Corsair Force MP500 240GB M.2 NVMe SSD Review, Ridiculously Fast!!!

Corsair Force MP500 240GB M.2 NVMe SSD, Ridiculously Fast!!!

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives have been around for a couple of years now but the prices have dropped enough to make them available to a wider market segment. The Corsair Force Series MP500 240GB M.2 NVMe SSD comes in at a paltry  and provides speeds up to 3GB/s Read and 2.4GB/s write. Compared to SATA 6Gb/s top end speed of 560MB/s the NVMe drives utilize the PCIe interface and in this case, the  utilizes 4 PCIe lanes. PCIe 3.0 lanes can transfer 985MB/s per lane so this drives PCIe transfer capacity is 3.940GB/s theoretical. PCIe goes 1x 4x 8x and 16x lanes so to achieve the 3GB/s write speed the  is capable of Corsair needed to tap 4 PCIe lanes.

 

Featuring the second generation Phison PS5007-E7 controller Corsair opted to wait for a more mature firmware which paid off in higher speeds and better durability. By opting to wait Corsair engineered a better performing and cooler running NVMe SSD. The Label itself is part of the ingenious design and has a copper layer on the underside allowing the copper to act as a heat sink allowing more heat to be displaced resulting in a cooler running drive. Phison stocked its PS5007-E7 controller with the latest firmware 2.1 (E7FM02.1) and utilizes Nanya 512MB DDR3 DRAM. The 480GB Model gets a whopping 1024MB DRAM while the smaller brother 120GB drive gets 256MB.

The Force MP500 series drives come in 3 flavors 120GB which provide 150,000/90,000 read/write IOPS while the 240GB and 480GB models provide 250,000/210,000 read/write IOPS. Think about that for a second, 250,000 or 1/4 Million Input/Output operations per second. so in 4 seconds the  can drive up to 1 MILLION IOPS. NVMe drives haven’t caught up to DRAM speeds but they are quickly closing the gap!

Specifications

• Warranty Three years
• Weight .0082kg
• Unformatted Capacity 240 GB
• Interface NVMe PCI Express SSD 3.0 x4
• Form Factor M.2, 2280
• Endurance 349TBW
• Operating Temperature 0°C to +65°C
• Storage Temperature -40°C to +85°C
• Operating Humidity 90% RH (40° C)
• Storage Humidity 93% RH (40° C)
• Shock 1,500 G
• Vibration 20Hz~80Hz/1.52mm, 80Hz~2000Hz/20G
• SSD Smart Support Yes
• NAND Technology MLC NAND
• Max Sequential Read (ATTO) Up to 3,000MB/s
• Max Sequential Write (ATTO) Up to 2,400MB/s
• Max Sequential Read (CDM) Up to 2,800MB/s
• Max Sequential Write (CDM) Up to 1,500MB/s
• Max Random Read QD32 (IOMeter) 250K IOPS
• Max Random Write QD32 (IOMeter) 210K IOPS

Features

Additional protection to enhance reliability and extend the life of the drive. Support for over-provisioning, secure wipe, disk cloning, FW update and more.

Additional error bit correction and improved data retention, while supporting the latest generation NAND. Work and play knowing you’re backed by CORSAIR 3-year warranty.

NVMe PCI Express SSD 3.0 x4 interface

The CORSAIR NVMe PCIe boosts blazing fast bandwidth, allowing you to access your data, load files and launch games with speeds up to 4x faster than SATA 3.0.

Static and dynamic wear-leveling

Additional protection to enhance reliability and extend the life of the drive.

CORSAIR SSD Toolbox Application

Monitor S.M.A.R.T attributes and SSD health status with support for over-provisioning, secure wipe, disk cloning, FW update and more.

Compact M.2 2280 form factor

CORSAIR NVMe M.2 SSD enables a new level of performance in a compact form factor.

Toughened contact surface material

30um gold finger thickness improves contact to the motherboard and provides vibration resistance to ensure reliability in vigorous conditions.

Enhanced Error Correction

Additional error bit correction and improved data retention while supporting the latest generation NAND.