Adata is expanding its PCIe 4.0 SSD family for "mainstream" users. As such, the new Gammix S50 Lite has sequential read performance of up to 3,900 MB/s and sequential write performance of up to 3,200 MB/s.

In a vacuum, these speeds are impressively fast. However, in the world of PCIe 4.0 storage, the Gammix S50 Lite is the slowest product to my knowledge. Hence, it is called mainstream. [With the launch of the S50 Lite, we have expanded our PCIe 4.0 SSD lineup to meet the demands of not only early adopters, but also mainstream users for work and play," Ibsen Chen, director of product marketing at Adata (via TechPowerUp).

The introduction of PCIe 4.0 SSDs has led to a number of new models that increase read/write speeds from an initial 5,000MB/s to 7,000MB/s (with SATA models topping out at about 580MB/s). [Newegg's least expensive PCIe 4.0 SSDs start at $100 for the Gigabyte Aorus 512GB model (about $0.20 per gigabyte) and $160 for the 1TB model ($0.16 per gigabyte).

Prices for SSDs and RAM have actually come down in recent weeks, but there is still room for the more affordable PCIe 4.0 series, which Adata seems to be trying to make happen. There will be two capacities, 2TB for $300 and 1TB for $150, both at $0.15 per gigabyte. We are told these will be available on Newegg and eBay (probably through Adata) around September 25 and on Amazon around October 1.

Both the 2TB and 1TB models are powered by the Silicon Motion SM2267 controller and are rated for random read and write performance of up to 490,000 IOPS and 540,000 IOPS respectively.

As for endurance, Adata claims 1,480 TBW (terabytes written) and warrants these drives for five years. For reference, Samsung's 970 Evo Plus has an endurance of 600 TBW for the 1TB model and 1,200 TBW for the 2TB model.

These drives also come with a 5-year warranty and have similar performance ratings (3,500 MB/sec continuous read and 3,300 MB/sec continuous write.) On Newegg, the 970 Evo Plus is priced at $180 for the 1 TB model ($0.18 per gigabyte), and the 2 TB model is $350 (almost $0.18 per gigabyte). Assuming vendors stick to their MSRPs, Adata's Gammix S50 Lite will be less expensive at launch.