Name: Corsair MP700 ELITE
Brand: Corsair

The MP700 ELITE aims below the fastest Gen 5 drives. That makes it an interesting upgrade from a mainstream SSD, but a much harder sell to someone with a good Gen 4 drive already installed. The selected 2 TB model has no factory heatsink. Its most informative independent test used the motherboard’s cooling.

Transfer & Gaming Performance

2 TB sample
CrystalDiskMark
Final Fantasy load test

PC Gamer measured about 10,197 MB/s read and 8,608 MB/s write in CrystalDiskMark on a 2 TB sample. In its Final Fantasy load test the same drive took 7.426 seconds, around the middle of the group. A buyer copying capture files has a better reason to care about the first test than someone waiting to enter a game. ¹

Installation & Cooling

Motherboard heatsink used
About 24°C ambient
55°C observed maximum

PC Gamer recorded a 55°C maximum in its run, using motherboard M.2 cooling in a room around 24°C. Do not use that figure to predict the temperature of an uncovered board below a hot graphics card. The bare SKU makes sense if the system has its own cooler. Corsair sells a version with a passive heatsink for a different installation. ¹

Capacity & Peak Speeds

4 TB: 9,400 MB/s read
4 TB: 8,100 MB/s write

Corsair’s 4 TB technical table gives up to 9,400 MB/s read and 8,100 MB/s write, below the 10,000 and 8,500 MB/s ratings at 2 TB. The bare and factory-cooled versions of a particular capacity share the same published speed limits. Compare the technical table for the capacity you intend to buy, especially if the high result from a 2 TB benchmark is what drew you to the family.

Sustained Writes

2 TB sample
About 440 GB in the fast cache
About 1.5 GB/s writing directly to TLC

Tom’s Hardware ran a separate hour-long sequential write on a 2 TB MP700 ELITE. Its fast phase reached roughly 8.8 GB/s for 50 seconds, enough for about 440 GB in that run. Once writes went directly to TLC flash, throughput fell to about 1.5 GB/s. A large capture library can span both phases in the same copy. A fuller drive may have less space available for its dynamic cache, so use the figures to distinguish workloads rather than to promise a transfer time. ²

Endurance & Cooling Options

1 TB: 600 TBW
2 TB: 1,200 TBW
4 TB: 2,400 TBW

The lower peak sequential speeds at 4 TB come with a higher rated write allowance of 2,400 TBW. That can suit a machine retaining several projects while recording or rewriting new footage each week. Corsair sells each capacity both bare and fitted with its own passive heatsink. Choose the capacity for the data you keep and write, then choose the cooler that fits the motherboard. The factory heatsink does not increase the endurance rating.

Alternatives

For repeated long writes, compare the 2 TB Crucial T710 with the 2 TB MP700 ELITE. Tom’s Hardware saw the Crucial reach roughly 4 GB/s in steady state in its own sustained test, compared with roughly 1.5 GB/s for the Corsair’s direct-to-TLC phase. The drives’ caches and test runs differ. The comparison is more pertinent to a scratch disk than to a game library, where a larger affordable Gen 4 SSD may be the better use of the budget. ² ³

Verdict

The MP700 ELITE works as a targeted upgrade for large sequential jobs. An existing high-end Gen 4 owner should compare a real task before changing drives, especially if the hoped-for gain is a shorter loading screen.

Corsair MP700 ELITE review

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Cons