# Seagate FireCuda 540: specs and price

**Price (US):** $189.99 (US retail $189.99 for the 1TB variant (model ZP1000GM3A004), cited as the Amazon price at time of review in the Tom's Hardware review (published 7 July 2023). The review states Seagate's MSRP is lower but does not give the figure. Verbatim "$189.99".), as of 2026-07-11. Among the 9 internal ssds we track it is #3 cheapest of 9; category median $239.99.
**Brand:** Seagate
**Released:** 2023
**Deskmark:** Bronze Deskmark — pay-blind category standing 55/100, #6 of 10 in class (independent, computed from sourced data, never for sale).

## Specifications

| Spec | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Price (US) | $189.99 |
| Brand | Seagate |
| Released | 2023 |
| Capacity options (TB) | 1, 2 |
| Form factor | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe |
| Seq read (Mbps) | 10000 |
| Seq write (Mbps) | 10000 |
| Random read kiops | — |
| Random write kiops | — |
| Nand type | TLC |
| Has dram cache | Yes |
| Endurance tbw | 1000 |
| Warranty years | 5 |

## Where it stands

At $190, the Seagate FireCuda 540 is #3 cheapest of the 9 internal ssds we track, where the median is $239.99. On the spec sheet, its endurance tbw of 1000 is the highest of the 9, its seq read of 10000 Mbps is below the median of the 10, and its seq write of 10000 Mbps is below the median of the 10.

## What reviewers say

Three whitelisted testers hands-on benchmarked the 2 TB FireCuda 540: Tom's Hardware and StorageReview at its 2023 launch, and TechPowerUp in a 2025 re-review. Consensus: a fast PCIe 5.0 drive with high sequential throughput, class-leading sustained/full-drive write speeds, and a standout support package (high TBW endurance plus 3-year data recovery), offset by poor power efficiency, high heat, and a hard requirement for a heatsink to avoid throttling. Both later-lens findings and StorageReview's enterprise tests show it only marginally leads top Gen 4 drives in real use and is weak in some write workloads. (Based on 3 reviews, 3 lab-tested, 2023-07-07–2025-09-03.)

Praised: High sequential throughput / impressive transfer rates; Class-leading sustained and full-drive write performance; Strong warranty, high TBW endurance and 3-year data recovery service.
Flagged: Poor power efficiency and high heat output; Requires cooling; throttles without a heatsink; Does not fully leverage Gen 5 - only marginally faster than top Gen 4 drives in real use, and weak in some write tests; High price / price premium.
Disagreement: Write-performance framing diverges by test method and era. TechPowerUp rates sustained/full-drive writes a standout strength (full 2 TB fill at 3.1 GB/s, 'better than almost all SSDs'), and StorageReview's cache-bound BlackMagic run hit 9.6 GB/s write - yet StorageReview's enterprise VDBench workload placed the same drive's 64K sequential write (1.28 GB/s) and 4K random write (251K IOPS) near the bottom of its leaderboard. Value framing also splits: Tom's Hardware (2023, $319 launch) flagged the price as high, whereas StorageReview called it 'affordable' and TechPowerUp's 2025 re-review ($230) judged pricing 'in the right range' but noted newer Gen 5 controllers now outpace it, versus Tom's 2023 verdict that it was 'one of the fastest drives around.'
Sources: Tom's Hardware (2023-07-07, tomshardware.com), StorageReview (2023-07-18, storagereview.com), TechPowerUp (2025-09-03, techpowerup.com)

## Frequently asked questions

**What do reviewers say about the Seagate FireCuda 540?**

Three whitelisted testers hands-on benchmarked the 2 TB FireCuda 540: Tom's Hardware and StorageReview at its 2023 launch, and TechPowerUp in a 2025 re-review. Consensus: a fast PCIe 5.0 drive with high sequential throughput, class-leading sustained/full-drive write speeds, and a standout support package (high TBW endurance plus 3-year data recovery), offset by poor power efficiency, high heat, and a hard requirement for a heatsink to avoid throttling. Both later-lens findings and StorageReview's enterprise tests show it only marginally leads top Gen 4 drives in real use and is weak in some write workloads. Praised: High sequential throughput / impressive transfer rates; Class-leading sustained and full-drive write performance; Strong warranty, high TBW endurance and 3-year data recovery service. Flagged: Poor power efficiency and high heat output; Requires cooling; throttles without a heatsink; Does not fully leverage Gen 5 - only marginally faster than top Gen 4 drives in real use, and weak in some write tests; High price / price premium. (From 3 tester reviews, 3 lab-tested.)

**How much does the Seagate FireCuda 540 cost?**

The Seagate FireCuda 540 has a US price of $189.99 (US retail $189.99 for the 1TB variant (model ZP1000GM3A004), cited as the Amazon price at time of review in the Tom's Hardware review (published 7 July 2023). The review states Seagate's MSRP is lower but does not give the figure. Verbatim "$189.99".), as of 2026-07-11.

**How does the Seagate FireCuda 540 compare on price?**

At $190, the Seagate FireCuda 540 is #3 cheapest of the 9 internal ssds we track, where the median is $239.99.

**When was the Seagate FireCuda 540 released?**

The Seagate FireCuda 540 was released 2023.

**What are the Seagate FireCuda 540's key specs?**

Seagate FireCuda 540 (Seagate): capacityOptionsTb 1, 2, formFactor M.2 2280, interface PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe, seqReadMbps 10000, seqWriteMbps 10000. Full sourced spec sheet verified 2026-07-11.

Source: https://www.seagate.com/content/dam/seagate/en/content-fragments/products/datasheets/firecuda-540-ssd/firecuda-540-ssd-DS2120-2-2304-en_US.pdf (seagate.com, accessed 2026-07-11)
Corroboration: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seagate-firecuda-540-ssd-review (accessed 2026-07-11)
Canonical: https://frontdeskreview.com/product/internal-ssds/seagate-firecuda-540/
Cite: Per The Front Desk Review, the Seagate FireCuda 540 price of record was $189.99 as of 2026-07-11 — https://frontdeskreview.com/product/internal-ssds/seagate-firecuda-540/
License: CC BY 4.0. Price history: https://frontdeskreview.com/data/price-history.jsonl