Side-by-side: Crucial T710 1TB ($227) vs Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB ($369). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
Both run on Gen 5 hardware but at different capacities: 1 TB for the Crucial T710 1TB versus 2 TB for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB. Whether the larger drive's $/TB advantage justifies the higher upfront cost depends on how much you actually need.
Hardware-wise, the Crucial T710 1TB runs on the SMI SM2508 — a 6nm Gen 5 controller running notably cooler than first-gen Phison E26 designs. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB pairs the dual-mode Samsung Piccolo silicon that uniquely runs PCIe 5.0 x2 or PCIe 4.0 x4.
Prices favor the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB by $42.50/TB ($184.50/TB versus $227.00/TB). Not a huge gap, but enough to be the tiebreaker if performance is similar.
Read speeds favor the Crucial T710 1TB: 14,900 MB/s versus 7,250 MB/s for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB, a 51% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The Crucial T710 1TB writes about 48% faster (12,000 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.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: Crucial T710 1TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
On warranty endurance the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB carries 1,200 TBW against Crucial T710 1TB's 600 TBW. Both will outlast typical use, but the gap matters if you're doing professional content work.
For PS5 expansion, both are PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2280 drives that meet Sony's minimum spec (7,250 MB/s read). The console can't take advantage of speeds beyond that, so save money by choosing the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the Crucial T710 1TB's 12,000 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 T710 1TB ranks #2 of 6 Gen 5 1 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB ranks #4 of 11 Gen 5 2 TB drives. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
Go with the Crucial T710 1TB for the lower retail price ($227 vs $369), meaningfully faster reads (14,900 MB/s), higher sustained writes (12,000 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. Crucial drives benefit from being a direct Micron product — the same NAND that powers competitors' drives, but at lower margins.
Go with the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB for better $/TB economics ($184.50/TB), and a higher TBW endurance rating (1,200 TBW). 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.