MSI is one of the most renowned hardware manufactures in the PC industry. The brand is mainly known for its graphics cards and motherboards but just like every major manufacturer, the brand has been expanding into other ventures such as peripherals, casings, cooling solutions, laptops & pre-builts. The latest expansion to MSI's diverse portfolio is their brand new SSD range known as Spatium.

The new MSI Spatium lineup is aimed at both high-performance and mainstream segments. The high-end series includes the M480 while the mainstream segments include the M470 & the M370 series SSDs. The M400 series drives are based on the PCIe Gen 4.0 protocol while the M300 series drivers are based on the PCIe Gen 3.0 protocol.

MSI is announcing the launch of its solid state drive (SSD) product line with the introduction of SPATIUM. The initial product offering will include M480, M470, and M370, which are Gen4 & Gen3 PCIe NVMe SSDs in compact M.2 2280 form factors that can be installed into compatible desktop motherboards and laptops.

MSI continues to refine its identity as a high-performance PC brand and SPATIUM was envisioned to expand our ecosystem and cover the high-performance storage category. These SSDs are built with high-quality, high-density 3D NAND flash that deliver the best compromise of performance and endurance for professionals, content creators, and gamers. Among the performance improving technologies include a DRAM cache buffer for M480 and M470, and a SLC cache for all announced models.

Today, I will be testing the MSI Spatium M480 2 TB & M470 1 TB SSDs which are priced at $439.99 and $189.99 US.respectively. Both drives feature the PCIe Gen 4.0 protocol which means they are future-proof and will offer some really fast speeds, targetting other high-end and mainstream solutions.

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD

MSI SPATIUM M480 is part of the latest MSI SPATIUM family and hence, it comes with a new design language that features a bunded heatsink module along with the IHS spreader based on a copper film.

The MSI SPATIUM M480 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and features a 96-layer TLC-based 3D NAND flash which offers larger capacities, better performance, and slightly lower power input. The M480 SSDs are also based on the high-end Phison PS5018-E18 controller.

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FEATURES

PCIe Gen4x4 interface and complies with the NVMe 1.4 standardSequential Read speeds up to 7000MB/s and Write speeds up to 6800MB/sUp to 1400 TBWBuilt-in data security and error-correction capabilities500GB to 2TB capacities in M.2 2280 form factorSuitable for both desktop and notebook5-Year Warranty

Furthermore, these 2 TB model is priced slightly above the premium offerings with a cost of $439.99 US which gets you really high-speeds out of the box. In terms of performance, MSI's SPATIUM M480 2 TB has sequential read speeds of 7000 MB/s and write speeds of 6800 MB/s.

The Random read speeds of these drives are up to 650K IOPS and the write is 700K IOPS. The MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB SSD has an idle power draw of 22mW and a maximum operating power of 8.2W. The endurance of the lineup is rated at 1400 TBW or 1,600,000 hours which should last a good amount of time with these drives. You are also looking at a 5-year limited warranty through the entire lineup.

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TBSpecifications:

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD

MSI SPATIUM M470 is part of the MSI's mainstream SPATIUM family and retains the PCIe Gen 4.0 compliancy. It is only the M370 series where the compliancy falls down to Gen 3.0 but those are targetted at the entry-level segment. The MSI M470 series is also based on the NVMe 1.3 standard instead of the NVMe 1.4 standard of the M480 drives.

The SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and features a 96-layer TLC-based 3D NAND flash which offers larger capacities, better performance, and slightly lower power input. MSI is using the Phison PS5016-E16 controller.

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FEATURES

PCIe Gen4x4 interface and complies with the NVMe 1.3 standardSequential Read speeds up to 5000MB/s and Write speeds up to 4400MB/sUp to 3300 TBWBuilt-in data security and error-correction capabilities1TB to 2TB capacities in M.2 2280 form factorSuitable for both desktop and notebook5-Year Warranty

The 1 TB model is priced at a nominal $189.99 US which gets you really high-speeds out of the box. In terms of performance, MSI's SPATIUM M470 1 TB has sequential read speeds of 5000 MB/s and write speeds of 4400 MB/s. The Random read speeds of these drives are up to 600K IOPS and the write is 600K IOPS. The MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB SSD has an idle power draw of 20mW and a maximum operating power of 6.3W.

The endurance of the lineup is rated at 1400 TBW or 1,600,000 hours which should last a good amount of time with these drives. You are also looking at a 5-year limited warranty through the entire lineup.

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TBSpecifications: