ORICO IG740-PRO Review: A Solid PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD

If you call the ORICO IG740-PRO “just another” PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSD, you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s indeed one of many you can find on the market.

However, considering that PCIe 4 is the sweet spot for NVMe SSDs, this is an internal drive more than worth considering. It’s an excellent alternative to the more expensive Crucial P310.

Here’s the bottom line: If you’re looking for a well-performing NVMe SSD that won’t break your bank, the ORICO IG740-PRO will make a good buy. The drive is competitively affordable, fast, and comes with few extras that will make getting it up and running a breeze in any situation where a standard M.2 2280 NVMe SSD fits.

ORICO IG740-PRO: An affordable MVNe SSD with some bells and whistles

While priced lower than the Crucial P310 mainstream drive, the ORICO IG740-PRO actually has some extras.

First, you’ll note that it comes with a thin heatsink and thermal paste that you can quickly attach to the SSD itself. There’s so a little screw wich can come in handy in case the one included with the motherboard has gone missing.

On this front, the Crucial drive comes in different versions, naked and heatsinked. There’s also the compact 2230 form factor. You’ll need to decide which fits your needs in advance.

The table below shows the hardware specs of the two SSDs.

ORICO IG740-PRO vs. Crucial P310: Hardware specifications

	ORICO IG740-PRO	Micron Crucial P310
Capacities	1TB, 2TB	2230: 1TB, 2TB 2280: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Interface	PCIe Gen 4×4
Design (availability)	M.2 2280 (November, 2024)	M.2 2230 (07/17/2024) M.2 2280 (9/17/2024)
Controller	Undisclosed	Phison E27T 4-channel DRAM-less controller
NAND Flash Memory	TLC 232 Layers	Micron Advanced 3D NAND
Security	AES 256-bit Encryption	None
Sequential Read (estimate)	1TB: 7100MB/s 2TB: 7400MB/s	1TB, 2TB: 7100 MB/s 500GB: 6600 MB/s
Sequential Write	6500MB/s	1TB, 2TB: 6000 MB/s 500GB: 3500 MB/s
Endurance (terabytes written)	600 TBW per TB	220 TBW per TB
Software	None	Crucial Storage Executive
Heatsink	Included as accessories	Yes (2280 version only)
Warranty	5 years
US Price (Check street price!)	$66.49 (1TB) $139.99 (2TB)	$50 (500GB) $115 (1TB) $215 (2TB)

Good endurance, no user-accessible features

As shown in the table above, the ORICO IG740-PRO also has more than its Crucial counterpart on the inside.

It has built-in hardware encryption and a significantly higher endurance rating of 600 TBW per TB, compared to the 220 TBW per TB of the Crucial P310. Higher endurance generally translates into better longevity, which is essential for those who write a lot to their internal storage.

In return, the ORICO drive has no dashboard software and therefore no user-accessible features, such as firmware updates or overprovisioning. In most cases, though, you can use most SSDs as is with their default settings.

ORICO IG740-PRO: Typical PCIe Gen 4×4 performance, runs cool

I tested and used the ORICO IG740-PRO for a couple of days before publishing this review, and it proved to be a typical PCIe Gen 4×4 SSD. The drive delivers the speedy data rates in copy performance, similar to that of an average NVMe SSD. It wasn’t the fastest, nor wasn’t close to the slowest.

The drive performed similarly in random access tests, with its read performance ending right in the middle of the pack. However, its write performance was clearly behind the Crucial P310.

Still, in real-world usage, the ORICO IG740-PRO proved to be as fast as any NVMe SSD of the same PCIe standard. The host computer booted fast and launched most applications almost instantly.

What was likely more significant was that the drive ran cool, even without the included heat-dissipating accessories. I used it as is (naked) for days on end without any issue, and the drive remained relatively cool to the touch on my open testbed.

Conclusion

The ORICO IG740-PRO has an excellent performance-to-cost ratio. If you’re in the market for a good PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSD, it’s definitely a viable option. The drive is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, with the 4TB on the way. While the ORICO brand is relatively new, and only time will tell how long its hardware lasts, this internal drive has enough potential to deserve a chance. So, consider it today!