Corsair Performance Pro 128 GB SSD Review

Conclusions

The Corsair Performance Pro put up a good fight against the older Force GT in our tests. The differences in performance between the two drives can be attributed to the different controllers that Corsair has used in each. The Corsair Performance Pro is based on the latest Marvell 88S-9174 BKK2 controller, while the Force GT is based on the older Sandforce SF-2281.

We weren’t expecting the Performance Pro to outperform the Force GT, as the claimed sequential read and write speeds of 515 MB/s and 440 MB/s, respectively, are noticeably lower than the Force GT’s 555 MB/s and 515 MB/s.

In our tests, we found that the Performance Pro fared very well in the sequential and 512 KB random write tests, where it achieved much better performance than the Force GT. The Performance Pro exhibited a similar level of sequential read performance to the Force GT in CrystalDiskMark and achieved 6% better performance in AS SSD. This is because these benchmarks use incompressible data, and the Marvell controller in the Performance Pro doesn’t rely on compression to boost data throughput, unlike the Sandforce controller in the Force GT.

At the time of publishing, the Corsair Performance Pro 128 GB will cost USD 200 at Newegg, which is around USD 30 more expensive than the Corsair Force GT 120 GB. As it is a brand new model, we expect the price will come down over the coming months to bring it in line with the Force GT. 

Considering the current price, we feel that the Force GT is a better buy, as it offers similar performance for less money. However, if the price reduces by USD 30 in the coming months, we would go for the Performance Pro over the Force GT, as it has a slightly larger usable capacity.