Crucial's PCie 5.0 SSD slows to a crawl due to thermal throttling
You can always expect flagship M.2 NVMe Gen 5 SSDs, with fast read/write speeds, to run hot, especially SSDs based on the Phison E26 series controller. If cooling fans are removed, thermal issues can arise with Crucial's T700 drives, affecting overall performance. According to a social media post by ComputerBase, the German tech website tested the Crucial T700. The results were unimpressive. The test shows transfer speeds can throttle down comparable to a spinning HDD.
Several publications at CES 2023 ( which took place this past January) previewed the Phison E26 SSD featuring a heatsink and an active fan, even though Phison stated a cooler is not required. However, inquiring minds want to know why a cooler was attached to the SSD. First, it is worth noting that past-generation M.2 NVMe SSDs don't require coolers for daily functions. But from my experience, these new PCIe 5.0 drives tend to run very hotly.
Image source:ComputerBase
As you can see in the image above, a test was conducted by the tech publication using system info tools and CrystalDiskMark, running on a PC system using the Crucial's T700 PCIe 5.0 SSD. During the initial disk read test, you'll notice the drive's thermal throttling and depleted performance. The SSD does have an impressive 12GB/s read speed; however, the test shows transfer speeds that offer an abysmal 0. 1GB/s or lower, ouch. That is slow for a modern PCIe 5.0 solid-state drive with highly anticipated features. Also, remember that the thermal throttling results from the cooler being detached from the storage drive. As you can see from published testing, not having a cooler on this drive can impede the storage drive's overall performance.
The Corsair MP700 SSD is also susceptible to thermal throttling. Ironically, the drive is also based on the Phison E26 controller and Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND. As a result, under extreme workloads, the Corsair MP700 SSD may also experience thermal shutdown.
Phison has just produced new firmware for its E26 controller partners to remedy this issue. The firmware fix should benefit brands with hot controllers, including Corsair and Crucial, ADATA, Gigabyte, and other manufacturers.
