The ADATA XPG MARS 980 Blade is the variant of the MARS 980 PCIe Gen5 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD series specifically designed for laptops, compact systems, and even the PlayStation 5. Its defining characteristic is its focus on efficient heat management without requiring bulky cooling solutions.
Here’s a detailed look at the Blade version:
Slim Design (without bulky heatsink): Unlike its “Storm” or “Pro” siblings, the Blade comes with a thin aluminium heatsink that user can decide to use or not depending on the use case. This makes it ideal for the tight confines of laptops, ultrabooks, and the PS5 where space for larger cooling solutions is limited.
Alternatively, desktop PC users which their motherboard has already included a M.2 SSD heatsink can also opt for the Blade variant.
The heatsink only adds some thickness to the SSD.
SMI SM2508 Controller (6nm Process): The use of TSMC’s 6nm manufacturing process for the controller is crucial here. This advanced process results in superior performance-to-power efficiency, which in turn significantly reduces heat generation compared to older-generation controllers. This is a key enabler for its “blade” design, allowing it to run cool without needing an elaborate cooling setup. It also has SLC Caching and DRAM cache buffer to further boost performance and responsiveness.
The MARS 980 Blade has four NAND chips occupying on both sides of the PCB. While most of the host machine should be able to support this standard, there are some rare occasions where extremely thin laptops that have very little clearance above the M.2 slot. It’s always a good idea to check your laptop’s specifications or physical space before purchasing.
Performance
Despite its compact design, it still leverages the full power of PCIe Gen5 x4, offering impressive sequential read/write speeds of up to 14,000 MB/s read and 13,000 MB/s write (only for 2TB and 4TB options) for PC/laptop usage. The 1TB variant will have up to 10,000MB/s write speed. Our test has proven the performance is indeed up to the claimed speed.
It’s fully compatible with the PlayStation 5 as an expansion drive, offering read speeds of up to 6,500 MB/s which meets or exceeds Sony’s recommendations. Its slim form factor allows it to fit perfectly into the PS5’s drive slot.
Conclusion
The ADATA XPG MARS 980 Blade is one of the more affordable PCIe 5.0 SSDs on the market, offering excellent value given its cutting-edge performance. It doesn’t necessarily win every single benchmark contest against other high-end Gen5 drives with more aggressive cooling, but it provides a compelling balance of speed, efficiency, and price, especially for its target market of compact systems.
In summary, if you’re looking for a high-performance PCIe Gen5 SSD that can fit into a laptop or a PS5 without requiring a massive heatsink, the ADATA XPG MARS 980 Blade is a strong contender due to its efficient controller and compact design.
Where to buy (Shopee): https://my.shp.ee/xK231G1
