MSI announced their foray into the SSD market just last year in coordination with their re-aligned product grouping for a more focused approached to the growing needs of creators and gamers. Fast forward today, we now have the MSI Spatium – a new line of products built solely for their storage devices.
Now what we have here is the Spatium M470. This is a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD aimed to the mainstream market featuring an MSRP of ₱7,999 PHP ($129.99 USD at Amazon). This comes with a Phison E16 controller and 3D NAND flash with a capacity of 1 TB for our particular model. This SSD comes with speeds of 5000 MB/s and 4400 MB/s – read and write, respectively. Warranty is about 5 years which is nice.
Disclosure: MSI sent the Spatium M470 for the purpose of this review. As usual, the company did not ask me to say anything particular about it. They sent a whole PC (minus the case) to have it reviewed though.
- Product page: MSI SPATIUM M470 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2
- Price: $129.99 USD (Amazon) / ₱7,999 PHP (MSRP)
- Release Date: Q4 2021
Technical Specifications
| Storage | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 1 TB (2 TB model available) |
| Cache | 1 GB DRAM |
| Flash Controller | Phison E16 |
| Flash Memory | 3D NAND |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Sequential Read | 5000 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 4400 MB/s |
| Random 4 KB Read | 600,000 IOPS |
| Random 4 KB Write | 600,000 IOPS |
| Endurance | |
| MTBF | 1,700,000 Hours |
| TBW | 3300 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 80 mm |
| Width | 22 mm |
| Height | 2.15 mm |
| Weight | 9.7 grams |
Packaging and Accessories
The MSI Spatium M470 comes inside a simple color box.
The packaging comes with the following items inside:
- MSI Spatium M470 1TB
- Installation manual
Really minimal – not even a whiff of installation hardware.
Design, Build and Connectivity
Like many mainstream M.2 storage solutions out there, the MSI Spatium M470 looks typical. Maybe too typical for my taste with construction hazard stripes and all. I don’t feel the need to include this here since it could interfere with cooling solutions – unlike graphene sheets.
The back is devoted for the information sheet along with the remaining chips that makes up the drive’s total capacity of 1 TB – definitely a double sided module. Nothing special here but I appreciated MSI going with a Black PCB for this particular model. Doesn’t stick out that much compared to other budget oriented offerings.
Nothing major to complain here. Let us move on to the measurements.
Test Setup and Methodology
Our test setup relies on the measurements taken from industry standard benchmark tools and real-world applications. It is important to note that we are testing the review sample after burn-in, with at least 24-hours of uptime. This is done so to negate the FOTB (fresh out the box) state of the DUT (device under test), yielding better benchmarking consistency.
| Test System Specifications | |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| Motherboard | BIOSTAR B550M-SILVER |
| Cooler | Noctua NH-U12S Redux |
| Memory | ADATA Premier DDR4-2666 16 GB |
| GPU | GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6 GB |
| Storage | MSI Spatium M470 1 TB |
| Case | Mechanical Library JXK-K3 |
| PSU | Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 650 W |
| Display | LG UF680T |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
The DUT is tested with the following configuration from our test system:
- UEFI configuration: Default
- Windows Power Plan: Balanced
Note: I tested this device with what MSI supplied but for the sake of fair comparison with the rest of the benchmarked storage devices, I retested the drive using my standard test system.
Throughput
Throughput is measured in Megabytes per second (MB/s) at read and write. This is done via Crystal Disk Mark and its sequential benchmark.
Throughput is measured in Megabytes per second (MB/s) at read and write. This is done via AS SSD and its sequential benchmark.
Pretty good throughput performance we got here but we’re a few hundred MB/s shy of the specified 4400 MB/s write speed.
Operations per Second
Operations per Second is measured in Input/Output Operations per Second (IOPS) at read and write. This is done via Crystal Disk Mark and its 4K benchmark.
Operations per Second is measured in Input/Output Operations per Second (IOPS) at read and write. This is done via AS SSD and its 4K benchmark.
IOPS performance is excellent. This is definitely a PCIe 4.0 x4 device with a reliable Phison controller and 3D NAND chips inside.
Access and Loading Time
Access time is measured in Milliseconds (ms). This is done via AS SSD and its Access Time benchmark.
Loading time is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker and its official benchmark.
Proper performance we got here from the Spatium M470.
File Copy
File copy performance is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via AS SSD and its File Copy benchmark.
File copy performance is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via TeraCopy and 16GB worth of files.
File copy performance is excellent – able to go head to head with the fastest drive we got at TeraCopy. AS SSD performance seems proper too, with a faster copy performance at its game section compared to the Kingston Fury.
Thermals
Temperature is measured in degree Celcius (ºC) at system idle and load. This is done via AIDA64 Extreme and its System Stability Test.
Yep, thermal performance is not a strong point of the M470. Get a heatsink for this one – and make sure to remove the stickers before hand.
Features
Aside from its innate TRIM, SMART, LDPC and MSI Command Center support – the M470 comes with a 5 year warranty. That’s it – unless you jestfully count the easy to remove sticker so you could slap your own cooler on it.
The usual motherboard M.2 heatsink such as the one found with the MSI Z690 Force Wi-Fi will do. That is an expensive board so plan your build if you’re going this route.
Final Thoughts
The MSI Spatium M470 in its 1 TB variant is a great PCIe 4.0 x4 interface storage device. A welcome addition to the growing demands of creators and gamers looking for every bit of performance they could squeeze out of a sub $150 USD solid state drive.
While it is not perfect, getting toasty with its high operating temperature, the Spatium M470 is actually still a good option at its designated price point. I just wish it really comes with a proper heatsink from the get-go instead of a sticker front and back.
In closing, the MSI M470 is a $129.99 USD NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD that you should consider – especially with a 5 year warranty attached.
MSI Spatium M470 PCIe 4.0 SSD
Summary
In closing, the MSI M470 is a $129.99 USD NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD that you should consider – especially with a 5 year warranty attached.
