ADATA Ultimate SU900 SSD Review (512GB) – 3D MLC, But At What Cost?

TSSDR TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL

SSD testing at TSSDR differs slightly, depending on whether we are looking at consumer or enterprise SSDs. For consumer SSDs, our goal is to test in a system that has been optimized with our SSD Optimization Guide. To see the best performance possible, the CPU C states have been disabled, C1E support has been disabled, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST) has been disabled. Benchmarks for consumer testing are also benchmarks with a fresh drive so, not only can we verify that manufacturer specifications are in line but also, so the consumer can replicate our tests to confirm that they have an SSD that is top-notch. We even provide links to most of the benchmarks used in the report.

TSSDR 2017 Z170 Test System

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

This Test Bench build was the result of some great relationships and purchase; our appreciation goes to those who jumped in specifically to help the cause. Key contributors to this build are our friends at ASRock for the motherboard and CPU and be quiet! for the PSU and cooling fans. Also, a big thank you to Thermaltake for the case and Kingston for the RAM. We have detailed all components in the table below and they are all linked should you wish to make a duplicate of our system as so many seem to do, or check out the price of any single component. As always, we appreciate your support in any purchase through our links!

PC CHASSIS: be quiet! DARK BASE 900
MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Z170 OC Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K
CPU COOLER: Corsair H75
POWER SUPPLY: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1000W
SYSTEM COOLING: be quiet! Silent Wings 2
MEMORY: Patriot Viper Elite Series DDR4
STORAGE: Samsung 850 Pro
OS: Windows 10 Anniversary 64-bit
IRST DRIVER: 14.8.0.1042

BENCHMARK SOFTWARE

The software in use for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of Crystal Disk Info, TRIMcheck, ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal Disk Mark, AS SSD, Anvil’s Storage Utilities, HDTune, and PCMark 8. We prefer to test with easily accessible software that the consumer can obtain, and in many cases, we even provide links. Our selection of software allows each to build on the last and to provide validation to results already obtained.

CRYSTAL DISK INFO VER. 6.8.2

Crystal Disk Info is a great tool for displaying the characteristics and health of storage devices. It displays everything from temperatures, the number of hours the device has been powered, and even to the extent of informing you of the firmware of the device.

ADATA SU900 CDI

SMART data is visible to us in Crystal Disk Info. As can be seen above, many metrics can be monitored and tracked. Host reads and writes as well as total NAND writes are available. The controller’s temperature value works as well. As for firmware, our sample is utilizing version Q0125A.

TRIMCHECK

We’ve covered TRIMcheck in the past. It is a great tool that easily lets us see if TRIM is actually functioning on a SSD volume in your system.

TRIMcheck Working

As can be seen in the screenshot above, TRIMcheck’s result is positive. TRIM is indeed working.

4 comments

  1. blank

    Is this the same as the crucial bx300?

  2. blank

    Can I trust the 400TBW endurance rating as stated in SU900’s spec? Some tech geeks that I know on online forums and in RL still recommends Samsung Evo over Adata, calling the latter “bottom tier hardware”.

  3. blank

    First of all, I wish everyone a good day. I stayed between two SSDs: A-Data SU900 512GB and Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SATA III. A-Data MLC, Samsung TLC (3-bit MLC said Samsung). What are your comments?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *