With the MSI SPATIUM M570 Pro 2TB, the Taiwanese manufacturer has now also done it: launching an NVMe SSD with PCIe 5.0 standard on the market. But does such a bolide bring any real added performance value and what is actually installed in detail? Nothing escapes my material tests in this regard and yes, the SSD really is ROHS-compliant. But you could have guessed that. And so today I’m doing the test, comparing the results with the equivalent product from Corsair, then dismantling the SSD and also looking at the cooling. So it’s better to take a closer look. And of course also inside, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
The 2 TB variant with cooler is listed by MSI at an MSRP of 299 USD for today’s launch, but I don’t have a street price yet. That’s not really cheap, but it’s based on the price of the Corsair MP700 Pro 2 TB with active air cooler. Because you do need to cool the SSD. Apart from the fact that the Phison E26 controller can easily get over 100 °C without cooling and then brutally throttle (self-protection), it gets quite hot overall. The huge passive cooler installed by MSI is quite bulky to install, but is easily sufficient. But I’ll come to that later. At least it cools perfectly and, above all, silently! That’s a spoiler in advance.
An important preliminary remark on PCIe 5.0 and compatibility
The new PCI Express 5.0 (Gen5) standard brings with it a number of changes that place new technical demands on hardware components. In order to fully benefit from PCI-Express 5.0, you need a mainboard that supports PCI-Express 5.0 as well as corresponding I/O support from the CPU or an I/O controller. Current processors such as Intel’s 12th and 13th generation Core and AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series support PCI-Express 5.0, albeit with a different number of lanes.
On motherboards, most M.2 slots offer four lanes of PCI-Express bandwidth via their PCI-Express 5.0 M.2 slots. This information can be checked on the mainboard manufacturer’s data sheet under the STORAGE section. Some motherboards also offer expansion options via riser cards, such as those offered by ASUS and MSI for Gen5 devices. When using a PCI-Express 5.0 SSD in a PCI-Express 5.0 slot, the SSD is operated at its full speed.
PCI-Express slots are generally compatible with each other, but you should be aware of the performance limits. A PCI-Express 3.0 SSD that is designed for 3,000 MB/s will not suddenly reach 12,000 MB/s in a PCI-Express 5.0 slot, nor will a Gen4 SSD with a rating of 7000 MB/s. Conversely, a PCI-Express 5.0 SSD in a PCI-Express 3.0 slot will only operate at the maximum theoretical speed of the slot.
Unboxing, accessories and technical data
The SSD is pre-assembled and fitted with a huge passive cooler. But more on this in a moment when it comes to heat development and the cooler. And yes, a good thermal shield from a current motherboard is actually sufficient for cooling as long as there is a little airflow in the housing. You can’t do without it completely.
That takes care of the scope of delivery and cooler, including the power connection, and we’ll quickly take a look at the technical data before we delve deeper into the matter. This is definitely worthwhile and offers interesting insights that are only available in this form exclusively here.
Technical data
You will find the size and installation dimensions in the table below, as well as the key electrical data, including power consumption and environmental specifications.
But that’s enough of an introduction for now, let’s move on to the technology! Please scroll on…
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