Silicon Power XS70 1TB Review

Final Score: 92 out of 100

As we all know, the M.2 form-factor is less than optimal for enthusiasts. It is a form-factor that is simply too small to be capable of handling high amounts of heat… which is the byproduct of high-performance controllers and NAND being pushed to their very limits. Sadly, the market has spoken and the PCIe “Add In Card” form-factor lost to the ‘stick of gum’ option originally created for Intel NUC sized computers. With that said, manufacturers are starting to ignore the laughably small z-height restrictions that come along with the M.2 design and thinking outside the box.

This is certainly a step in the right direction and over the next couple years the market will decide when high becomes… too high. In the meantime, there are roughly three camps all competing for the title of ‘optimal height heatsink design’. Of these three design choices we invariably drift towards the middle path approach. We do so because if a storage device needs massive amounts of cooling it probably is going to be installed in a either a M.2 to PCIE adapter, or motherboard, which comes with active M.2 cooling… negating the need for the M.2 drive to come with any cooling abilities. For all other builds, the M.2 SSD must come with integrated cooling that is ‘good enough’ to handle moderate to high tasks but do so without making our life more difficult when it comes time to install a video card/sound card/etc.

This is why Silicon Power’s XPOWER XS70 series may not be unique, but it is a breath of fresh air. Much like more expensive alternatives, the XS70 uses a known good combination of controller and NAND that is then cooled via a decently sized, full length, heatsink. A heatsink that should not be the root cause of too many z-height related installation problems but still get the job done. It does all that and yet still manages to come in at 13 cents per Gigabyte of capacity. Simply put, that is a combination sure to please most buyers wanting performance and value. It is also a combination that makes most of the competition look downright greedy with the prices they are asking for their take on E18 reference models.

Furthermore, this level of dedication to offering excellent value without cutting corners really underscores Silicon Power’s desire to go from being viewed as a more value centric option to one of the value innovators of the market… as few are going that extra mile for buyers these days. We look forward to seeing this new focus continue in the future as Silicon Power works their way up knowledgeable buyers personal ranking of manufacturers. So, if you are looking for a very good, and properly designed, NVMe PCIe 4×4.0 SSD the Silicon Power XPower XS70 demands to be on your short list. Doing otherwise will result in you overlooking one of the better deals going right now.