Hello friends. In this publication, we will continue to master the topic of modern super-fast M.2 NVMe SSDs for computers, which has been receiving a lot of attention on our website lately. For how can one calmly go past this topic, being eyewitnesses of a grandiose evolutionary leap of information carriers, and, accordingly, a leap in the development of the entire IT sphere. When the speeds of some modern NVMe SSDs in individual operations can reach an incredible 8 Gb / s. And compared to old HDDs, even the lousiest NVMe SSD in random processing of small pieces of information can work 100-200 times faster. And in this article, I propose to consider an M.2 NVMe drive with a cooling radiator A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro a good alternative to the popular Samsung 970 EVO Plus for less money.
M.2 drive A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro Review: high performance SSD for games
So, A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is an internal M.2 NVMe PCI-E 3.0 x4 solid-state drive with a heatsink. It is a 2018 release, it has proven itself well in the market. It is positioned as a high-performance SSD for games, the presence of a heatsink, in fact, justifies the focus of the device on the audience of gamers. The radiator not only has a useful function, reducing the temperature of the drive during active work by about 10 °, it, even more, plays an aesthetic role, giving the device a spectacular relief gaming design in aggressive red and black colors.
The drive will look stylish and impressive in modern cases with glass and possibly LED-backlit.
The drive is from the Pro line, which means it’s a powerful and durable device.
A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro can read data at the maximum speed of 3500 Mb / s on the PCI-E 3.0 x4 interface, and write at a maximum speed of 3000 Mb / s. True, this is only in the 2 TB model, the indicators of the maximum speeds of models with a smaller volume are weaker. But at the same time, the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro has an acceptable price, well-formed – not due to the deterioration in the quality of performance, durability, and reliability of data storage. A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro has a good efficient dual-core and eight-channel controller Silicon Motion SM2262EN controller, 64-layer TLC 3D NAND flash memory, DDR3 DRAM buffer, SLC caching, LDPC error correction algorithm, NVMe 1.3 support. The manufacturer A-Data saved on the device’s radiator: this is a stamped part with a low-efficiency thermal interface, to a greater extent only for a spectacular appearance. Nevertheless, this detail will somehow perform its function. And if your drive is located directly under the cooler, you are unlikely to have problems with overheating.
The affordable price of the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro makes it a notable competitor to the fastest consumer PCI-E 3.0 SSD – the Samsung 970 EVO Plus. The first is inferior to the second in maximum data processing speeds, but the price gain on models with a large volume of 1 TB and 2 TB can be from 100usd.
Check out prices on Amazon.
The significant characteristics of the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro models look like this.
| A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 256 GB | A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 512 GB | A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 1 TB | A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 2 TB | |
| Interface | PCI-E 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 | |||
| Form factor | M.2 (2280) | |||
| Memory type | TLC 3 D NAND 64-layer | |||
| Controller | Silicon Motion SM2262EN | |||
| Maximum linear data read rate | 3350 | 3350 | 3350 | 3500 |
| Maximum linear data write rate | 1150 | 2350 | 2800 | 3000 |
| Read IOPS | 220 thous. | 390 thous. | 390 thous. | 360 thous. |
| Write IOPS | 290 thous. | 380 thous . | 380 thous. | 360 thous. |
| Overwrite Resource ( TBW ) | 160 TB | 320 TB | 640 TB | 1280 TB |
| Working temperature | Up to 70 ° |
When you purchase a drive, you can download a special build of Acronis True Image for Windows cloning from the A-Data website.
XPG Gammix S11 Pro VS Samsung 970 EVO Plus vs Samsung 980
To understand the benefits of the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro, let’s compare it to other M.2 NVMe PCI-E 3.0 internal drives. The Samsung 970 EVO Plus will be exemplary, this is by far the best consumer SSD on the PCI-E 3.0 interface. Bottom bar drive – Samsung 980, low-cost NVMe PCI-E 3.0, 2021, no DRAM buffer, with a stripped-down version of the 970 EVO Plus controller, but on Samsung’s proprietary TLC 3D V-NAND memory and its proprietary sequential acceleration technology Intelligent TurboWrite writes. This drive has a lower maximum data processing speed than the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, but in general, the Samsung 980 is a good SSD, it has the same TBW rewritability as the 970 EVO Plus, it has a good speed of working with small pieces of information. … During normal computer operations, you will hardly notice the difference between these drives. And, friends, Samsung 980 is the optimal minimum for NVMe-drive PCI-E 3.0, below it in price – only cheap NVMe drives from the bottom – with low read and write speeds, with a low TBW resource, based on QLC flash memory, with bad controllers, etc. There is simply no point in comparing with such A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro.
And here’s what the specifications and prices of the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro and its two competitors from Samsung look like in the comparison table.
| SSD NVMe | Maximum read speed, Mb/s | Maximum write speed, Mb/s | TBW | Read IOPS | Write IOPS |
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250 GB | 3500 | 2300 | 150 TB | 250 thous. | 550 thous. |
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB | 3500 | 3200 | 300 TB | 480 thous. | 550 thous. |
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB | 3500 | 3300 | 600 TB | 600 thous. | 550 thous. |
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB | 3500 | 3300 | 1200 TB | 620 thous. | 550 thous. |
| A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 256 GB | 3350 | 1150 | 160 TB | 220 thous. | 290 thous. |
| A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 512 GB | 3350 | 2350 | 320 TB | 390 thous. | 380 thous. |
| A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 1 TB | 3350 | 2800 | 640 TB | 390 thous. | 380 thous. |
| A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 2 TB | 3500 | 3000 | 1280 TB | 360 thous. | 360 thous. |
| Samsung 980 250 GB | 2900 | 1500 | 150 TB | 230 thous. | 320 thous. |
| Samsung 980 500 GB | 3100 | 2600 | 300 TB | 400 thous. | 470 thous. |
| Samsung 980 1 TB | 3500 | 3000 | 600 TB | 500 thous. | 480 thous. |
Let’s analyze the information provided:
- The manufacturer A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is more generous in disk space: the low-volume drive models go for 256 GB and 512 GB, while Samsung offers this type of model with a smaller volume, respectively, 250 GB and 500 GB. Taking into account the fact that any drive bites off impressive chunks of disk space from the nominal volume to fit its needs, and this is several tens of GB, such a generosity from the manufacturer will obviously not be superfluous;
- A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro outperforms both Samsung drives with a large TBW resource, which means that the wear resistance of this drive’s flash memory is better;
- A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro loses to both Samsung drives in terms of IOPS, but its indicators of this parameter will be enough for normal use (and this is 30-40 thousand IOPS);
- In the maximum data processing speeds, the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is somewhere outperformed by the Samsung 980, somewhere it wins. Samsung 970 EVO Plus loses on all fronts;
- A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro costs somewhere the same as Samsung 980, and somewhere only slightly more expensive. In general, these two drives have the same prices for the lower price bracket. A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is insignificantly cheaper compared to Samsung 970 EVO Plus in 250 GB and 500 GB models, however, in 1 TB and 2 TB models, the former has significant price advantages over the latter.
Well, in order to have a complete picture of comparing these three drives, let’s look at the real results of their work.
XPG Gammix S11 Pro: Real tests Reuslts
We tested the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro 1 TB model.
In synthetic tests CrystalDiskMark, she gave such results.
In general, of course, not bad. The maximum sequential speed is just a little short of the manufacturer’s declared: 3300 Mb / s rounded against 3350 Mb / s. But the sequential maximum write speed was only a rounded 2340 MB / s, while the claimed 2800 MB / s. When compared with the synthetic CrystalDiskMark tests of the same models with 1 TB of Samsung drives, we get the loss of A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro everywhere. It failed to overtake not only the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, but even the Samsung 980 either in sequential reading or in sequential writing (SEQ1M Q8T1 test). drives can also be attributed to the testing error.
But, friends, all this is synthetic, in real use in most tasks on a computer, we will not always have a consistent write speed, there will not always be a large queue depth so that the SSD can develop its potential. Many programs that are most frequently used by ordinary users do not even assume work at a high queue depth, such as 32. If we talk about the real use of drives, then when copying a compound ISO file within the space on the drives themselves, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus received a A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is a very modest speed advantage – 1.35 GB / s versus 1.27 GB / s. All these are fractions of seconds that will not be visible to the naked eye.
Conclusion
And let’s summarize, friends.
A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is unconditionally better than Samsung 980, despite the small speed advantages of the latter in synthetic tests. Samsung 980 does not have its own DRAM buffer, it uses the technology of direct access to the computer’s RAM, Host Memory Buffer, and this is less efficient caching than if the drive has its own local DRAM buffer. Which A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro has. This drive has a larger TBW resource. Whereas the prices for the devices are almost the same.
But in comparison with the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, of course, the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro does not look so confident, the advantages of the former over the latter at maximum sequential speeds are striking. But if we remove the queue depth factor, at least in reading we will get the same result from the drives. Whether the potential (!) Speed advantages of the Samsung 970 EVO Plus are worth the longer TBW A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro – it’s up to you, friends, of course.
Possibly worth it if you do your linear data recording often, where the 970 EVO Plus unleashes its potential. And if you’re looking to grab a 250GB or 500GB drive, the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro is just as expensive as the 970 EVO Plus on these A-Data XPG models. But in models for 1 TB and 2 TB A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro has more tangible cost advantages.
And don’t forget that the A-Data XPG Gammix S11 Pro has a cooling heatsink, and you may need an additional cooler to operate Samsung drives.
