MSI SPATIUM M390 1 TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD Review – Entry Level Storage Starting at $109 US

MSI is one of the most renowned hardware manufactures in the PC industry. The brand is mainly known for its graphics cards and motherboards but just like every major manufacturer, the brand has been expanding into other ventures such as peripherals, casings, cooling solutions, laptops & pre-builts. The latest expansion to MSI's diverse portfolio is their brand new SSD range known as Spatium.

The new MSI Spatium lineup is aimed at both high-performance and mainstream segments. The high-end series includes the M480 while the mainstream segments include the M470 & the M390 series SSDs. The M400 series drives are based on the PCIe Gen 4.0 protocol while the M300 series drivers are based on the PCIe Gen 3.0 protocol.

MSI is announcing the launch of its solid state drive (SSD) product line with the introduction of SPATIUM. The initial product offering will include M480, M470, and M390, which are Gen4 & Gen3 PCIe NVMe SSDs in compact M.2 2280 form factors that can be installed into compatible desktop motherboards and laptops.

MSI continues to refine its identity as a high-performance PC brand and SPATIUM was envisioned to expand our ecosystem and cover the high-performance storage category. These SSDs are built with high-quality, high-density 3D NAND flash that deliver the best compromise of performance and endurance for professionals, content creators, and gamers. Among the performance improving technologies include a DRAM cache buffer for M480 and M470, and a SLC cache for all announced models.

Today, I will be testing the MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 SSD which is priced at an MSRP of $109 US. The drive features the PCIe Gen 3.0 protocol along with mainstream pricing, making it ideal for mainstream solutions and budget PC builds.

MSI SPATIUM M390 1 TB PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD

MSI SPATIUM M390 is part of the latest MSI SPATIUM family and hence, it comes with a new design language that features an IHS spreader based on a copper film.

The MSI SPATIUM M390 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature a 96-layer TLC-based 3D NAND flash which offers larger capacities, better performance, and slightly lower power input. The M390 SSDs are also based on the Gen 3 Phison E15T controller.

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Furthermore, these 2 TB model is priced slightly above the premium offerings with a cost of $189.99 US which gets you really high-speeds out of the box. In terms of performance, MSI's SPATIUM M390 1 TB has sequential read speeds of 3300 MB/s and write speeds of 3000 MB/s.

The Random read speed of the drive is up to 420K IOPS and the write is 550K IOPS. The MSI SPATIUM M390 1 TB SSD has an idle power draw of 30mW and a maximum operating power of 4W. The endurance of the lineup is rated at 400 TBW or 1,500,000 hours which should last a good amount of time with these drives. You are also looking at a 5-year limited warranty through the entire lineup.

MSI SPATIUM M390 1 TB Specifications:

MSI SPATIUM M390 SSD – Unboxing and Closer Look

The SSD comes in a small package. The package is colored black and features large pictures of the SSD featured on it. The front also lists down some features such as capacities, maximum read speeds, PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 form factor.

The back of the package lists down some specifications of the SSD and some performance figures which we will get to in a bit.

The Spatium M390 package includes the SSD itself along with a drive manual. The higher-end drives come with a lucky comic book too.

Out of the package, the drive comes in the standard M.2 2280 form factor and features a blue PCB which is a common sight for entry-level storage devices.

The front of the drives includes a specifications sticker and you can place the copper film on the exposed side of the PCB.

The MSI SPATIUM M390 1 TB holds two NAND Flash chips (96L) and a Phison E15T controller with 1 GB DDR4 memory. The MSI M390 measures the same at 80x22x2.15mm (LxWxH).

MSI SPATIUM M390 Series SSD Installation:

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Test Setup

Our test platform for this review consisted of an Intel Core i9-11900K  processor which ran at stock clocks on the MSI Z590 ACE motherboard. The platform was coupled with 32 GB of DDR4 memory from G.Skill (Trident Z RGB / 8 GB x 4) and the ASUS ROG Thor 1200W PSU. For graphics, I used the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X. This rounds up as a high-end platform for tests with modern-day SSDs.

Wccftech SSD Test Setup:

MSI SPATIUM M390 PCIe Gen 3 SSD Performance Benchmarks

First up, we have the official performance stats for these drives as listed by their manufacturers. You can compare these stats with the rest of the drives I tested in the following chart:

AS SSD Benchmark

AS SSD Benchmark download is a Windows 10 utility software program that tests the performance of solid-state drives. With its help, you can find out the speed of all installed SSDs and take care of any issues that the tests may reveal. The free app performs three separate tests to provide you with conclusive evidence on your driver's general behavior while it copies, reads, and writes data.  The app determines the access time of an SSD, along with its speed and performance capabilities

ATTO 3.05 Disk Benchmark

As the industry’s leading provider of high-performance storage & network connectivity products, ATTO has created a widely-accepted Disk Benchmark freeware software to help measure storage system performance. As one of the top tools utilized in the industry, Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, solid-state drives, RAID arrays as well as the host connection to attached storage. Top drive manufacturers, like Hitachi, build and test every drive using the ATTO Disk Benchmark.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturer's RAID controllers, storage controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), hard drives, and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64

CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software.It measure sequential reads/writes speed,measure random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed,select test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill),

File Transfer Speeds (100 GB File Size)

To test the maximum average transfer speeds of the drives, I used a 100 GB file to test the limits.

PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark

The PCMark 10 Storage benchmark is designed to test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and a selection of popular games. You can test the system drive or any other recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 10 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.

Conclusion - MSI Strikes Win With Its First Gen 4 SSD Solutions

MSI's entrance into the storage market brings forth two very competitive products, we already took the high-end Gen 4 M480 and M470 to the test drive a few months back and now we get to take a look at the entry-level M390. The Spatium M390 1 TB offers the speeds you'd expect of a Gen 3 SSD with its read and writes rated at 3300 and 3000 MB/s, respectively. It is based on the Phison E15T controller and the performance we noted was justified and well within the range of standard Gen 3 devices.

Also looking at the temperatures above, you can see that the SSD performs within normal operating temps of under 60C. It doesn't get as hot as the Gen 4 SSDs and doesn't require heatsinks either.

The standout feature of the M390 is its pricing. Starting at $109 US for the 1 TB variant, you are getting a great deal considering the Samsung 980 1 TB Gen 3 retails at over $120 US. That's a very competitive position where MSI has placed the M390 and we can definitely recommend the SSD for general use or if you plan on installing some games on a faster storage solution for those fast-load times.