The next generation of gaming is upon us whether you are a console, mobile, handheld, or PC gamer 2020 brings us new hardware we could never imagine 10 years ago. PCIe 4.0 was released in 2017 however motherboard manufacturers a just now starting to catch up with the demand. Prices are beginning to lower dramatically due to PCIe 5.0 releasing in May of 2019. PCIe 4.0 slots can reach speeds of up to 16 GB per second! XPG’s Gammix S50 Lite is an entry-level budget SSD priced to sell at $149.99 for 1TB and $299.99 for the 2TB version.
Personally, I think an SSD is mandatory for any gaming PC in the current meta. HDD load times are just so horrendous it’s unbearable and the price for an SSD these days is too low to pass up. XPG’s GAMMIX S50 Lite can potentially double the read and write speed of Gen 3 PCIe SSD’s. It can deliver potential sequential 3900 MB/s reads, and 1600 MB/s writes compared to 1600 MB/s read, and 1000 MB/s write from the previous generation. Note that 4KB Random Reads can reach up to 380k IOPS and writes up to 490K IOPS. XPG uses a high-temperature resistant aluminum heatsink boasting reduced temperatures by up to 20% while parsing these blazing speeds.
The XPG GAMMIX s50 Lite is one of the first Gen 4 SSD’s powered by a 4-channel controller, specifically the SMI 4-channel SM2267. Up to this date, we have only seen 8 channel controllers on Gen 4 SSD’s. However, the non-lite version does feature a Phison 8-channel E16 controller. Comparing the GAMMIX S50 Lite 1TB to Samsung’s SSD 980 PRO 1TB SSD priced at $229.99 which features an 8-channel controller, I do not think you will notice much difference in in-game performance if any at all. Another key feature is the Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) which detects and fixes data errors for more accurate transfers. The GAMMIX S50 Lite also uses End-to-End (E2E) data protection, Raid Engine support, and AES 266-bit encryption to keep all your data safe. Most notably this SSD is good for roughly 740TB’s of writes backed by a 5-year warranty.
ADATA’s SSD toolbox software is compatible with the GAMMIX S50 Lite and is available for download free of charge. It is a great way for users to obtain disk information and adjust the settings easily. If you use this software properly you will extend the life of your SSD and even get some extra speed out of it. Additionally, you will be able to update firmware and run diagnostics to ensure your data is safe and sound. It is extremely easy to use the tool and we recommend you download it immediately after purchasing this SSD.
Just to keep it simple I think at this price point the XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite is a great purchase. You can even statistically compare this SSD to others priced higher in the current market and it would hold its own. An added bonus for all you PC building junkies, it’s a looker too! Look good, feel good, am I right?
