Crucial T705 4TB ($613) vs Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ($585). $/TB analysis, performance, and use-case recommendations.
Crucial T705 4TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB are direct competitors — same generation, same capacity. Choose by controller behavior under sustained load, DRAM/HMB cache strategy, and $/TB economics.
Hardware-wise, the Crucial T705 4TB runs on the Phison E26 — the first widely-deployed Gen 5 controller, capable but thermally demanding. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB pairs the dual-mode Samsung Piccolo silicon that uniquely runs PCIe 5.0 x2 or PCIe 4.0 x4.
Read speeds favor the Crucial T705 4TB: 14,500 MB/s versus 7,250 MB/s for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB, a 50% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The Crucial T705 4TB 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.
Cache architecture differs: Crucial T705 4TB has DRAM hardware, Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB uses HMB. For OS, gaming, browsing — indistinguishable. For databases, large file ops, or 4K video editing — DRAM has a small but consistent edge.
PS5 owners get no measurable benefit from either drive's peak speed because Sony's internal NVMe controller throttles to ~5,500 MB/s; treat Crucial T705 4TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the Crucial T705 4TB'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.
How do these two fit the wider Gen 5 4 TB field? Out of 6 tracked drives, the Crucial T705 4TB is #2 on $/TB and the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB is #1. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
As of July 27, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the Crucial T705 4TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB on $/TB:
The Crucial T705 4TB is the right call if meaningfully faster reads (14,500 MB/s), higher sustained writes (12,700 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip matter to you. Crucial drives benefit from being a direct Micron product — the same NAND that powers competitors' drives, but at lower margins.
The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB is the right call if the lower retail price ($585 vs $613), and better $/TB economics ($146.25/TB) matter to you. 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.