MSI Spatium M480 Pro 2TB SSD Review - E18 Refresh

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

MSI's Spatium M480 Pro SSD is definitely worth a close look for any gamer looking for an edge.

Pros

• + Gaming
• + Sequential throughput
• + Transfer rates

Cons

• - Consumer workloads

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon

Buy at Newegg

Introduction & Drive Details

Two years ago, after forging a partnership with Phison Electronics, MSI decided to broaden its vast hardware portfolio by adding consumer SSDs into the mix. Back in August of 2021, we got our first taste of MSI solid state storage goodness via its Spatium M480. The M480 proved to be the best performing of all the Micron 96-Layer arrayed E18-controlled SSDs we'd tested to that point in time.

Seven months later, in March of 2022, we got our hands-on another Spatium M480 variant, the Spatium M480 Play. The Spatium M480 Play offered a massive performance uplift over the original M480 because it came arrayed with Micron's 176-Layer B47R flash behind the same Phison E18 controller. Additionally, the M480 Play variant comes pre-fitted with a beautiful-sized for PlayStation 5 heatsink.

So here we are today with yet another Spatium M480 variant; this time, it's the Spatium M480 Pro. This variant sports the very same hardware as the M480 Play being Phison E18 controlled and arrayed with Micron 176-Layer B47R flash running at a speed of 1,200MT. The Pro version is different in two ways compared with the Play version, in that it doesn't come with a sized for PS5 heatsink, and it has different firmware.

The Pro variant is available with or without heatsink.

We assume that the option of forgoing the heatsink will result in the bare drive being priced a bit lower than the Play version. We feel this is a good tradeoff because most modern motherboards come with a substantial enough integrated heatsink, and for the PS5, there are low-cost aftermarket heatsinks that are better than what the Play version comes with. More options are better, so we like that.

Heatsink aside, what sets the Pro variant aside from its predecessor, the Play variant, is the firmware. The Pro variant is shipping with Phison's latest EIFM31.6 firmware which is highly optimized for DirectStorage asset streaming going directly from SSD to GPU with little to no CPU involved. To date, we know of only two games that are DirectStorage enabled, Forespoken and Diablo IV. However, the day is coming and coming soon that all modern games will employ Microsoft's DirectStorage API, thereby making the Spatium M480 Pro superior to the variants that came before it.

Drive Details

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In addition to what is spec'd above and as previously mentioned, the Spatium M480 Pro comes with Phison's I/O+ DirectStorage optimized technology baked right in. Gamers take note because this matters if you are into future proofing.

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Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Tachyon
• CPU: Intel Core i9-13900KS - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

AMD Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE B650E AORUS Tachyon
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

Because we at TweakTown like to be first at everything whenever we can, we will present our storage performance results for the test subject on both 13th Gen Intel and 7000 Series AMD platforms going forward for the foreseeable future. Because Intel still delivers the best real-world storage performance, (Look Here), our running chart will continue to be Intel-based until AMD can deliver better real-world storage performance than its rival.

MSI SPATIUM M480 Play 2TB SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$119.99	$119.99	$119.99	-	Buy
	$133.84	$133.84	$134.26	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 6/28/2023 at 6:44 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we include results for PS5 compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For 5,500 MB/s plus capable SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available HERE.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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At more than 6,400 MB/s, the Spatium 480 Pro makes for excellent PS5 M.2 storage expansion.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. In terms of sequential throughput, we find our Spatium 480 Pro 2TB fully capable of meeting and exceeding quoted up to specifications (which are given for AMD). Additionally, looking at the number that typically matters most in terms of real-world performance, 4K QD1 random read, our test subject delivered a healthy 97 MB/s on Intel and 92 MB/s on AMD.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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A touch under 11K is as expected for an E18 controlled SSD arrayed with 1,200MT B47R flash.

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We employ Anvil's random read test as our standard for measuring max random read IOPS. This test is very accurate as it at its core is Iometer skinned over. We test at QD128. As fully expected, we are nowhere near the up-to-spec of 1 million 4K random read IOPS. Phison has always overstated this performance metric, as exactly zero E18-controlled SSDs have ever even come close. However, the M480 Pro does manage to impress us by delivering the second and third most random read IOPS we've ever obtained from an E18-controlled SSD.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. Our test subject favors sequential transfers of 128K or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128K or larger when programming (writing) data. Exactly as expected for this hardware configuration. Read throughput looks especially good. In fact, it's the best we've ever extracted from an E18/B47R SSD. Impressive.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data. Ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance random or sequential, is an infrequent operation, and as such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example being how many times is a game installed vs. how many times it's played. It's not important in the real-world, but the M480 Pro manages to deliver by far the best ever for an E18-controlled SSD.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) data is always an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. Hey, third best ever for an E18-controlled SSD. Again, impressive.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is in fact the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to the majority of DIY consumers, especially to the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience. The M480 Pro delivers exactly as expected for what it is, and that is better than the 980 Pro and every InnoGrit-based SSD on our chart, and this is without factoring in the drive's inherent DirectStorage prowess.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This particular test writes 204GB data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games, including Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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In terms of heavy consumer workloads, our 2TB contender lands right in the middle of the stack of similarly configured SSDs. No surprises here.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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Okay, this is a bit of a surprise, as this test, in particular, has always been the nemesis of E18-controlled SSDs like the M480 Pro. The M480 Pro delivers a record for its hardware configuration, with only the 1,600MT arrayed E18 SSDs able to do better. Progress, we like that.

Final Thoughts

Admittedly, we were a bit surprised that MSI is bringing forth another variant of its infamous Spatium M480 series. Maybe it's a play on DirectStorage gaming, or perhaps it's even a play on better value options for the consumer. Either way, it's a win for consumers.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. We consider a user experience score of 14K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. The M480 Pro is an absolute top-of-the-food chain performer for what it is, as proven by delivering the second-best ever for an E18-controlled SSD arrayed with 1,200MT B47R flash.

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Of course, pricing would be a big factor in our recommending this SSD for our readers, but as it stands as we are writing this review, we have no idea what price points the Spatium M480 Pro is going to sell for. We believe it will be aggressively priced, though, because, at this moment in time, every SSD out there is aggressively priced.

With this assumption in mind and additionally factoring in the drive's overall user experience ranking, we find MSI's Spatium M480 Pro 2TB worthy of our second-highest award.