Corsair MP700 Elite vs Samsung 9100 Pro

There are not many players in the high-end Gen 5.0 NVMe category. Each brand has its one or two flagship drives, and that’s it. On top, we can see the WD Black SN8100, Samsung 9100 Pro, Crucial T710, and some other drives. But there is another superb SSD from Corsair, which people don’t talk much about. It is the Corsair MP700 Elite. They have recently launched their best-of-the-best Corsair MP700 Pro XT as well, but in this article, we will compare the MP700 Elite to the very popular Samsung 9100 Pro.

The Corsair MP700 Elite is a DRAM-less SSD, while the 990 Pro has its own DRAM. It’s the 9100 Pro’s first advantage, especially for sustained and random workloads. However, the HMB (Host Memory Buffer) technology used in all modern DRAM-Less NVMe SSDs, including the MP700 Elite, has become quite advanced. In it, the SSD uses a small portion of your main memory primarily to handle its mapping tables. DRAM-less SSDs are generally cheaper and more power-efficient than the DRAM-equipped ones.

The Phison E31T controller in the MP700 Elite is a cost-focused, DRAM-less Gen-5 controller that pushes ~10–10.6 GB/s while keeping power and cost down. The 9100 Pro comes with the Presto controller and onboard DRAM cache, sized by capacity (e.g., 1–8 GB LPDDR4X, depending on model). This controller is known for consistent low latency for random workloads and helps sustain high IOPS. So, the 9100 Pro has an edge here also.

The MP700 Elite is inferior in performance and specifications to the 9100 Pro. It promises a lower sequential and random read/write speed. The price difference isn’t that big either. So, the 9100 is surely a better pick in most cases. Let’s compare them both and see which one is best for you.

Theoretical Specifications Comparison

In theoretical specifications, the Samsung 9100 Pro absolutely dominates the Corsair MP700 Elite. Despite both drives using PCIe 5.0 x4 and NVMe 2.0, Samsung’s drive crushes it in every performance metric, including the sequential speeds, random IOPS, and even capacity options with its 4TB variant.

The 9100 Pro’s read and write speeds hover around a staggering 14–15 GB/s, while the MP700 Elite stays behind at roughly 10 GB/s and even below that. Random performance tells the same story. Samsung’s controller and DRAM-backed design give it a clear edge, doubling or even tripling IOPS compared to Corsair’s performance. Even the NAND is denser and newer on Samsung’s side, with 236-layer V8 TLC versus Corsair’s 218-layer BiCS8.

To make matters worse for Corsair, Samsung manages all this at virtually the same starting price. In short, the MP700 Elite feels like an overpriced Gen 5 entry-level drive.

Benchmark Scores Comparison

All the benchmark scores are for the 2TB variants of both drives.

PCMark 10 Full Drive Benchmark

The PCMark 10 Full System Drive test measures how an SSD handles real-world tasks. It is a trace-based benchmark that simulates activities such as loading apps, photo editing, video editing, editing office files, and booting the system. It gives a clear picture of how the drive will perform in everyday use rather than just synthetic speed tests.

Samsung’s 9100 Pro clearly outpaces the Corsair MP700 Elite in overall PCMark 10 Full System Drive performance, pulling ahead by 6,597 points to 5,008. The 9100 Pro offers far better bandwidth (1,037 vs 789 MB/s) and even lower latency at 25 µs vs 33 µs. Overall, the Samsung 9100 Pro is the top pick for demanding workloads, gaming, and productivity. The Corsair MP700 Elite is fine for users who want reliable everyday performance without chasing top-end numbers.

3DMark Storage Test for Gamers

The 3DMark Storage Benchmark measures how fast an SSD handles gaming-related tasks. It simulates activities such as installing games, loading levels, saving games, and recording gameplay. It’s a good indicator of real-world gaming performance and overall responsiveness.

Samsung’s 9100 Pro once again takes the win in the 3DMark Storage Benchmark with a higher overall score (6,371 vs 5,194) and lower latency (28 µs vs 34 µs). The Corsair MP700 Elite gave a lower bandwidth (875 MB/s vs 1,084 MB/s), showing it’s not quite in the same league. Samsung’s drive is clearly tuned for faster data access and multitasking efficiency.

Overall, the Samsung 9100 Pro is the better choice for gamers, professionals, and users who work with 3D-related tasks.

CrystalDiskMark Sequential Read/Write Performance

CDM is a synthetic benchmark software suitable for testing a drive’s peak throughput. For the peak sequential read/write performance, we have 1 MiB data blocks at the queue depths of 1 and 8.

Samsung’s 9100 Pro again crushes the Corsair MP700 Elite in every metric here. It’s faster across all read and write tests by heavy margins. 1MB QD8 read speeds are roughly 37% higher, and write speeds jump by nearly 50%. Even at lower queue depths, where responsiveness matters most, the Samsung maintains a clear advantage, roughly doubling Corsair’s read speed and still beating it in write performance.

All in all, the Samsung 9100 Pro is ideal for anyone pushing large files, high-end workloads, or heavy multitasking. The Corsair MP700 Elite

still works for solid midrange use, but it just can’t compete with the 9100 Pro here.

CrystalDiskMark Random Read/Write Performance

These 4KB tests measure how well an SSD handles small file reads and writes. For this test, the usual 4KB data blocks are used at queue depths of 1 and 256.

In this 4KB performance test, the Samsung 9100 Pro once again leads overall, but it’s not a clean sweep this time. At low queue depths, both drives are neck and neck in read speed, with Corsair’s MP700 Elite actually beating the 9100 Pro in 4KB QD1 write (106,198 vs 86,845). However, at a higher queue depth of 256, the Samsung blows past it, hitting much higher 4KB QD256 read and write speeds —a clear win in high parallelism and heavy I/O tasks.

All in all, we can say that the Samsung 9100 Pro is best for multitasking, workstation loads, and scenarios with many small, simultaneous tasks. However, the Corsair MP700 Elite performs slightly better for lighter, single-threaded tasks or typical consumer workloads.

File Transfer Rate

These transfer rate tests show how fast each SSD can read, write, and copy large real-world files.

The Samsung 9100 Pro again beats the Corsair MP700 Elite in two of the three transfer tests, showing slightly higher copy (2,582 vs 2,449 MB/s) and read speeds (4,887 vs 4,284 MB/s). The Corsair, however, lands a small win in write performance with 2,427 MB/s against Samsung’s 2,294 MB/s. Overall, Samsung still looks faster in most real-world scenarios, though Corsair’s write efficiency gives it a bit of balance.

Power Consumption and Efficiency

These measurements show how efficiently an SSD uses power while transferring data and sitting idle.

Corsair MP700 Elite beats the 9100 Pro in power efficiency with better performance per watt (682 MB/s per watt vs 503) while using less energy during file copies (4 W vs 5 W). It’s also a bit more frugal at idle, though the gap isn’t huge. The Samsung 9100 Pro, while faster overall in other tests, draws more power and peaks much higher at 8 W. All in all, the Corsair MP700 Elite is the more intelligent choice for energy-conscious setups, laptops, or compact systems with limited cooling.

Consistent Write Performance after SLC Exhaustion

Most modern SSDs come with a Pseudo-SLC Write cache to absorb incoming streams of write data. This is done because the NAND flash memory in SSDs (storage medium of SSDs) has an inherently slower write speed. To compensate for that slow speed, a cache is used. Now, when the SSD is idle or in the background, this write data is stored in the NAND flash from the cache for permanent storage.

Now, to check the real write speed of an SSD, we can easily surpass that write cache with a lot of write data and check the steady-state write speed. So, after the SLC exhaustion, the 9100 Pro idles at around 1800 MB/s while the MP700 Elite stables at around 1400 MB/s. So, 9100 Pro has an advantage over here as well.

Price-to-Performance Ratio

Both the SSDs have almost similar pricing. The 2TB MP700 Elite can have a slightly lower price tag at some marketplaces, but the 1TB and 4TB are almost at the same price. On Newegg, the 4TB MP700 Elite is priced higher. In simple terms, the MP700 Elite’s price tag doesn’t justify it. The 9100 Pro is giving us a better Price-to-Performance ratio. It also gives us a better price-per-GB.

TBW, DWPD, MTBF, and Warranty

All the endurance specs, including the warranty period, are the same in both SSDs. We are getting what we generally expect from all the modern SSDs in the market, i.e, 600TBW for 1TB and so on.

Technical Specifications

The Samsung 9100 Pro is clearly the more advanced drive here, packing a stronger controller (Presto S4LY027 with ARM Cortex-R8) and onboard LPDDR4X DRAM.

Samsung’s 236-layer V8 TLC NAND also outclasses Corsair’s 218-layer BiCS8 TLC in density and sophistication, even if it runs at a lower 2,400 MT/s interface speed compared to Corsair’s 3,600 MT/s.

Despite slower NAND speeds, Samsung balances this with richer caching (Samsung Turbo-Write), hardware encryption (AES-256 and TCG Opal), and better overall system integration. Corsair’s drive, while efficient and simple, is clearly built to hit a lower cost bracket rather than absolute performance.

Price

Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?

From the specifications and benchmark scores comparison, it is clear that the Samsung 9100 Pro offers better performance and features. It has better NAND flash, a faster controller, DRAM, better encryption, and good thermal management. Also, the price difference is not very big and in some variants, it is the same. So, the 9100 is definitely a good pick for any user.

The Corsair MP700 Elite can be a good choice for Gen 5.0 laptops thanks to its better power efficiency, though the difference in power consumption isn’t much. Also, if you are getting heavy discounts on this drive, it’s a good pick for sure. Otherwise, the 9100 Pro is better than the MP700 Elite in most cases.