Corsair has just released a new PCIe 5.0 gaming SSD that doesn’t have a prohibitive price tag attached to it. The new Corsair MP700 Elite still boasts fast speeds of up to 10,000MB/s, but it costs just $144.99 for the 1TB drive at MSRP, meaning PCIe 5.0 drives are now finally coming down in price.
That’s already $35 cheaper than this drive’s more powerful sibling, the Corsair MP700 Pro, which has a place on our guide to the best gaming SSD, and in our experience, SSDs regularly go for less than their MSRPs as well. So what do you lose by going for the cheaper Corsair drive?
Corsair MP700 Elite specs
These are the Corsair MP700 Elite specifications:
| Corsair MP700 Elite | |
| Sequential read speed | Up to 10,000MB/s |
| Sequential write speed | Up to 8,500MB/s |
| QD32 read speed | 1.3M IOPS |
| QD32 write speed | 1.4M IOPS |
| Interface | 4x PCIe 5.0 |
| Controller | Phison PS5031-E31T |
| Endurance | 600TBW (1TB), 1,200TBW (2TB) |
| Form factor | M.2 2280 |
| Capacities | 1TB and 2TB |
| Heatsink option | Yes |
The main answer here is performance, but this is still a very fast drive. Corsair says the new MP700 Elite’s sequential read speed stands at a pleasingly round figure of 10,000MB/s, while its sequential write speed tops out at 8,500MB/s. Comparatively, the MP700 Pro can read and write at up to 12,00MB/s and 11,800MB/s respectively, but the MP700 Elite’s speeds are still a substantial step up from PCIe 4.0 drives, such as the WD Black SN850X.
Other than the cheaper price, the other main benefit of those slower performance speeds is operating temperatures. While the MP700 Pro has options for a waterblock and an actively cooled heatsink and fan assembly, Corsair is confident that the MP700 Elite can be kept in check by a relatively modest heatsink.
Opting for the heatsink-equipped version only adds an extra $5 to the cost, or you can buy the drive without a heatsink and rely on a PCIe 5.0-capable heatsink from your motherboard. Bear in mind that you’ll need a 4x PCIe 5.0 2280 M.2 slot to run this drive at full speed. It will still work on PCIe 4.0 motherboards, but you won’t get any more than 7,500MB/s out of it.
The new drive is based on high-density 3D TLC (triple-level cell) NAND flash memory, and is based on the new 7nm Phison PS5031-E31T controller. You also get a five-year warranty with the drive, and Corsair says the 1TB drive has an endurance rating of 600TBW (terabytes written), but the 2TB drive is even hardier, with a massive 1,200TBW rating.
Corsair promises that the new MP700 Elite will bring you “faster boot times” and “quicker game loads,” although in our tests we’ve found that the main benefits of PCIe 5.0 drives are seen in large-scale file transfers, with only minimal impact on game load times.
The Corsair MP700 Elite price is $144.99 for the 1TB drive without a heatsink, and $254.99 for the 2TB drive. That’s cheap for a PCIe 5.0 drive, although there are often good deals to be found on other drives. For example, the faster 1TB Crucial T705 is currently reduced from $239.99 to just $154.99 on Amazon, and that would be the better purchase at this price. At MSRP, though, the Corsair MP700 Elite will hopefully set a trend for cheaper, faster SSDs.
If you’re thinking about upgrading your storage, check out our guide on how to install an SSD, where we take you through the whole process step by step.