In this article we will concentrate upon the Force Series MP510 480GB SSD from CORSAIR, which operates on an NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 interface and can be considered a well-deserved upgrade for most systems. Coincidentally, it features about the same hardware as the Silicon Power P34A80, but with more RAM caching this time.

The product is shipped inside a very compact cardboard packaging, with the speed ratings listed listed right on the frontal area, along with the total storage capacity:

More details regarding the product are available on the back side of the box, together with the product code name and serial number:

For better protection, the drive does sit inside a transparent plastic mold:

The frontal SSD area is covered by a large sticker, showing the product name along with the bus it functions on:

The back side of the drive does not feature additional components, but an additional, smaller sticker:

After removing the manufacturer sticker, we will expose the RAM, main controller but also the two NAND ICs:

The RAM IC was manufactured by Nanya and does sport the NT5CC256M16ER-EK code name; the total cache capacity is 512MB:

The 8-channel Phison PS5012-E12-27 controller does support QLC, 3D TLC NAND and PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interfaces:

The TLC 3D NAND flash is manufactured by Toshiba, using 64 layers on a 15nm manufacturing process: