MSI is one of the most renowned hardware manufacturers 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 M450, and the M390 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 M390, 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.

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Today, I will be testing the MSI Spatium M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 SSD which will be priced at an MSRP of $329.99 US. The drive features the PCIe Gen 4.0 protocol and comes with a heatsink that is fully compatible with the PlayStation 5 console.

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD

MSI SPATIUM M480 series are the flagship products within the MSI SPATIUM family and hence, it comes with a new design language that features a bunded heatsink module. The main difference between the standard M480 and the new PLAY variant is that the standard one came with a more bulky heatsink that was optimized for use in enthusiast PC designs while the PLAY variant can be used for both PC and PS5.

The MSI SPATIUM M480 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature 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.

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

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 PLAY NVMe SSD Specifications:

	SPATIUM M480 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 500GB PLAY	SPATIUM M480 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 1TB PLAY	SPATIUM M480 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2TB PLAY	SPATIUM M480 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 4TB PLAY
MODEL NAME	SPATIUM M480 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 PLAY
CAPACITY	500GB	1TB	2TB	4TB
CONTROLLER	PHISON E18
FLASH MEMORY	3D NAND
DRAM CACHE	512MB DDR4	1GB DDR4	2GB DDR4	2GB DDR4
FORM FACTOR	M.2 2280
INTERFACE	PCIe Gen4 x4, NVMe 1.4
COMPATIBILITY	PCIe Gen4 / Gen3 / Gen2 / Gen1
DIMENSIONS	80.40mm (L) x 24.00mm (W) x 10.70mm (H), PS5™ Compatible
SEQUENTIAL READ UP TO (MB/S)	6500	7000	7000	7000
SEQUENTIAL WRITE UP TO (MB/S)	2850	5500	6800	6800
RANDOM READ 4KB UP TO (IOPS)	170,000	350,000	650,000	650,000
RANDOM WRITE 4KB UP TO (IOPS)	600,000	700,000	700,000	700,000
MAXIMUM OPERATING POWER (W)	6.0	6.6	8.2	9.7
IDLE POWER PS3 (MW)	10	14	22	50
LOW POWER L1.2 (MW)	3
OPERATING TEMPERATURES	0°C – 70°C
STORAGE TEMPERATURES	-40°C – 85°C
TERABYTES WRITTEN (TBW)	350	700	1400	3000
MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURE (MTBF)	Up to 1,600,000 Hours
LIMITED WARRANTY	5 Years, or the coverage for the maximum TBW as stated, whichever comes first.
ADVANCED FEATURES	TRIM (Performance Optimization, OS support required) SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) ECC Algorithm End to End Data Path Protection APST (Autonomous Power State Transition) AES256/TCG OPAL2.0/Pyrite (Encryption, Data Security)

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY SSD - Unboxing and Closer Look

The SSD comes in a small package. The package is colored black and features large pictures of the SSD featured on it. The front also lists down some features such as capacities, maximum read speeds, PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 form factor.MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY SSD.

The back of the package lists down some specifications of the SSD and some performance figures which we will get to in a bit.

The Spatium M480 PLAYpackage includes the SSD itself along with a drive manual and a comic book.

Out of the package, the drive comes in the standard M.2 2280 form factor and features a black PCB which is great since some mainstream drives come with blue-colored PCBs.

The SSD comes with a pre-installed heatsink with an MSI Dragon emblem on top of it. Since this drive is mostly aimed at the PlayStation 5 console, the SSD shouldn't be removed from the drive.

The MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB holds eight NAND Flash chips (96L) and a Phison E18 controller with 2 GB DDR4 memory. The MSI M480 measures 80.4x24x10.7mm (LxWxH).

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Test Setup

Our test platform for this review consisted of an Intel Core i9-12900K processor which ran at stock clocks on the Z690 AORUS Master motherboard. The platform was coupled with 32 GB of DDR5 memory from G.Skill (Trident Z5/ 16 GB x 2) and the ASUS ROG Thor 1200W PSU. For graphics, I used the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X. This rounds up as a high-end platform for tests with modern-day SSDs.

Wccftech SSD Test Setup:

Processor	Intel Core i9-12900K @ 5.30 GHz
Motherboard:	Z690 AOURS Master
Power Supply:	ASUS ROG THOR 1200W PSU
Solid State Drive:	Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB (Gen 4) Seagate IronWolf 525 500 GB (Gen 4) Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB (Gen 4) MSI Spatium M450 1 TB (Gen 4) MSI Spatium M480 2 TB (Gen 4) MSI Spatium M470 1 TB (Gen 4) TeamGroup CARDEA C440 1 TB (Gen 4) TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB (Gen 3) TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB (Gen 4) TeamGroup T-Create Classic 2 TB (Gen 3)
Memory:	G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 (2 x 16 GB)
Case:	Cooler Master C700M
Video Cards:	MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X
Cooling Solutions:	MSI MEG S360 AIO Liquid Cooler
OS:	Windows 11 64-bit

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Performance Benchmarks

First up, we have the official performance stats for these drives as listed by their manufacturers. You can compare these stats with the rest of the drives I tested in the following chart:

Official SSD Stats (IOPS)

Random Read 4 KB (IOPS)

Random Write 4KB (IOPS)

0

166667

333334

500001

666668

833335

1000002

0

166667

333334

500001

666668

833335

1000002

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 1m

1m

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 1m

1m

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 750k

750k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 700k

650k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 700k

650k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 650k

700k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 650k

700k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 680k

670k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 600k

600k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 420k

550k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 420k

550k

Official SSD Stats (MB/s)

Sequential Read (MB/s)

Sequential Write (MB/s)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.4k

7k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 7k

6.9k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 7k

6.8k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 7k

6.8k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 7k

5k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 7k

5.5k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 5k

4.4k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 5k

4.4k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 3.6k

3k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 3.4k

3k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 3.3k

3k

AS SSD Benchmark

AS SSD Benchmark downloadis a Windows 10 utility software program that tests the performance of solid-state drives. With its help, you canfind out the speed of all installed SSDsand take care of any issues that the tests may reveal. The free appperforms three separate teststo provide you with conclusive evidence on your driver's general behavior while it copies, reads, and writes data. The app determines the access timeof an SSD, along with its speed and performance capabilities

AS-SSD Benchmark

AS-SSD Score

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 12.1k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 12k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 11.9k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 11.8k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 11.7k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 8.6k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 7.2k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 7k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 5.6k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 4.9k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 4.8k

ATTO 3.05 Disk Benchmark

As the industry’s leading provider of high-performance storage & network connectivity products, ATTO has created a widely-accepted Disk Benchmark freeware software to help measure storage system performance. As one of the top tools utilized in the industry, Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, solid-state drives, RAID arrays as well as the host connection to attached storage. Top drive manufacturers, like Hitachi, build and test every drive using the ATTO Disk Benchmark.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturer's RAID controllers, storage controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), hard drives, and SSD drives, and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

ATTO v3.05 128 KB Sequential QD4

Sequential Read (MB/s)

Sequential Write (MB/s)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7.3k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7.1k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7.2k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7.2k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 5.1k

4.4k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 6.8k

7.1k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 5.1k

5.3k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 5k

5.2k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 3.8k

3.9k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 3.7k

3.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 3.6k

3.5k

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64

CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software.It measure sequential reads/writes speed,measure random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed,select test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill),

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64 SEQ1M Q8T1

Sequential Read (MB/s)

Sequential Write (MB/s)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4

7k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

6.9k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 7.1k

6.7k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 7.1k

5.1k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 6.7k

5.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 7.1k

4.5k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 5.3k

4.4k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 5.2k

3.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 3.7k

3.3k

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64 4KiB Q1T1

Random Read (MB/s)

Random Write (MB/s)

0

90

180

270

360

450

540

0

90

180

270

360

450

540

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 112

492

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 109

485

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 109

485

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 108

481

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 100

450

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 88

428

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 79

424

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 76

412

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 75

410

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 74

408

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 73

405

File Transfer Speeds (100 GB File Size)

To test the maximum average transfer speeds of the drives, I used a 100 GB file to test the limits.

File Transfer Rate (MB/s)

Transfer Speed (MB/s)

0

400

800

1200

1600

2000

2400

0

400

800

1200

1600

2000

2400

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB 1.5k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 1.5k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 1.5k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 1.3k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 1.2k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 1.2k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 891

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 855

PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark

The PCMark 10 Storage benchmark is designed to test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and a selection of popular games. You can test the system drive or any other recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 10 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.

PCMark 10 System Disk Storage Bench

Disk Score (Higher is Better)

0

700

1400

2100

2800

3500

4200

0

700

1400

2100

2800

3500

4200

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 3.5k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 3.3k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 3.3k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 3.3k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 3.3k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 2.8k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 2.7k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 2.7k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 2.2k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 2.1k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 2k

PCMark 10 System Disk Access Times

Access Times (Lower is Better)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 43

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 45

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 45

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 45

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 46

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 46

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 48

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 52

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 57

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 58

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 62

Conclusion - Solid Storage For Console Gamers

We have tested lots of Spatium drives over the past few months ranging from high-end Gen 4 to mainstream Gen 4 and Gen 3 solutions. Those drives were mostly aimed at the PC platform but it was expected that MSI would further expand its portfolio into the console gaming segment & they have done so with the MSI M480 PLAY SSDs.

Temperatures

Disk Score (Lower is Better)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 76

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 72

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 71

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 69

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 67

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 56

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 56

TeamGroup CARDEA Ceramic C440 1 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 55

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 (With heatsink) 53

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 50

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 49

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 47

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 45

Also looking at the temperatures above, you can see that the SSD performs with respectable temps under the 50C range which is thanks to the chonky heatsink slammed on top of the controller & the DRAM modules but despite having a full-sized heatsink, the SSD will be fully compatible with the PS 5 consoles.

The SSD is as performant as the M480 which I tested last year. They are paired with 96 Layer 3D TLC NAND Flash (Micron and Toshiba). The M480 is outfitted with the fastest SSD controller, the Phison E18 which makes it a high-end design with 2 GB of DDR4 memory while the M470 rocks 1 GB of DDR4 memory and features the Phison E-16 controller.

Last year, when I tested the M480, it was priced at $439 US for the 2 TB variant but now, we are looking at a pricing of $329.99 US which is far more reasonable, and to top it all off, those looking for even higher capacities can get the 4 TB variant which is readily available by MSI. The MSI M480 series SSDs are a top-notch and enthusiast-grade storage solution and it's great to see MSI offering the same performance and fantastic heatsink design on the next-gen consoles such as PlayStation 5.