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The latest member of Corsair's MP700 range of Gen5 SSDs is the MP700 Elite, a drive that takes the series in a different direction as it's aimed at the mainstream segment rather than the high-end like the other MP700s. Corsair has done this by building the drive around Phison's latest E31T controller. At launch, the MP700 Elite is available in just two capacities, 1TB and 2TB and two versions, plain or with a factory-fitted heatsink.
Corsair sent us a 2TB Heatsink model for this review, though both drives have the same official performance figures. Sequential performance is listed as up to 10,000MB/s for reads and up to 8,500MB/s for writes, while random performance ratings are up to 1.3M IOPS for reads and up to 1.4M IOPS for writes.
Phison brought the world's first Gen5 controller to the market in the form of the PS5026-E26 and now they've produced another world's first in the PS5031-E31T, the first Gen5 controller aimed at the mainstream market segment. Designed to run more efficiently and cooler than the E26, the E31T is built on a 7nm process (the E26 is a 12nm process chip), supports four NAND channels and is a DRAM-less design (another world's first for Gen 5). Be sure to check out our technical preview of the E31T over here.
Using the ATTO benchmark we couldn't quite match Corsair's claimed maximum sequential performance figures but at 9,660MB/s for reads and 8,210MB/s we were certainly in the ballpark with the test results. Switching to the default CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we could not only confirm the official maximums, we got a little bit more out of the drive with a read result of 10,391MB/s and writes at 8,757MB/s.
As for random performance, using our four threaded tests we could get nowhere near the official maximums of 1,300,000 IOPS for reads and 1,400,000 IOPS for writes with test results of 537,524 IOPS for reads with writes at 414,777 IOPS. However, switching over to the Peak Performance profile settings in CrystalDiskMark 8 we could confirm the official read /write figures with a default read test result of 1,375,484 IOPS with writes at 1,511, 591IOPS.
The standard MP700 Elite doesn't have any form of heatsink and Phison has claimed that for everyday use the E31T doesn't need a heatsink. The heatsink-equipped version of the MP700 Elite provides that extra layer of protection but the two-piece passive heatsink (heatsink and the cradle that holds the drive) isn't as chunky as we are used to seeing for a Gen 5 drive and it does a very good job. The hottest the drive got when pushed hard was 42°C, which is a very safe distance away from the 70°C maximum operating temperature.
Thanks to the E31T, the 4K QD1 performance of the MP700 Elite is excellent for both reads and writes. Using our 4-threaded 4K tests the drive topped the read chart and was second in the write performance chart, outperforming the high-end drives that make up the tables.
The standard version of the 2TB MP700 Elite is on Corsair's website for £244.99 (inc VAT) and you only pay an extra fiver for the Heatsink version which is pretty good in this day and age.
We found the 2TB Heatsink version of Corsair's MP700 Elite on Scan UK for £229.99 (inc VAT) HERE.
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Pros
- 4K QD1 performance.
- Runs cool for a Gen5 drive.
- Well-designed heatsink.
Cons
- Only two capacities at launch.
- Disappointing write performance in some tests.
- DRAM-less.
KitGuru says: Corsair's MP700 Elite with Heatsink is the first retail drive we've seen using Phison's latest E31T controller and it uses it to good effect. Although it's aimed at the mainstream market it still offers 10,000MB/s / 8,500MB/s sequential read and write performance while running relatively cool for a Gen 5 drive. The price though does need a bit of fettling with to make it a bit more competitive.
