Promising read and write speeds multiple times that of a SATA SSD offering, the Corsair Force Series MP300 promises to be fast. Using the Phison PS5008-E8 controller and 3D TLC NAND for extreme performance. We look at the 480GB model.
Product on Review: Corsair Force Series MP300
Manufacturer: Corsair
Street Price: 120GB GBP £45.49 / USD $49.99 – 240GB GBP £68.99 / $69.99 – 480GB GBP £128.48 / USB $134.99 – 960GB GBP £275.99 / USD $264.99.
Some may believe that the days of SATA SSDs are numbered, which may or may not be true, but what cannot be denied is the sheer speed that the NVMe interface can offer via M.2 disk drives, sometimes multiple times faster than the SATA interface, with thousands of times the IO performance.
Corsair released the Force Series MP500 at the start of last year, promising speeds up to 3000MB/s and 2400MB/s read and write; the downside was the cost. However, today we review the introduction of their Force Series MP300 M.2 range, offering much better value as well as impressive performance.
Utilising the latest Phison PS5008-E8 controller and 3D TLC NAND we’re promised speeds of 1600MB/s read and 1040MB/s write; those might seem a little lacklustre compared to the MP500, but IOPS remain largely the same at 220,000 read and 200,000 write, often regarded as the more important performance factor, as opposed to the raw bandwidth. Something which sets the MP300 aside from the crowd is its use of a PCI-E Gen.3 x2 interface – not using up the entire x4 interface which most NVMe drives require.
Wear-levelling, bad block control and TRIM support is all included, along with the Corsair SSD Toolbox, helping maintain the life of the drive. Corsair also provides a 5-year warranty with their MP300 SSDs, giving you peace of mind in your purchase.
Anyway, enough of the chat, lets get down to the nitty gritty and find out how it performs.
Corsair on the MP300:
The CORSAIR MP300 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD delivers three-times the performance of SATA drives in a compact M.2 form factor, making it an ideal upgrade to laptops or performance PCs. Able to reach speeds of up to 1600MB/sec sequential read and 1020MB/sec sequential write, the MP300 leaves traditional SATA SSDs far behind.
Using the latest 3D TLC NAND technology, MP300 combines great performance, long drive endurance and excellent value, alongside advanced error correction and wear levelling technologies that keep your data safe and your drive running smoothly.
Backed by a comprehensive three-year CORSAIR warranty, the CORSAIR MP300 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD brings NVMe speed to every system.
Using the latest 3D TLC NAND technology, MP300 combines great performance, long drive endurance and excellent value, alongside advanced error correction and wear levelling technologies that keep your data safe and your drive running smoothly.
Backed by a comprehensive three-year CORSAIR warranty, the CORSAIR MP300 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD brings NVMe speed to every system.
Technical Specifications
Capacity: 480GB
Edition: MP300
Form Factor: M.2
Height: 3 mm
Interface: PCIe 3.0 (x2)
Host Controller Interface: NVMe 1.3
Controller: Phison PS5008-E8
Flash Memory Type: TLC 3D NAND
Max. Read: 1600 MB/s
Max. Write: 1040 MB/s
DRAM Cache Memory: 512MB
DRAM Cache Memory Type: DDR3
Max. Random Read 4K: 220,000 IOPS
Max. Random Write 4K: 200,000 IOPS
Latency: N/A
Special Features
Bad Block Management
Corsair SSD Toolbox Software Support
Dynamic Wear-Leveling
Garbage Collection
S.M.A.R.T Support
Static Wear-Leveling
TRIM Support
Power Consumption (active): 3.3W Read, 3W Write
Max. Endurance Rating: 400TBW
MTBF: 2,000,000 Hours
Max. Operating Vibration: 20 Hz~80 Hz/1.52 mm, 80 Hz~2000 Hz/2
Max. Non-operating Vibration: 20 Hz~80 Hz/1.52 mm, 80 Hz~2000 Hz/2
Max. Operating Shock: 1500G
Max. Non-operating Shock: 1500G
Connectivity: 1 x M.2 (PCIe)
Dimensions: 22 x 3 x 80 mm (WxHxD)
Weight: 8.2 g
Edition: MP300
Form Factor: M.2
Height: 3 mm
Interface: PCIe 3.0 (x2)
Host Controller Interface: NVMe 1.3
Controller: Phison PS5008-E8
Flash Memory Type: TLC 3D NAND
Max. Read: 1600 MB/s
Max. Write: 1040 MB/s
DRAM Cache Memory: 512MB
DRAM Cache Memory Type: DDR3
Max. Random Read 4K: 220,000 IOPS
Max. Random Write 4K: 200,000 IOPS
Latency: N/A
Special Features
Bad Block Management
Corsair SSD Toolbox Software Support
Dynamic Wear-Leveling
Garbage Collection
S.M.A.R.T Support
Static Wear-Leveling
TRIM Support
Power Consumption (active): 3.3W Read, 3W Write
Max. Endurance Rating: 400TBW
MTBF: 2,000,000 Hours
Max. Operating Vibration: 20 Hz~80 Hz/1.52 mm, 80 Hz~2000 Hz/2
Max. Non-operating Vibration: 20 Hz~80 Hz/1.52 mm, 80 Hz~2000 Hz/2
Max. Operating Shock: 1500G
Max. Non-operating Shock: 1500G
Connectivity: 1 x M.2 (PCIe)
Dimensions: 22 x 3 x 80 mm (WxHxD)
Weight: 8.2 g
Packaging, Bundle & Closer Look
Corsair’s black and yellow packaging is synonymous with their brand; the Force Series MP300 doesn’t falter from this trend. The front of the packaging gives ample information, which is quite unusual for an SSD.
The back of the box isn’t really much use, giving the boring details and showing the safety standards. The front serves the main purpose on this packaging.
In terms of a bundle, you aren’t getting anything. There’s some warranty information and that’s about it. The MP300 is held inside the plastic packaging.
The Corsair MP300 isn’t much of a looker, with a monochrome appearance. The name and Corsair logo are clearly printed on the front. The sticker also functions as a small heatsink, helping to spread the heat across the front of the drive.
The backside of the drive shows the serial and model numbers, but as you can see, the drive is single sided meaning cooling is only required on the front side.
Test Setup & Methodology
Our test system is formatted and a fresh version of Windows is installed with just drives in place – no additional applications. Windows is then updated to the latest release and the drivers are installed.Included in the list of benchmarks are the following applications:
Benchmarks
Anvil Pro
AS SSD
ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46
Futuremark PCMark 8
AIDA64
AS SSD
ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46
Futuremark PCMark 8
AIDA64
Test system
CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K
Motherboard: MSI Z270 Gaming M7
Graphics: EVGA GTX 1070 SC
Memory: 16GB CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 3200MHz DDR4
SAMSUNG 970 EVO 1TB NVMe
Crucial MX500 500GB SSD
PSU: BeQuiet Straight Power 11 650W
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit
Monitor: ASUS ROG PG279Q
Motherboard: MSI Z270 Gaming M7
Graphics: EVGA GTX 1070 SC
Memory: 16GB CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 3200MHz DDR4
SAMSUNG 970 EVO 1TB NVMe
Crucial MX500 500GB SSD
PSU: BeQuiet Straight Power 11 650W
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit
Monitor: ASUS ROG PG279Q
Benchmarks: Anvil Pro
Anvil Pro from Anvil Storage utilities is one of the most popular storage benchmarking utilities today thanks to the large suit of tests available. You can test pretty much anything from Read/write Speed to IOPs with many variables to tweak allowing you to get either a single or host of results to compare with other likeminded enthusiasts. In our test we ran the standard suite 5 times, subtracting both the highest and lowest scores and determined the final result from the average of the remaining three results.
Benchmarks: AS SSD
AS SSD Benchmark is a straightforward tool for measuring the speed of your SSD drive.
Simply launch the program, choose your drive, click Start, and it’ll test your SSD’s read and write speed in a variety of ways, delivering a score for each when it’s done. And if that’s not enough, there are also additional file copy and compression-related benchmarks available from the Tools menu. (The author’s support page is German only, but if you need further English explanations then there’s a thread on the program at the OCZ Technology forum.).
Simply launch the program, choose your drive, click Start, and it’ll test your SSD’s read and write speed in a variety of ways, delivering a score for each when it’s done. And if that’s not enough, there are also additional file copy and compression-related benchmarks available from the Tools menu. (The author’s support page is German only, but if you need further English explanations then there’s a thread on the program at the OCZ Technology forum.).
Benchmarks: ATTO
The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.
Benchmarks: AIDA64
With this module, we can measure the performance of the PC’s storage devices, including (S)ATA or SCSI hard disk drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, solid-state drives (SSD), USB drives and memory cards. It also allows us to perform write tests, which helps us detect fake products and errors on the devices. In order to attain reliable benchmark results we have to make sure to close all background applications.
Benchmarks: PCMark 8
We use the Futuremark PCMark 8 utility to measure storage via Photoshop performance under both light and heavy loading conditions. Accelerated (open CL) is used to perform this test. The test is measured in seconds to complete.
Conclusion
To conclude the review, our observed figures show that the drive is capable of more than the claimed 1600MB/s, with ATTO giving us 1771MB/s, though, on the other hand, we also saw some fairly average (at best) results from tests like PC Mark 8, AS SSD and AIDA64.While the Corsair Force Series MP300 drive offers great speeds when compared to a SATA 3 drive, it’s unfortunately left in the wake of drives from the likes of Samsung and ADATA.
Samsung, while offering vastly faster drives, are also much more expensive which detracts from their appeal somewhat, while the ADATA XPG SX8200, which we tested in April, arrives at an almost-identical price point to the Corsair MP300, but beats the performance in all of our tests, and rather convincingly so.
We like the unobtrusive design on the Corsair MP300, with the black and white heatsink sticker; the drive should suit almost any build you can throw it in.
Unfortunately, compared to the MP500, which is around 18 months old at this point, the MP300 is out-performed in every metric. We’d expect technology to advance at a rate faster than this, which is our biggest concern regarding the drive.
The Corsair MP300 delivers exciting performance at a good price, much better than any SATA SSD.
Pros
+ Understated and clean design
+ Decent performance
+ Good price
+ Corsair SSD Toolbox included
+ Five-year warranty
+ Only uses 2 PCI-E Lanes
Cons
– Not as fast as the rest of the NVMe pack
– MP500 is faster, despite being substantially older
+ Understated and clean design
+ Decent performance
+ Good price
+ Corsair SSD Toolbox included
+ Five-year warranty
+ Only uses 2 PCI-E Lanes
Cons
– Not as fast as the rest of the NVMe pack
– MP500 is faster, despite being substantially older
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
Stay connected with the Vortez Social Media pages:
Join in with the discussions on Discord
