The most affordable 2TB SSD for the Steam Deck is selling for $109 — Corsair MP600 Core Mini brings speeds up to 5,000 MB/s for Valve's gaming handheld
Newegg pricing for Corsair MP600 Core Mini is $20 off and allows users to save another $30 with a limited promo code
Corsair is discounting its Corsair MP600 Core Mini PCIe 4.0 SSD down to $109.99 on Newegg using the promo code BFEDY2A97. The SSD typically sells for $159.99.
The Corsair MP600 Core Mini is easily the most affordable compact PCIe 4.0 SSD of its kind. While our review does highlight some shortcomings, the performance on offer is overall plenty for use with the Steam Deck and gaming workloads, though not to the extent of a modern high-end PCIe 5.0 or anything. In other words, it should be an ideal solution if you're looking to replace the storage of your Steam Deck or Steam Deck OLED moving into the holiday season.
Corsair MP600 Core Mini is a QLC-based NVMe Gen 4 SSD in a compact M.2-2230 form factor. This allows it to slot neatly into Steam Deck and other devices of its class, and those use cases (gaming) also offset the downsides of QLC SSDs.
Gview, getting a 2 TB NVMe drive at this size requires some compromises, and the compromise made in the Corsair MP600 Core Mini is opting for slower QLC flash storage over faster TLC flash storage. Fortunately, QLC flash memory also makes the drive more accessible for its storage density. With the discounts in full swing, you could now pay just $109.99 on Newegg.
Higher-end options with incredible transfer speeds certainly exist, but diminishing returns are a huge factor, particularly with power-constrained handheld console designs like Steam Deck. When its cache isn't full, a QLC SSD will still feel like an SSD, but stuffing it to capacity can make things feel sluggish. Be sure to offset this by keeping some space clear, especially with the help of an SD card, if possible.
Overall, Steam Deck and other handheld gamers who want a beefier pool of NVMe storage should consider the Corsair MP600 Core Mini.
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Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.