Which MP700 PRO is best for you?

SSD throughput is increasing with each new PCIe generation, significantly so. With the latest PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs, such as the CORSAIR MP700 PRO, you’re looking at sequential read speeds of up to 12,400MB/s and writes at up to 11,800MB/s. This is a seriously fast sliver of storage. It’s worth bearing in mind that this jump in performance is accompanied by an increase in the heat production, and that means you need to make sure you have adequate cooling if you want to enjoy consistent throughput.

Good internal airflow is a good place to start here, but if you’re doing a lot of file transfers, that’s only the start of the new ethos of what you need to do in order to make sure these next-generation drives are performing optimally.

This is why we offer three different versions of the MP700 PRO. Each one has the same base NVMe SSD at its core, so there’s no difference in the raw numbers, but each one is built with different cooling setups in mind. The MP700 PRO is the base model, which is designed to be used with the M.2 heatsink offered by your motherboard, while the MP700 PRO with Air Cooler comes with an active fan-based cooler. Finally, the MP700 PRO Hydro X Series ships with a water block pre-attached ready for it to be integrated into your existing custom cooling setup.

But how do these different cooling configurations compare and what sort of performance can you expect to see from them? That’s exactly what we’ve set out to cover here.

We’ve tested the different cooling options in the same machine to show what impact cooling has, keeping as much as possible consistent across the same runs. We used integrated M.2 cooler of the Gigabyte X670E AORUS Master for the bare drive and removed it for the MP700 PRO with Air Cooler. Obviously for the MP700 PRO Hydro X Series drive we had to build a cooling loop for testing, using an XR05, XD3 RGB, and a QX120 fan.

Here’s a full break down of the test system:

The first takeaway you’ll spot from the graphs below is that the performance you’ll see from the three drives is basically identical. There is a slight variation, with the Hydro X Series generally being a touch quicker than the MP700 PRO with Air Cooler and the motherboard-cooled bare drive being slightly behind that. These are all essentially identical though, whether you’re looking at CrystalDiskMark, AS SSD, or PCMark 10.

In real world applications you’d be hard pushed to spot any difference between the three different cooling options as far as performance is concerned. Provided that there is sufficient cooling in your system for those drives at any rate.

Where you can see a real difference is in the operating temperatures of the three coolers. The fact that the MP700 PRO Hydro X Series runs cooler than using the motherboard’s built-in cooler isn’t that surprising, although the fact it does so by as much as 30°C is shocking. If you’re building a system where file transfers are critical, then including the SSD in your custom loop will make a real difference. Obviously doing so isn’t as quick a solution as the other two options, but it clearly makes a difference to operating temperatures.

The MP700 PRO with Air Cooler represents the best practical option, as it runs up to 20°C cooler than using your motherboard’s heatspreader and doesn’t require that you plumb in a whole custom loop to get the most from it. This is the drive we’d recommend for most users looking to enjoy the incredible performance of the latest PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs. Don’t be worried about the fan either, as it’s very quiet in operation and is barely perceptible above the other fans you undoubtedly have in your case.

You may be wondering why we sell the bare drive if the MP700 PRO with Air Cooler runs so much cooler? Mainly to give you more options when it comes to third-party coolers, including those motherboard coolers. To be clear, the MP700 PRO doesn’t get so hot as to throttle when using the motherboard heatsink in our test setup, so you can use it like this without issue. Just make sure your case has sufficient airflow and you should be fine.

In summary, the three different cooling options for the MP700 PRO give you the best options for your system and what sort of user you are.