A few weeks ago, I declared that the next-generation SSD wars had begun and Sabrent had won with the launch of the fastest drive on the planet. However, Adata, in a "stop drinking beer" move, positioned the new XPG Gammix S70 as the drive to beat, at least in readouts.

The Gammix S70 is another in a steadily growing lineup of PCI Express 4.0 models. Initially, PCIe 4.0 SSDs boasted read/write speeds of around 5,000 MB/s (or 5 GB/s); the Gammix S70 delivers up to 7,400 MB/s on sequential reads and 6,400 MB/s on sequential writes, deliver up to 7,400 MB/s on sequential reads and 6,400 MB/s on sequential writes.

When reading data, the Gammix S70 is 400MB/sec faster than Sabrent's Rocket 4 and Samsung's 980 Pro. However, these drives outperform the Gammix S70 in write speeds; a comparison of the three drives is as follows:

In the speed tiers these drives are competing in, a few hundred MB/sec is just hair splitting.

At this point in time, this has nothing to do with gaming. This is because even between the fastest SATA 6Gbps SSDs (about 580 MB/sec) and PCIe 4.0 models, we see little difference. But that may change in the not-too-distant future. How will it be?

Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X finally use SSD storage, and that is the PCIe 4.0 type. Microsoft and Sony are touting the new storage architecture, which virtually eliminates load times and allows for more expansive game worlds.

To promote the same potential benefits on the PC, Microsoft announced this month that it is introducing a DirectStorage API to its DirectX family for Windows PCs. This API is based on the Velocity architecture found in the Xbox Series X and allows for better utilization of high-speed storage.

The caveat is that a PCI 4.0 motherboard is required to take full advantage of these fast SSDs, whether for gaming or shuffling large files. This means building a Ryzen PC with AMD's X570 or B550 chipsets; Intel does not yet support PCIe 4.0 on desktops (although Rocket Lake is rumored to do so), and AMD's entry-level A520 chipset also does not support it.

As for the Gammix S70, it will be offered in 2TB and 1TB capacities. Adata has not yet announced pricing or a release date, only that these drives will come with a five-year warranty.