Corsair’s MP600 Mini M.2 SSD Launches for Valve Steam Deck Upgrades

Valve’s Steam Deck turned out to be a popular gaming handheld that caught Asus’ attention in the upcoming ROG Ally. Steam Deck comes standard with a 64GB eMMC, with optional 256GB or 512GB NVMe SSD. However, if you want to upgrade to more internal storage, Valve’s use of the M.2 2230 form factor for his SSDs limits your options somewhat.

But Corsair is new MP600 mini (opens in new tab) (PCIe Gen4 x4), using the smaller M.2 2230 form factor. The SSD uses the Phison PS5021-E21T controller and is rated for 4800 MBps sequential read throughput and 4,800 MBps sequential write. Additionally, random reads and writes are listed at 850,000 IOPS and 1,100,000 IOPS, respectively. For comparison, the 1TB Force MP600 M.2 2280 SSD uses the Phison PS5016-E16 controller and is rated at up to 4,950 MBps sequential read and up to 4,250 MBps sequential read.

However, keep in mind that all Steam Decks have a PCIe Gen3 x4 interface, which theoretically allows for 4 GBps throughput, with most drives reaching around 3.5 GBps. Also, in some cases, the 256GB and 512GB NVMe SSDs that ship with Steam Decks use the PCIe Gen3 x2 interface, halving the theoretical maximum throughput to 2 GBps. In any case, rest assured that the MP600 Mini works well as a replacement SSD for your Steam Deck.