Corsair MP700 PRO XT 2TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280

The Corsair MP700 PRO XT is the fastest consumer SSD we've tested, with 14,900 MB/s reads and top-tier random performance. It's expensive and runs hot, but if you need maximum speed and have PCIe 5.0, this is the one. Everyone else can save money with a good PCIe 4.0 drive.

The headline numbers are wild. 14,900 MB/s sequential read and 14,500 MB/s write put it at the absolute top of our charts, and the random IOPS (2700K read, 3300K write) are best-in-class too. That means big file transfers, game loads, and heavy workstation tasks all feel instant. The TLC NAND keeps things snappy under sustained writes, though you'll want decent airflow because PCIe 5.0 drives run hot when pushed. For laptops and workstations, our scores land at 86.5 and 85.1 respectively, which is excellent. Gaming comes in at 82.9, still strong but the real-world difference between this and a good PCIe 4.0 drive in games is smaller than the spec sheet suggests.

Against the Samsung 9100 Pro, the Corsair trades blows on raw speed but Samsung typically offers a longer warranty and better software. The WD_BLACK SN850X is a PCIe 4.0 drive that's cheaper and still excellent for gaming, though it can't touch these sequential numbers. The Crucial T710 and Kingston Fury Renegade are both solid PCIe 4.0 options that undercut the MP700 PRO XT on price while giving up some peak throughput. The Seagate FireCuda 530R is another PCIe 4.0 competitor with better endurance ratings in some configs. Basically, if you want the absolute fastest consumer drive right now, the Corsair wins. If you want the best value, look at PCIe 4.0.

Pricing is all over the place in Canada, from CAD 670 to CAD 1,900 across two listings, which is a massive spread. Memory Express has the better deal at the low end, so if you're buying up north, that's the one to watch. In the US it's USD 334, which is steep but not unreasonable for a flagship PCIe 5.0 drive. The real question is whether you need this speed. If you're moving huge files daily or running a workstation that eats storage bandwidth, it's worth it. For most gamers and general users, a good PCIe 4.0 drive gets you 90% of the experience for a lot less cash.

The Corsair MP700 PRO XT is one of those drives that makes you wonder if we've hit peak SSD. 14,900 MB/s read and 14,500 MB/s write are absurd numbers, and in our database this thing sits at the 100th percentile for both speed and random performance. It's basically a small, very fast rectangle that laughs at your old SATA drive.

It's a 2TB M.2 2280 with TLC NAND, PCIe 5.0 x4, and hardware encryption. The endurance rating is 1400 TBW with a 3-year warranty, which is fine but not exactly generous for a drive this fast. If you've got a motherboard that can actually feed it PCIe 5.0 lanes, this is about as quick as consumer storage gets right now.

Skip this if you're on a PCIe 4.0 motherboard or you mainly game. The real-world speed difference in games is small, and you'll pay a premium for bandwidth you can't fully use. Also skip it if you need a portable drive, the 22/100 portable score tells you everything. And if you want a long warranty, look at Samsung or WD instead.

Buy this if you have a PCIe 5.0 motherboard and you actually push your storage hard. Video editors, data analysts, and anyone who moves massive files will feel the difference. Gamers will appreciate it too, but the jump from a good PCIe 4.0 drive isn't as dramatic as the spec sheet implies. The 3-year warranty is a bit of a bummer for a drive this expensive, but the performance is undeniable.