Seagate FireCuda 540: 90-second evaluate
The Seagate FireCuda 540 is among the first high-profile Gen 5 NVMe SSDs to hit the market for many who are operating one of many finest processors for gaming and finest motherboards which might be PCIe 5.0 appropriate.
It’s greater than only a successor to the broadly standard Seagate FireCuda 530 from a few years in the past, although, it’s a drive that exhibits you precisely what the subsequent era is able to, however at a value.
The best price shall be to your pockets, as a result of this flagship Gen 5 NVMe SSD carries a very excessive MSRP no matter the place you might be on this planet. That’s as a result of present motherboard help for Gen 5 NVMe SSDs is proscribed to the latest AMD CPU era with socket AM5 and the present crop of Intel LGA 1700 choices. You’re paying a reasonably penny to be an early adopter with out factoring in the associated fee in, finally.
Talking of price, the Seagate FireCuda 540 at present retails for $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) for 1TB and $319.99 (roughly £260 / $AU$500) for 2TB which is much from low-cost.
For context, you possibly can at present discover Gen 4 alternate options such because the aforementioned FireCuda 530 and the wonderful Kingston Fury Renegade SSD for a fraction of the value for round a 30% efficiency discount. That’s lengthy been the case with early adoption, nevertheless, you’re paying a premium to be on the bleeding edge, and the outcomes do communicate for themselves.
That’s as a result of the Seagate FireCuda 540 completely lives as much as its claims of 10,000 MB/s sequential efficiency with each its reads and writes when plugged into to a Gen 5 appropriate NVMe M.2 port. The query stays of whether or not you want this degree of sequential efficiency proper now, or in case you simply need to be prepared for when a number of the finest PC video games will take benefit.
Contemplating simply how gradual the adoption of Gen 4 SSDs had been to the mainstream, having launched in 2019 earlier than being adopted in 2020 and 2021 for PC and PS5, we could possibly be ready a few years to essentially see software program push this {hardware} in any significant method. Nonetheless, the Seagate FireCuda 540 is undoubtably a high contender for finest SSD of 2023, even when it nonetheless feels a bit forward of its time.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Value & availability
- How a lot does it price? Beginning at $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300)
- When is it obtainable? Out there now
- The place are you able to get it? Out there within the US, UK, and Australia
The Seagate FireCuda 540 is at present obtainable within the US, the UK, and Australia with a beginning value of $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) for 1TB and $319.99 (roughly £260 / $AU$500) for 2TB.
For distinction, that’s an identical value that you’ll count on to pay for Gen 5 choices such because the Corsair MP700 which carries an MSRP of $179.99 (about £147.99 / AU$280) for 1TB and $284.99 (round £230 / AU$430) for 2TB. Merely put, these Gen 5 drives are under no circumstances low-cost and you might be paying a premium when getting in on the bottom ground.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Specs
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Seagate FireCuda 540 | Seagate FireCuda 530 |
|---|---|---|
| Value | Beginning at $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) | Beginning at $69.99 (about £60 / AU$110) |
| Capacities | 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| Interface | PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe 2.0 | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.4 |
| Rated Sequential Learn | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 7,300MB/s |
| Rated Sequential Write | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 6,900MB/s |
| TB Written | As much as 2000TB | As much as 5100TB |
| Guarantee | 5-year Restricted | 5-year Restricted |
Seagate FireCuda 540: Design & options
Issues are saved easy when it comes to the bodily and visible design of the Seagate FireCuda 540, and that’s for the very best contemplating it can stay beneath a motherboard heatsink from the second it’s put in into your PC. A easy sticker covers the controller and the DRAM with the corporate’s brand and the title of the drive itself on one facet and that’s your lot.
Extra fascinating is the selection of controller itself. That’s as a result of the Seagate FireCuda 540 is operating the Phison E26 controller, which is considerably sooner than the already glorious Phison E18 controller as featured in lots of the finest M.2 SSDs to hit the market during the last 4 years. That’s just one facet of the story, although, as a result of additional including to the lightning-fast efficiency right here is the 232-Layer Micron TLC flash reminiscence on board coupled with LPDDR4 DRAM cache for brief time period reminiscence reads, as many top-end drives embrace.
Whereas it is a Gen 5×4 drive by way of and thru, it’s additionally backwards appropriate with older 4×4 NVMe slots as properly and can cap the efficiency out at round 7,300 MB/s learn and write respectively, nevertheless, in case you don’t personal a PCIe 5.0-ready motherboard you then’re burning cash shopping for considered one of these to serve for that reason. The rated write endurance can be strong and roughly works out blow-for-blow with the capability itself. Our evaluate unit is rated at 2000TB for 2TB, nevertheless, the 1TB variant is nice for 1000TB which is fairly respectable general.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Efficiency
It could price a reasonably penny however there’s no denying that the Seagate FireCuda 540 completely excels as on the top-end of what NVMe drives are bodily able to in 2023. In our industry-standard assessments, resembling with CrystalDiskMark 8, the drive was completely in a position to hit the quoted efficiency caps by delivering 10,092.67 MB/s learn and 10,144.55 MB/s writes respectively which completely blows even the main Gen 4.0 fashions out of the water.
That is additional compounded by the random 4K learn and writes in addition to the Seagate FireCuda 540 supplied up 625.68 and 476 learn and write respectively, which is among the many finest I’ve personally seen from an NVMe SSD in all my years of testing. AnvilPro additional highlighted the finesse of this drive with a complete general rating of 30,163.68 which I hadn’t personally seen go so excessive in all my many critiques of NVMe {hardware}. Typically talking, a top-end Gen 4 drive would output round 25,000, in order that’s an excellent 20% enhance straight out of the gate.
Moreover, in our in-house 25GB file switch check, the Seagate FireCuda 540 additional shined with a time of simply 16 seconds which comprised a complete of three,716 information together with paperwork, movies, photographs, and applications. That’s significantly quick, and goes to indicate the ability of the Phison E26 controller in tandem with the 232-Layer Micron TLC flash reminiscence.
By way of real-world file switch instances, from a Gen 4 NVMe drive over to the Seagate FireCuda 540 is equally spectacular. This may be evidenced with Murderer’s Creed Valhalla’s mammoth file measurement of 158.78 GB transferring to the Gen 5 mannequin in simply 58 seconds. Equally, smaller titles resembling Deathloop with its 30.98 file measurement made the soar in solely 11 seconds which works out to round 3GB/sec. That’s blisteringly quick, and additional cements the sequential prowess of this drive in motion.
There’s a caveat, although, and that’s the truth that no PC video games proper now are actually optimized for blisteringly fast sequential efficiency on supply proper now. That isn’t to say that future releases gained’t be capable to take benefit, however video games don’t even want a Gen 4 but to run optimally barring a small record of exceptions. What you’re finally shopping for is futureproofing and insurance coverage in order that larger video games that profit from an SSD will run flawlessly for additional overhead as a substitute of being a vital buy proper now.
Do you have to purchase the Seagate FireCuda 540?
Purchase the Seagate FireCuda 540 if…
You need main sequential efficiency out of your NVMe SSD
The Seagate FireCuda 540 is unequalled in its sequential efficiency excelling as much as 10,000 MB/s learn and write respectively which few NVMe drives can boast proper now.
Seagate FireCuda 540: Additionally contemplate
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Seagate FireCuda 540 | WD Black SN850 | Kingston Fury Renegade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Beginning at $189.99 (round £150 / AU$300) | Beginning at $49.99 (about £40 / AU$75) | Beginning at $79.99 (about £65 / AU$125) |
| Capacities | 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| Interface | PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe |
| Rated Sequential Learn | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 7,000MB/s | As much as 7,300MB/s |
| Rated Sequential Write | As much as 10,000MB/s | As much as 5,100MB/s | As much as 7,000MB/s |
| TB Written | As much as 2000TB | As much as 1200TB | As much as 4000TB |
| Guarantee | 5-year Restricted | 5-year Restricted | 5-year Restricted |
First reviewed November 2023
