Corsair is pushing PCIe 5.0 into the mainstream . Although it ’s promiscuous to find PCIe 5.0 driving force among thebest SSDs , we ’ve seen very few that skim the DRAM cache to reach a more affordable monetary value , and that ’s exactly what Corsair is offering with the MP700 Elite . Borrowing some organisation memory for cache , the MP700 Elite is able to offer a important upthrust in performance over DRAM - based PCIe 4.0 selection for not much more money .
It ’s an impressive design , and one that absolutely crushes benchmarks when it comes to sequential reads and writes . However , the MP700 Elite is hold up proof that the PCIe 5.0 standard is still struggling to descale above 1 TB , with PCIe 4.0 option offering very similar real - worldly concern performance in higher capacity for less money .
If your foreland is already spinning from PCIe interlingual rendition and SSD glasses , make certain to insure out ourSSD purchasing guide .
Pricing and specs
Corsair has a limited lineup for the MP700 Elite , featuring 1 TB and 2 TB versions either with or without the heatsink . Do n’t get it confused with the MP700 or the MP700 Pro , however — this is the MP700Elite . The MP700 is discontinued , the MP700 Pro is not , and neither is the MP700 Pro SE . You would adopt the MP700 Elite is a step above the MP700 Pro , but it ’s not — it ’s actually dull .
constitute nonsense aside , there are two big differences between the MP700 Elite and its sure-enough counterparts . First , it ’s using new Kioxia memory modules , along with a new Phison controller . The bigger dispute is the DRAM - less design , however . The MP700 Pro line has a DRAM cache , and with a generous ratio of 2 GB per TB of storage . The MP700 Elite uses a boniface Memory Buffer ( HMB ) and skips the DRAM .
In short , the MP700 Elite take up some of your organization memory for caching instead of using an on - board DRAM hoard . An HMB blueprint means the MP700 Elite is wearisome than the MP700 Pro , but it ’s also cheaper — without dedicated DRAM , Corsair is pass on on some savings to you . It ’s about $ 40 cheaper at 1 TB and $ 65 cheaper at 2 TB , which makes quite a full-grown divergence .
Particularly for a 1 TB model , $ 150 is very reasonable for a PCIe 5.0 SSD . TheSamsung 990 Pro , which is a PCIe 4.0 design , clocks in at $ 130 for 1 TB . Things transfer for the 2 TB capacity , however , where the MP700 Elite Erodium cicutarium in at $ 80 more than the 990 Pro . Despite PCIe 5.0 SSD prices degenerate , scaling the store electrical capacity at the same rate is a battle .
That puts the MP700 Elite in an interesting spot . It ’s gaudy enough at 1 TB to be a reasonable option to a PCIe 4.0 SSD like the 990 Pro or the WD Black SN850X , but expensive enough at 2 TB as to not make PCIe 4.0 alternative obsolete . It also strikes a counterbalance of speed between PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 , falling well scant of the 14,000MB / s speeds on more expensive PCIe 5.0 drives like the Sabrent Rocket 5 and Crucial T705 .
It ’s a drive that forces you to pick out between f number or capacitance . You could say that for just about every PCIe 5.0 ride , but the MP700 Elite make the decisiveness knotty . If you treasure speed on a budget , going with a 1 TB design build sentience . However , for gamers and those less tune into transfer speeds , a larger PCIe 4.0 drive is going to offer just slightly lower performance and much more capacity .
Software and features
For managing the MP700 Elite , Corsair offer its SSD Toolbox . You get a standard suite of features in SSD Toolbox , including manual over - provisioning options , TRIM optimization to come on empty blocks of data point , a drive cloning tool , and a secure erase peter that will reformat the data structure to fully efface whatever was stored on the drive .
The features are all here , but SSD Toolbox is approximative on the eyes . It appear like it was draw out of Windows 95 , with a static blue background and clipart - style icons fit with their own lily-white squares . Everything operate just fine , but you see the image — this is n’t exactly the SSD management app you ’d expect to see in 2024 .
In addition to download SSD Toolbox , you ’ll also need to make some changes in Windows to get the best operation out of the MP700 Elite . You ’ll need to turn on write - cache buffer flush in Windows ( you may discover it in the property window for the MP700 Elite through gadget coach ) due to the HMB innovation . It ’s not a boastful deal but still important to note .
Performance
set the stage with CrystalDiskMark , the MP700 Elite reach above its advertised sequential read and publish speeds , and by a decent leeway . Random read and writes suffer , however . With the HMB design , you ’re getting random read and write speeds that are very similar to what you ’ll chance with a rapid PCIe 4.0 crusade .
It ’s really in big serial file transfer that the speed of the MP700 Elite shows up , as you may see in the AJA Video System test below . There ’s a large extrusion in write upper over the 990 Pro , and nearly double the performance of the slower , larger capacity WD Blue SN5000 . Write speeds do n’t scale as high , as expect , but the MP700 Elite still carve out a whole lead over PCIe 4.0 option .
Those hint ring in PCMark 10 , though with slimly thinner margins due to the slower random read and writes . gambling is where things get interesting . There ’s a self-colored excrescence in payload clock time , both inFinal Fantasy XIVand 3DMark , which uses real game as the foundation for examination . In 3DMark , there ’s a 16 % jump over the 990 Pro , while inFinal Fantasy XIV , the total load prison term was 11 % faster .
linguistic context is significant here , though . Even with those leads , the MP700 Elite was n’t even able to plane a full second off the load meter inFinal Fantasy XIVacross a five - minute bench mark with several loading concealment . DirectStorage is usable on both PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 SSDs , and the loading advantage of PCIe 5.0 alone are n’t enough to justify the redundant cost for gamers .
You really postulate to buy into those with child file transfers for the MP700 Elite to make mother wit . I wo n’t argue with any gaming principal , but the sequential read and write velocity are the reasonableness to go PCIe 5.0 at this tip . If you ’re solely in the marketplace for a speedy SSD to store games on , the MP700 Elite is overkill , at least the right way now .
Should you buy the Corsair MP700 Elite?
The Corsair MP700 Elite brings PCIe 5.0 drives down to a more sane price , nearly matching speedy PCIe 4.0 selection like the 990 Pro and SN850X. However , it only makes sensation justly now at 1 TB , and in particular , if you have enceinte files you ’ll be reassign . Gamers will see a slight bulge technically , but any speed advantages will be almost invisible compared to a fast PCIe 4.0 driving force .
The 2 TB version is too expensive to justify right on now considering how much sleazy PCIe 4.0 options are and how airless they are in hurrying . At the time of writing , for example , you canfor the same price as the 2 TB MP700 Elite .
As for the heatsink version of the MP700 Elite , save yourself some money . The supernumerary size of the heatsink is impractical for most laptops and mini PC , and the extra price of PCIe 5.0 goes to waste inside of the PS5 . I actually had issues installing the heatsink version inside a Gigabyte motherboard due to the extra size of it of the coop , in fact .
Even with those issues , the MP700 Elite is a drive to keep an optic on . especially as we go into vacation gross revenue , it could be a very compelling drive if Corsair is capable to get snug to the price of flagship PCIe 4.0 options , especially at 2 TB .
