You may have seen us talk about XPG and Adata multiple times on the site. From both performance and price aspects, they give you what some people class as the higher end of gaming brands, for up to half of the price on some occasions. Thanks to the team over at XPG, today we are checking out the XPG Gammix S70 Blade M.2.
Performance and an amazing price tag
By bringing more and more products with the above in mind to the gaming component market, they are making gaming more accessible. Don’t get me wrong it still isn’t cheap by any means. But with more and more brands competing, we have a future where PC gaming is pretty much accessible to most. So join me as I check out the XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1TB M.2.
Out Of The Box
Out of most of the components available for a build, one of the least interesting looking, yet most important, is storage. However, we do sometimes see M.2 drives that come with an aluminium heatsink that have quite interesting designs. I prefer a sleeker-looking component where possible and this is where XPG can step in and give a helping hand. For the majority, their heatsink designs are minimal yet still provide their own branding. With a black background and a triangular engraved design, it would look at home in most builds.
A Closer Look
The XPG Gammix S70 Blade comes in four different capacities 512GB / 1TB / 2TB / 4TB. Today we are checking out the 1TB version. It has a PCIe4 interface meaning it has the potential to be up to twice as fast as its PCIe3 predecessor. This is what makes this particular M.2 really attractive, there are some PCIe3 M.2 drives out there that come in at a higher price point.
As well as the above the XPG Gammix S70 Blade offers a sequential write-up to 6800MB/s and a sequential read-up to 7400MB/s. This is based on PC usage only. Not only does it offer you performance at this level, but XPG are also great with their warranties with up to 5 years as standard. You can read the full specification here.
Compatibility
The XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1TB M.2 is of course compatible with all motherboards on today’s market that have an m.2 slot available. Most motherboards have at least one slot available these days, having said that on the higher-end boards, there are usually a few available. One of the reasons this particular M.2 is popular amongst gamers, is that it is also compatible with PlayStation 5 technology. With the specification it has with the price point it sits at, it makes it one of the cheapest options today for expanding your PS5.
It is also worth noting that Adata has its own SSD toolbox to ensure you are running your M.2 to your needs and getting the most out of it. If you are a PC user it is 100% worth the download, unless you already have a third-party toolset that provides this service.
Final Thoughts
I have nothing bad to say about the XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1TB M.2. After all, it does what it says on the box and offers you flexibility as a gamer. If you need the space on your PC then pop it in. However, if you decide later on that you need to upgrade your PlayStation 5 then give it a quick reformat and you are good to go.
I have had a few issues previously with M.2 drives either not being recognised or having write errors. It is safe to say that this time round none of that was present. Even the reformat for PS5 use was simple enough with no issues.
Due to the above, alongside its sleek heatsink design, there really isn’t anything to dislike. Some may prefer a larger heatsink, however, this is upgradable and at a very reasonable price from third-party vendors online. I award the XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1TB M.2 a Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
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I recently bought the 2tb version to add more space to the pc. great speed over my other m.2 Samsung 890 Evo. super fast load times, I installed anthem, exoprimal and star citizen. no problems. I would give it five stars IF It had some instructions/information in or on the box about the free adata ssd tool kit.