Klevv CRAS C920 1TB — PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Review
The Klevv CRAS C920 1TB is the SK Hynix consumer brand’s Phison E18 flagship, pairing Micron 3D TLC with 7,000 MB/s reads and a generous factory heatsink at a competitive price.
Klevv is the consumer-facing brand of SK Hynix — one of the world's largest NAND and DRAM manufacturers — and the CRAS C920 represents the brand's flagship PCIe 4.0 offering. The drive is built on the Phison PS5018-E18 controller, an eight-channel, 12 nm design that defined the second generation of PCIe 4.0 SSDs. Klevv pairs the E18 with Micron 3D TLC NAND (a notable choice given Klevv's SK Hynix parentage, but confirmed in independent teardowns) and a 1 GB DDR4 DRAM cache. The rated sequential speeds are 7,000 MB/s read and 5,500 MB/s write for the 1 TB model — the write speed being lower than the 2 TB variant's 6,850 MB/s due to the reduced NAND parallelism at the smaller capacity.
The CRAS C920 ships with a distinctive finned aluminium heatsink in a striking geometric design, which is one of the drive's strongest selling points at its price tier. The heatsink provides meaningful thermal relief for the E18 controller under sustained writes, keeping temperatures in the 50–60 °C range even under full load. The endurance rating of 700 TBW over the 5-year warranty period matches the Phison E18 reference specification and exceeds the 600 TBW offered by Samsung and WD on their 1 TB PCIe 4.0 flagships. Klevv markets the C920 with an emphasis on the heatsink and the brand's association with SK Hynix's manufacturing pedigree, which gives it a credibility advantage over less-established SSD brands.
As a relatively young consumer brand (Klevv launched in 2014), distribution varies by region, with stronger retail presence in Asia-Pacific markets and growing availability in Europe and North America through online channels. The 5-year warranty and SK Hynix backing provide reassurance that smaller SSD brands cannot easily match. For buyers seeking a fully-equipped Phison E18 drive with a functional included heatsink at a mid-range price, the CRAS C920 1 TB is a well-rounded option.
✅ Storage Comparisons:
🚀 Performance and benchmarks
The 1 TB CRAS C920 delivers the expected Phison E18 performance profile with the 5,500 MB/s write ceiling reflecting the reduced NAND parallelism at 1 TB versus the 2 TB model. CrystalDiskMark sequential reads land at 6,950–7,050 MB/s, and cached sequential writes reach 5,400–5,550 MB/s. QD1 4K random reads sit in the 82–90 MB/s range, writes at 260–290 MB/s — typical for the E18 and competitive with in-house controllers from Samsung and WD. The pSLC write cache on the 1 TB model absorbs roughly 90–110 GB at full speed before transitioning to TLC writes at 1,300–1,600 MB/s. A full-drive fill averages 2,200–2,500 MB/s. Thermal performance with the included finned heatsink is a highlight: controller temperatures stay in the 50–60 °C range under sustained writes with no throttling. Without the heatsink, the drive behaves like any other E18 module.
Klevv CRAS C920 1 TB vs M.2 4.0 x 4 peers
Switch between sequential throughput and random IOPS to see how this drive stacks up against other M.2 4.0 x 4 SSDs in our database. The highlighted bar is the drive on this page — click any other bar to open that drive.
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,650 MB/s write
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 2 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 6,850 MB/s write
- Asgard AN4 512 GB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,500 MB/s write
- Asgard AN4 1 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,500 MB/s write
- Klevv CRAS C920 1 TB (this drive): 6,600 MB/s read, 5,000 MB/s write
🖥️ Endurance and warranty
Klevv backs the CRAS C920 1 TB with a 5-year limited warranty and an endurance rating of 700 TBW. This matches the Phison E18 reference specification and exceeds the 600 TBW offered by Samsung and WD at 1 TB. The 5-year warranty is the industry standard for premium TLC PCIe 4.0 drives and reflects Klevv's positioning of the C920 as a flagship product. As an SK Hynix subsidiary, Klevv benefits from the parent company's manufacturing scale and quality infrastructure, though warranty service is handled through Klevv's own regional distribution channels rather than SK Hynix's enterprise support network. The 700 TBW endurance budget provides approximately 385 GB of writes per day over the warranty period — ample for any consumer workload.
📊 Specs
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Capacity [?] | 1 TB |
| Interface [?] | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller [?] | Micron in-house |
| Memory type [?] | Micron 3D TLC |
| DRAM [?] | DDR4 Cache |
| Read speed (MB/s) [?] | 6600 |
| Write speed (MB/s) [?] | 5000 |
| Read IOPS [?] | 630000 |
| Write IOPS [?] | 700000 |
| Endurance (TBW) [?] | 700 |
| MTBF (million hours) [?] | n/a |
| Warranty (years) [?] | 5 |
Conclusion
The Klevv CRAS C920 1 TB is a well-executed Phison E18 drive that distinguishes itself with a genuinely functional included heatsink and the credibility of SK Hynix backing. The 7,000/5,500 MB/s throughput, 700 TBW endurance, and 5-year warranty put it on par with the Inland Performance Plus and slightly below the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus in terms of write speed at 1 TB. The heatsink is the differentiator: where most E18 drives ship bare or with a token graphene label, the C920's finned aluminium heatsink eliminates thermal throttling as a concern and saves the buyer an aftermarket purchase. For a gaming or content-creation build where the drive will be visible (windowed case, no M.2 slot cover), the C920's distinctive heatsink aesthetic is an added bonus.
+ Pros
- 7,000 MB/s reads with Phison E18 and DRAM cache
- Included finned aluminium heatsink eliminates throttling
- 700 TBW endurance exceeds Samsung/WD 1 TB flagships
- 5-year warranty with SK Hynix parent-company backing
- Distinctive heatsink design for windowed builds
- Cons
- 5,500 MB/s writes trail the 2 TB model’s 6,850 MB/s
- Heatsink height may conflict with some M.2 slot covers
- Klevv brand recognition still growing outside Asia-Pacific
- Micron NAND in an SK Hynix-branded drive is unexpected
🛒 Buy this or similar SSD Storage:
✨ Video Review
ESSENCORE Unveils KLEVV CRAS C920 and KLEVV CRAS C720 M 2 NVMe SSDs
