Corsair Force Series MP510 M.2 SSD Review - Specifications & Features

Specifications and features

The series as stated will be fitted with TLC (Triple-level cell written) written NAND flash memory from Toshiba's 15nm Node. This allows them to offer the big storage volume at a lower price point.  In 3D NAND, NAND layers, not chips, are stacked in a single IC. The good news is continued cost reduction, smaller die sizes and more capacity per NAND chip. Also, installed NAND toolsets in the wafer fabs can, for the most part, be reused, thereby extending the useful life of the fab equipment.

The NAND ICs are driven by a Phison Phison PS5012-E12 controller as well as a DRAM cache and a small partition that will be SLC written to keep write performance up-to-snuff. Much like other competitors, this M2 SSD will run on a full PCIe 3.0 x4 link. The series is to be an enthusiast class offering of their NVMe SSDs. Though the numbers vary per model due to available NAND channels to the controller (big SSDs have more chips to work with) these SSDs will rip a hole in your eyes when you see the performance metrics, offering double and even five to six times the speed (depending on how you look at it) of the fastest SATA3 class SSD. 

Phison PS5012-E12 controller

Corsair is among the first offering an SSD based on the all-new PS5012-E12 from Phison. We've been waiting on that as when the specs where released, the numbers looked extremely promising. The PS5012-E12 makes use of the latest NVMe revision 1.3 protocol and as you have been able to notice from the SSD specifications, this controller is very fast 3450 MB/s and 3150 MB/s across four PCIs for read and write operations respectively, over a x4 PCIe Gen 3 lane connection that is. Now the shocker, for 4K random read and write operations, the controller is able to perform up to 600,000 operations per second (IOPS) as it (can) makes use 8 NAND channels.

It is also ready for QLC and upcoming 96-layer NAND. The controller will offer support for up-to 8 TB storage as well as offering support for external Thunderbolt 3 SSDs. The PS5012-E12 is available in three versions: the 'normal' PS5012-E12 for high-end SSDs, the PS5012-E12C for mid-range devices and the PS5012-E12DC for the business market.

Corsair will offer the MP510 series are fitted with vertical stacked (3D) NAND from Toshiba, written as TLC and these units receive a proper 5-year warranty.