, but a real difference at 2-4 TB capacities where it adds up.
Read speeds favor the Crucial T705 2TB: 14,500 MB/s versus 7,250 MB/s for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB, a 50% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The Crucial T705 2TB writes about 50% faster (12,700 MB/s vs 6,300 MB/s). Whether that matters depends entirely on what you write to the drive — gameplay capture and large project saves benefit, browsing and gaming do not.
Crucial T705 2TB bundles a DRAM cache chip; Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB is DRAM-less. This sounds like a big deal but reviewers have been arguing for years about whether it actually matters in consumer use. For most workloads, no.
On warranty endurance the Crucial T705 2TB carries 1,200 TBW against Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB's 600 TBW. Both will outlast typical use, but the gap matters if you're doing professional content work.
For PlayStation 5 builds, the console's internal M.2 slot tops out around 5,500 MB/s sustained, so both Crucial T705 2TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB hit the same wall — pick whichever is cheaper at the moment you buy. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the Crucial T705 2TB's 12,700 MB/s sustained write speed. Both drives use the 2280 form factor, which is too long for Steam Deck or ROG Ally — you'd need a 2230 variant if either manufacturer offers one, or a dedicated handheld-format drive instead.
Market context: the Crucial T705 2TB ranks #8 of 11 Gen 5 2 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB ranks #3 of 6 Gen 5 1 TB drives. Neither is a value leader right now — if $/TB is your priority, check the cheaper alternatives below before committing.
Lean toward the Crucial T705 2TB when better $/TB economics ($203.00/TB), meaningfully faster reads (14,500 MB/s), higher sustained writes (12,700 MB/s), a higher TBW endurance rating (1,200 TBW), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip top your priority list. Crucial drives benefit from being a direct Micron product — the same NAND that powers competitors' drives, but at lower margins.
Lean toward the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB when the lower retail price ($244 vs $406) top your priority list. Among Samsung's lineup, the 990 EVO Plus is the only consumer drive that physically supports dual-generation PCIe — same hardware, different bus speed depending on platform.