Presentation and characteristics of the Spatium M480 Play

Micro-Star International (MSI) is one of the largest computer hardware manufacturers. Like the other brands, the company is affected by the shortage of components and the difficulties linked to the global context. However, with the manufacture of motherboards, graphics cards, WiFi peripheral servers and other accessories, the brand has multiple channels to cushion its difficulties.

It is written, the M480 Play is compatible PS5

The Spatium M480 Play is a fourth generation SSD with M.2 interface. Its theoretical characteristics place it among the best SSDs dedicated to games. Since its conception, it has been thought to be compatible with the housing of the PS5 and will therefore be as comfortable in the Sony console as in a PC.

	”’Specifications of the Spatium M480 Play (2TB version)
Compatibility	PC, PS5 M.2 Gen4 interface
Manufacturer reading speed	Up to 7000MB/s | Measured at 6349MB/s
Builder write speed	Up to 6800MB/s | Measured at 6160MB/s
DRAMs	Yes 2GB
heatsink	Yes
Endurance	3000TB
Guarantee	5 years

Buy the MSI Spatium M480 Play on Rue du Commerce

In a PC precisely, its performance is almost in line with what is announced on the box and in the manufacturer’s data. Reading was measured at 6349MB/s and writing at 6160MB/s. We are therefore effectively at the top of the performance basket.

The user will be reassured by 5 year warranty which will undoubtedly be largely exceeded, the endurance being given for 3000 To. It must be said that MSI has equipped the Spatium M480 with a highly efficient heatsink.

A heatsink stamped with the dragon’s seal

Unlike the Seagate FireCuda recently tested in our columns, the surface of the heatsink is not flat, but grooved like a conventional heatsink. The only fantasy adding a touch of class to the whole, being the integration of the dragon appearing in the MSI logo.

The radiator has a classic profile, but effective

This has absolutely no effect on performance, since on PC the temperature never rose above 45 degrees under full load and it remained contained at 44.6C° on PS5 under intensive use (cycles of several tens of minutes read/write). It is to highlight that the factory mounting of the heatsink is not intended to be removedeven to change the thermal transfer sheet between the components and the heatsink.

It’s very clear, you don’t have to disassemble this heatsink

Result with proprietary radiator on PS5: 44.6C° maximum

	Transfer SSD to Spatium M480 Play	Charging time with the Spatium M480 Play	Loading time with PS5 SSD
GTA V	91.4GB -> 58s	52s	53s
Yakuza Like a Dragon	43.63GB -> 37s	31s	31s
AC Valhalla	65GB -> 58min	1.31min	1.13min
Apex Legends	59.5GB ->48s	27s	22s
Gran Turismo 7	108GB -> 1.20min	19s	19s

With an advertised read speed of 5547 MB/S after formatting on the PS5, we see that the performance is there in gaming use. To take the example of the Seagate FireCuda which is in direct competition with the Spatium, the performance holds up, even if MSI is a bit behind (despite the reading speed supposed to be slightly faster depending on the formatting of the PS5).

We are in any case at least as fast as the console’s internal storage which guarantees the user a use without intensive loading times.

A perfectible software tool

However, there is a downside only applicable to PC users with the “homemade” maintenance and monitoring software. The MSI Control Center was indeed unable to detect the presence of the SSD, despite several reboots and software updates. It’s not very annoying, because no gaming mode is to be activated and the classic SMART tools work very well with the Spatium M480.

Too bad, the SSD is not seen by the manufacturer’s software tools

On PS5 this obviously does not change the case at all and above all, if you start comparing the prices between the different options that you can have in terms of SSD, you will realize that it is significantly cheaper than the competition at or near equivalent performance.

Buy the MSI Spatium M480 Play on Rue du Commerce

Conclusion

The Spatium M480 Play is an excellent M.2” SSD. If it cannot claim to be the best in pure performance, the difference is only expressed by one or two seconds and will not be felt at all in normal use. We particularly appreciate the efficiency of its heat sink and a very interesting price positioning compared to the competition.