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Games are getting larger and larger by the year and SSD adoption is soaring. It is wonderful that companies like Corsair and Sabrent are bringing massive 4TB and 8TB NVMe SSDs to market to accommodate potential buyers the option to consolidate their flash storage or just splurge on that high-capacity 8TB model. However, while great options for the minority who can afford such spacious flash, the majority will be entranced by the 1TB and 2TB models due to affordability.
Corsair’s Force MP400 leverages a high-performance NVMe SSD controller, one that enables faster performance over those half-baked entry-level options. Rather than run at a rather paltry 2GBps, the Phison E12S powering the MP400 offers up responsive performance for the mainstream crowd while the NAND flash helps the company maintain competitive pricing.
From its showing in today’s testing, the Corsair Force MP400 wasn’t the most impressive, though. Phison has implemented a larger SLC cache, but the MP400 still lagged the high-end competition in many benchmarks. While the QLC flash enables cheaper pricing, its performance isn’t the most responsive. And, that is apparent in the MP400’s sustained write performance that slows down to 120MBps at worst case.
Corsair’s Force MP400 isn’t the fastest M.2 NVMe by a longshot, and its endurance ratings are rather underwhelming, too. But the 5-year warranty and higher endurance at the higher capacities helps to offset that fact for some. The 8TB model is rated to sustain up to 1,600 TB of writes over its warranty, which is comparable to that of Corsair’s 1TB Force MP510 and MP600.
At 1TB, Corsair’s Force MP400 faces some very tough competition, though. SK hynix’s Gold P31 offers up Samsung 970 EVO Plus-like performance or the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro for just $15 more. If you are comparing at the same $120 price, Silicon Motion’s P34A80 is priced the same and offers much more insistent performance or if you would prefer an alternative look to the MP400’s black aesthetic, then Sabrent’s Rocket Q should offer up similar performance with a brighter design.
Still, Corsair fans will appreciate the simple and clean looks and typically much-faster-than-SATA performance, even at the smallest capacity. Overall, the MP400 is a decent value for those looking for a new NVMe SSD in a compact M.2 form factor. And if you’re looking for an SSD as large as 8TB, it’s still one of your only consumer-focused options.
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