KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite 2TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD Review

The storage market is packed full of big-name brands, each with its own high-performance solutions! I have certainly tested many of them over the years, but when it comes to KLEVV, this is my first SSD of theirs, having only reviewed the brand’s RAM products in recent years. However, if their storage is as high-quality and fast as their memory, then we’re certainly in for a treat today!

KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite

The new KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite is a PCIe Gen 4×4 drive, and of course, as the name suggests, this is the “lite” version, so we’re not expecting it to be the fastest drive in the world, but Gen4 is hardly slow, and with a mature platform, this drive can deliver stable performance with up to 5000 MB/s read and 4200 MB/s write speeds. With the latest 3D NAND, NVMe 1.4, SLC caching, and up to 4TB capacity, it’s ticking all the right boxes for a high-end M.2 SSD while keeping the cost more affordable.

• Accelerated Performance for Work and Play: Take advantage of the PCIe Gen4 technology, boasting impressive read/write speeds of up to 5000/4200MB/s. This translates to an enhanced experience for gamers, creatives, and professionals. (*Results measured on the 2TB model. Performance may vary based on different hardware test platforms, software, operating systems, etc.)
• Up to 4TB Capacity: The CRAS C910 Lite offers up to 4TB capacity in a compact size, allowing you to have easy access to all your important files and favourite games right at your fingertips. (For AAA games that are around 100GB, a 4TB SSD would be capable of storing 40 AAA games.)
• Ultra-slim Single-sided SSD: With its ultra-thin, single-sided SSD architecture, the CRAS C910 Lite is designed for optimal heat management and compatibility with various compact form factor devices such as mini-PCs and laptops.
• Cutting-Edge 3D NAND Inside: Utilizing meticulously selected 3D NAND chip for better durability & performance, the CRAS C910 Lite delivers reliable quality with prominent TBW(Terabytes Written) that you get to use at ease.(*TBW: Total terabytes of data the SSD can write in its lifetime)
• Optimal Gaming Performance: The CRAS C910 Lite provides ample storage for all your latest games, ensuring that you never have to sacrifice storage space. With its exceptionally quick read/write speeds, it significantly reduces load times, enabling you to dive straight into the game without delay.
• Accelerate Your Workflow: Boost your productivity with the CRAS C910 Lite. Enhance your efficiency as you multitask by switching seamlessly between different professional software.
• Includes FREE Backup & Migration Software: KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite SSD includes a software activation key of Acronis True Image HD, which offers comprehensive disk-image backup and universal restore, enabling users to effortlessly transfer data from their existing drive.
• Compliant with International Standards: All KLEVV products are designed and tested to ensure compliance with regulations/standards that are internationally recognised.

For in-depth features and specifications, please visit the official KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite 2TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD product page here.

Packaging & Accessories

The box looks great, with a foil KLEVV logo in the corner that grabs your attention, a clear photo of the SSD right on the front, and we can see the capacity, read speeds, and all the key features right up front, which is great.

Around the back, there’s a full rundown of all the key features, and what performance to expect from all the capacities in this range, and honestly, it’s nice to see everything you need to know so clearly laid out, I wish more brands did this properly.

A Closer Look

The drive is a pretty typical-looking M.2, with the very common M.2 2280 form factor, so it’s widely compatible with most laptops and desktop systems. All capacities, the 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB are all the same form factor and come with a single-sided design.

As such, the back of the PCB is just plain old PCB, nothing to see here really. However, this keeps the device slim and will improve compatibility with more compact notebooks.

The drive user TLC 3D NAND Flash, albeit that’s pretty much in line with what all drives use now, so no big surprises there. It also uses a modified Phison PS5021-E21T controller, it’s a more affordable controller compared to the popular E18, but given the PCIe 4×4 and write speeds, and that it features a DRAM-less design, it’s well suited for this drive and keeps the cost down too. And that’s about it, it’s pretty simple really, so let’s get to testing!

Preparation

The drive will be formatted as NTFS with default settings, as most users will do. The quick format option isn’t used as that might affect the performance the first time data is written.

Modern operating systems all take care of the TRIM command in the background and it isn’t something to worry about for regular users. However, for these reviews, I will add a waiting period between each benchmark to make sure that the TRIM command has been fully executed and finished. After all, we want a clear picture of the drive’s performance with minimal interference from the operating system.

Data

We will start with a typical benchmark analysis of the formatted drive with various fillage scenarios. However, depending on how a drive is built, the performance may differ depending on how much data it is already storing. The drive will be tested empty and at 25%, 50%, and 75% space usage for this area. We’re using Anvil’s Storage Utilities and CrystalDiskMark for this part of the review.

Hardware

• Processor: Intel Core i9 12900K
• Graphics Card: XFX Speedster RX 6800 XT MERC
• Motherboard: ROG MAXIMUS X690 EXTREME
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5200Mhz 32GB(2x16GB)
• Storage: Seagate FireCuda 530 PCIe Gen 4 2TB M.2 (Primary Drive)
• Power Supply: NZXT C1000 Gold
• Case: NZXT H7 Flow
• Cooling: NZXT Kraken Z73 RGB

Software

• CrystalDiskMark
• Anvil’s Storage Utilities
• ATTO Benchmark
• Windows 11 64-bit

This isn’t the fastest drive we’ve ever seen, but with performance rated to deliver up to 5000 MB/s read and 4200 MB/s write speeds, it’s exceeding that in our first benchmark, with 5044 MB/s and 4360 MB/s read and write respectively.

IOPS look similarly great, punching just a little bit above what we expected to see from the given specification, which is a good thing.

With a score of 22743, it’s also maxing out that rated speed in Anvil, and while we’ve seen similar drives push closer to 26,000 design, it will be somewhat slowed down by the DRAM-less design, but hey, it’s also much more affordable too, so it’s a fair trade-off.

This is great to see, as you can see the drive ramps up to near full speed very early, starting from around 32 KB files, and stays consistent up to 64 MB.

AS SSD usually comes in lower than CrystalDiskMark, but even with that in mind, these scores are still pretty strong with good sequential read and writes across the board, and fast access times too.

This may be a more affordable M.2 drive, but it’s still pretty fast, and easily 8-9x the performance of the older 2.5″ SATA SSDs we all used to aspire to.

Again, very consistent IOPS, and the same 9120 score we saw in previous runs while testing the read and write speeds.

When it comes to testing the read and write for large format and high-resolution videos, again, it’s an easy pass for this drive, having no issues keeping up with the demands of capturing 4K 10bit video.

Loading the latest games is easy enough, with fast repones times and read speeds, and move game speeds are about half the drive read/write which is consistent given we’re reading and writing to the same drive.

Compression looks good, with consistent read speeds and fast bursts of write when the CPU has finished unpacking each part of the compressed file.

Overall, this drive performed just above what was expected of it, and at the same time the temperature didn’t exceed 75c, so at no point did the drive enter a state of throttling to manage heat, meaning performance was consistent throughout.

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t see UK stock of the KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite 2TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD at the time of writing, but this drive is available on Amazon US for a very reasonable $109.99 for the 2TB, $51.99 for the 1TB and just $33.99 for the 500GB version, making it pleasantly affordable. Even looking at the Amazon reviews, it’s sitting at 4.5/5 stars, so people are largely very happy with these drives after 300+ ratings. Honestly, so am I, for a DRAM-less drive, and such a low price, you would be fooled into thinking it’s not all that… but it’s plenty fast and constant, and I really couldn’t ask for much more at this price range.

Overview

I’m sure we’d all love Gen5 RAID drives delivering 10,000 MB/s+ but honestly, not all of us need that, can afford that, or even more so, have systems that can run drives at those speeds. When it comes to getting your games to load faster and your OS to feel snappier while you’re working, a PCIe Gen4x4 drive is hardly technology from the dark ages. This drive is very quick, and read speeds of over 5000 MB/s make it about 8-10x faster than the fastest 2.5″ SATA SSDs, and a great entry point for those looking to get into the world of M.2 storage, or just to expand their current storage without spending a small fortune.

There’s not a lot in the way of features here, but there’s certainly enough. The drive features an ultra-slim single-sided design. If you’re putting this in your PC, that likely won’t make much of a difference. However, if you’re fitting it into a notebook or similar slim design, it can improve compatibility.

It features 3D NAND, albeit that’s pretty standard for an M.2 these days, but with good NAND and the Phison PS5021-E21T controller, it features SLC Caching, SMART monitoring, Data Protection, CRC Parity, SRAM error detection, LDPC ECC and global wear levelling, and AES 256-bit Encryption. The only other one is the Advanced Thermal Throttling Algorithm, but throughout our testing, we were running the drive pretty hard and didn’t encounter any scenario where the drive got so hot it had to throttle.

Should I Buy One?

With a Gen4 architecture, the KLEVV CRAS C910 Lite 2TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD delivers consistent and reliable performance at an affordable price point. It promised to hit up to 5000 MB/s read and 4200 MB/s write, and in some scenarios, we found it exceeded that in our testing. For gamers, professionals, or just those who just want a nice performance boost or more storage, it does tick all the right boxes.