Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD Review

Mobile devices like ultrabooks, tablets, and handheld gaming consoles are getting more popular each year. Even if we look only at handheld consoles, a year ago, we had one popular option: Steam Deck. There is also ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion GO, and soon MSI will join with their new product. Most consoles and other devices are sold with lower capacity or simply slower storage, so it’s not a surprise that many owners think about replacing the storage, which more often is M.2 SSD in a user-friendly and tiny 2230 form factor. Corsair designed the reviewed today MP600 Core Mini for those users at a high 2TB capacity.

As usual in our reviews, we start with the specifications and features, and later, we will focus on the performance of the MP600 Core Mini SSD.

Specifications and Features

Key Features

• ULTRA COMPACT FORM FACTOR
  Add speedy high-capacity SSD storage to your handheld gaming PC and small form-factor devices
• HIGH-SPEED PCIe GEN4 x4 NVMe 1.4 M.2 INTERFACE
  The MP600 MINI provides impressive storage space and performance for PCIe Gen4-compatible systems
• WIDE COMPATIBILITY
  Easily upgrade your handheld gaming device, tablet, or other thin and light devices
• HIGH-DENSITY 3D QLC NAND TECHNOLOGY
  Provides the ideal mix of capacity, performance, and value.
• WORLD-CLASS SUPPORT
  Our award-winning service means you can enjoy your gear worry-free.

Specifications

Full specifications and features with additional info can be found on the Corsair product website.

The MP600 Core Mini is designed to work up to 5GB/s. Not all mobile devices will reach such bandwidth. For example, the most popular Steam Deck is limited to PCIe 3.0 x4 bandwidth, so in most cases, it’s around 3.5GB/s. This is one of the reasons why our tests are performed on a desktop motherboard, which doesn’t limit the tested SSD.

The SSD is based on a Micron QLC NAND, as most new M.2 2230 SSDs. QLC NAND is cheaper and isn’t much slower than TLC, as long as we won’t exceed SLC cache capacity during write operations. The 2TB version of the MP600 Core Mini will show a significant write bandwidth drop after about 500GB of continuous write. Most competitive M.2 2230 SSDs have smaller caches, so that’s the first advantage of the Corsair MP600 Core Mini.

The endurance could be better, too, as the 2TB MP600 Core Mini is rated at 450TBW. On the other hand, this SSD is designed for devices that, for most of the time, perform reading operations, and writes are not so often.

Below is a list of additional specifications taken from AIDA64.

Some readers may notice that the tested SSD has an operating temperature of up to 65°C. This means we can expect thermal throttling above this point. Most SSDs have it at 70-75°C. We haven’t seen visible throttling up to at least 70°C. Even though insignificant, the performance drop was visible at 73°C, the maximum temperature during tests.

Typical temperature during mixed-load tests or gaming is below 70°C. After extended PCMark 10 tests, the maximum registered temperature by hwinfo64 was 68°C, as seen in the screenshot below.

Packaging and Product Photos

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Package 1

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Package 2

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Package 3

The MP600 Core Mini SSD arrived in a retail package, which is a small, flat box. We will find a tiny SSD in a blister box and additional info cards from Corsair.
Everything we may need to know on the exterior of the package, including general specifications, contact to support, and main product features.

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Front 1

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Front 2

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Back 2

Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Back 2

The SSD itself is tiny. All the ICs are on the front side of the PCB and include almost only 176-layer QLC Micron NAND and Phison PS5021-E21-48 controller. It’s a low-power but still quite a high-performance combo.

Comparison Tests

Tests were performed on popular synthetic benchmarks and benchmarks that simulate daily workloads. Most tests are free, so you can compare some results at home without spending money.

The SSD was delivered in perfect condition, with 0GB total writes, as you can see in the screenshot from CrystalDiskInfo. This is where we start our performance tests.

Benchmarks list includes:

• AIDA64 Storage Benchmark: Random Read and Write
• ATTO Disk Benchmark
• CrystalDiskMark: Sequential Read and Write, Random Low Queue Read and Write, IOPS
• PCMark 10 Storage Benchmarks:  Data, Quick, and Full System Tests
• 3DMark Storage Benchmark

ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO used to be the most popular benchmark to test storage performance. However, it focuses on sequential bandwidth, which, in recent years, hasn’t been as crucial as random operations. It still counts and is the main factor describing the storage performance by the marketing of all brands.

The MP600 Core Mini has a maximum rated sequential read bandwidth of 5GB/s and a write bandwidth of 3.8GB/s. Seeing 6.91GB/s read and 5.30GB/s write in our tests was a real surprise. It’s the only test showing such a high sequential bandwidth, but there are unexpected results in other benchmarks. The test was rerun several times, and the results were similar each time.

CrystalDiskMark

Nowadays, CrystalDiskMark is the leading benchmark for home and office storage devices. It’s free, easy to use, and provides many valuable results.

Our results in sequential tests are close to those declared by Corsair—higher read bandwidth but slightly lower write.

Low queue random operations are essential for daily usage. The read bandwidth is significant for gaming.

The MP600 Core Mini isn’t expected to beat the M.2 2280 SSD with faster controllers, but its results are still pretty good. In writing, they’re even the best in comparison. Since it uses HMB and PC RAM, it could improve results in this specific test.

IOPS results are more important for professional work and content creation.

The MP600 Core Mini shows much higher IOPS in reading operations – 700k vs specified 550k, but almost as high results as specified in writes. Both results are pretty high for any M.2 SSD.

PCMark 10 Storage Benchmarks

The MP600 Core Mini performs exceptionally well in PCMark 10 Storage benchmarks. It beats a higher series of M.2 2280 SSD in most tests. We wouldn’t expect that from 2230 SSD, also based on QLC NAND.

3DMark Storage Benchmark

3DMark Storage Benchmark shows the difference between MP600 series SSD and top series M.2 SSDs on the market. I wish we had more M.2 2230 SSDs for this comparison, but I can add that Team Group MP44s or other QLC 2230 SSDs perform about the same or slightly worse. The only faster SSD is Corsair MP600 Mini (not Core Mini). As one of the few SSDs in this form factor, it uses TLC NAND.

AIDA64 Disk Benchmark

Ultimately, the AIDA64 Disk Benchmark is in random read and write operations. This benchmark isn’t popular but gives us one specific workload – extended random operations. It’s also great to test whether or not the SSD throttles during extended workloads.

The MP600 Core Mini doesn’t throttle in the AIDA64 benchmark, and the average bandwidth is excellent. It beats most other SSDs in our comparison. Once again, it surprised us with higher-than-expected results. It’s hard to explain why, in this benchmark, the MP600 Core Mini is better than the top PCIe 5.0 SSD. As in other tests, we had to rerun AIDA64 storage tests several times to ensure the behavior was repeatable.

Even though the MP600 Core Mini isn’t the fastest, some results are exceptional, even for high-series M.2 SSDs. This SSD is great for portable devices as it’s small and quick. We don’t have many M.2 2230 SSDs for direct comparison, but the competition has nothing faster for handheld gaming consoles. Especially in the most popular Steam Deck, the new competitive M.2 2230 SSDs are as fast as the MP600 Core Mini or are limited by the console itself. Only some M.2 2230 SSD series are available at 2TB capacity, which makes the MP600 Core Mini a very interesting upgrade option.

Conclusion

Even though the MP600 Core Mini feels like a downgrade from the previously released MP600 Mini, in reality, it has a higher maximum capacity and is supposed to be cheaper. At the same time, it’s designed for devices with problems utilizing PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth, so it wouldn’t make a difference if the SSD is slightly faster or slower. The MP600 Core Mini delivers optimal performance for mobile devices, and our tests confirm it performs even better than expected.

Corsair offers the 2TB version of the MP600 Core Mini for around $190 in its online store. It’s not cheap, but all M.2 2230 SSDs are very expensive, so if we need one for our daily challenges, we don’t have a choice. If we search it in other stores, we can save up to $30. It’s one of the least expensive 2TB M.2 2230 SSDs at this price.

If we gather up all the pros and cons, then the MP600 Core Mini is still an exciting option for gamers on the go. It’s not cheap, but the price is reasonable. It’s not the fastest, but we won’t find anything better at 2TB capacity at the given price. It’s widely available, while other brands need help delivering their products. Once we add everything, it’s clear that Corsair is a recommended upgrade for our mobile device or handheld console.
MP600 Core Mini is another well-designed Corsair product, which is hard not to recommend, so we also put our Approved stamp!

Click the stamp for an explanation of what this means.

Bartosz Waluk – Woomack

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