ADATA XPG SX300 SATA 6Gb/s mSATA SSD Review

As evidenced by the current trend in Cellular plans, we are a data centric society. Our need for large, fast data storage is constantly on the rise and our voracious appetite and be satiated for a while. Technology has a way of quelling our apparent need all the while increasing our desire for more, more speed and more space. This desire has taken NAND based storage typically in the form of a Solid State Drive or SSD, from an elite product down to the consumer level. Using a mechanical hard drive, as opposed to a SSD, is like taking a Yugo for a lap around Talladega. SSDs just cannot be beat when it comes to speed. However, mechanical hard drives still have their place. SSDs lack the capacity of mechanical hard drives and the SSD price/gigabyte is considerably more. However, that gap is quickly closing as SSDs have a price of about .50 cents per gigabyte where as a mechanical hard drive can be had for between .10 and .15 cents per gigabyte. SSDs have a few form factors, the most common is a 2.5" hard drive with SATA connectors, mSATA eliminates the case and the need for separate SATA and power cables, but the motherboard must have a mSATA slot on board. PCI-E and M.2 SSDs are making a rise in the market as well. ADATA is one of the market leaders in memory and SSD drives. Their current solution for the mSATA market is the XPG SX300 mSATA drive. The ADATA XPG SX300 is a MLC mSATA drive that features an LSI controller. Features SSD＋ HDD Hybrid With a SSD ＋ HDD hybrid setup, the mSATA SSD acts as a cache drive instead of main storage. Using this configuration, systems can reach speed boosts comparable to systems with SSDs as primary drive, while still enjoying the larger storage capacities of a mechanical hard drive. Excellent Cost Performance Value The SX300 utilizes a SandForce controller with 25nm (MLC) NAND Flash chips. For the 256Gb model, transfer speeds are as high as 550MB/sec (read) and 505MB/sec (write). Random read/write speeds reach 25,000/85,000 IOPS. For energy saving and environmental protection, the low power consumption of the mSATA SSD greatly reduces electricity costs. When the SX300 and hard drive are used together in a hybrid configuration (SSD Caching), costs can be greatly reduced, with still reaching nearly the speed performance of an SSD as primary drive. Compared to a sole mechanical drive, performance is improved by up to 64%. * Data is based on internal testing, actual results will vary according to different platforms or software. Hardware Compatibility The SX300 is small and light, measuring only 50.95 x 30 x 4mm. It is applicable to many motherboards on the market that have an mSATA slot, including Acer TM8481G and MSI GT70. For more detailed information on compatible hardware, refer to the website of the relevant notebook manufacturer. Specifications Capacity 64GB/128GB/256GB Form Factor Full-size mSATA Interface SATA 6Gb/sec NAND Flash Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash Memory Controller LSI SandForce SF-2281 Dimensions 50.95 x 30 x 4mm(L × W × T) Weight 7g Performance Read: 550 MB/sec. Write: 505 MB/sec. IOPS: Read 25,000/Write 85,000 (Maximum 4K Random Write) Operating Temperature 0 °C - 70 °C Storage Temperature -40 °C - 85 °C Shock Resistance 1500G/0.5ms MTBF 1,200,000 Hours ECC Recovery Up to 55 bits correctable per 512-byte sector (BCH) Certification RoHS, CE, FCC Warranty 3 Years Features and specifications provided by ADATA, more information can be found at their website HERE. Features and specifications may change without notice. A Closer Look The packaging for the ADATA XPG SX300 is quite simple and eye catching. The front of the box features a window that shows off the miniscule drive and lists the size of the drive.The drive we are testing is the 128 G version of the SX300. The back of the box lists some of the details about wear-leveling and ECC in multiple languages. Opening and unpacking the box reveals the ADATA XPG SX300 and there is not much in the box. There is some minor documentation and a plastic blister pack that houses the drive. The drive is a full size mSATA form factor and measures in at 51x30x.08 mm. On the backside of the ADATA XPG SX300 two of the four NAND packages are visible. The ADATA XPG SX300 contains four 32Gb modules for a total of 128 Gb on the package. ADATA didn't specify which modules are used. The flash controller on the ADATA XPG SX300 is the LSI SandForce SF-2281V2-SPC. According to the LSI documentation the controller it is capable of up to 500 MB/S with a random read IOPS of up to 60K and write IOPS of 60K burst and 20K sustained. The controller can support a maximum capacity of 512 GB using a combination of 32 Gb or 64 Gb flash modules. Installation For motherboards that support mSATA natively, installation is simple. Plug in the drive and screw it down. To use the ADATA XPG SX300 on motherboards that do not have mSATA available on the motherboard an adapter is needed. Aleratec makes an inexpensive mSATA to SATA adapter. Luckily the adapter is not expensive and can be purchased online for around $25.00. The ADATA XPG SX300 slips in nicely into the adapter as is secured by a spring loaded retention mechanism located at the back of the card. Testing Procedure and Testing Results System Configuration Case Cooler Master Cosmos II SE CPU Intel i7 4770K Motherboard ECS-Z87H30A2X Ram Kingston Hyper X Beast DDR3 2133 MHz 8 GB GPU EVGA GTX 770 OC Primary Hard Drives Samsung 840 EVO 256gb SSD Secondary Hard drives ADATA XPG SX 300 120 Gb mSATAKingston HyperX 3K 120Gb SATA Power Supply NXZT Hale v2 1000 Watt power supply Software: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0.3b - Standard settings used. Test run with compressible and incompressible data ATTO Disk Benchmark - Default settings used. I/O Meter - based on Micron's recommended documentation for testing SSDs. A custom I/O meter test is used. The 4 Kb aligned data request size was used. The test was run for a total of 50 iterations with 5 minutes of run time per iteration. Screenshot were taken after all the iterations had completed. Crystal DiskMark ADATA XPG SX300 Kingston HyperX 3K Both drives are neck in neck. The ADATA XPG SX300 takes a slight lead. The Kingston HyperX 3K uses the same controller as the SX300, however it is slightly older. 4K performance is very good on both drives. ADATA XPG SX300 Kingston HyperX 3K In the compressible data test, the transfer rates are closer to the advertised speeds listed on the box. ATTO Disk benchmark Kingston HyperX 3K In the ATTO benchmark Kingston takes the lead in the transfer rate battle. The fastest speed attained by the Kingston HyperX 3K drive is 492.28 MB/S write speed and 530.17 MB/S read speed. The ADATA XPG SX300 comes in at 484.33 MB/S write speed and 536.20 MB/S read speed. I/O Meter ADATA XPG SX300 Kingston HyperX 3K I/O Meter is designed to benchmark the I/O of each of the drives. I/O is the operations per second (reads and writes) to the hard drive. We use 4K random reads and writes at 32 QD to simulate small reads and writes to the hard drive. The small reads and writes could be cookies, logs, or web page history. A good I/O of a drive is essential for fast performance. To set up the test, we used this best practices guide from Micron. However, we only used 50 iterations per test. The Kingston HyperX 3K lead the test with an I/O of 24107 IOPS and the ADATA XPG SX300 comes in at 20810 IOPS. ADATA XPG SX300 Kingston HyperX 3K The same holds true for the write I/O. The Kingston HyperX 3K comes closer to the listed specification at 72776 IOPS and the ADATA XPG SX300 scores 60835 IOPS I am not looking to get the numbers listed in the specifications, but in the range. These numbers were created in a lab and tweaked. The test numbers listed in the specifications may not represent real world performance. One thing that I would like to point out, is the ADATA SX300 is using an adapter and without a motherboard that would recognize the ADATA XPG SX300 I cannot say the adapter has not hurt I/O performance somewhat. PCMark 8 Storage Benchmark The storage scores show the Kingston HyperX 3K takes a very slight lead over the ADATA XPG SX300. The bandwidth test shows less than a 7 MB/S difference between the drives. I seriously doubt that a person could tell the difference in using their PC with these numbers. The applications testing in PCMark 8 is designed to emulate real life usage and there is no longer a difference between the two drives. Almost every score is identical. Conclusion For me, new technology is exciting. While SSDs are not "new" the mSATA form factor is relatively new. For motherboards that support mSATA gone is the need for a traditional style hard drives. The drive will mount directly to the board. This opens a whole lot of options for small form factor PCs, laptops, ultrabooks and modders. However, the new form factor is worthless if it is not on par performance wise with the older technology. The ADATA XPG SX300 performs extremely well and can either meet or exceed the performance in our comparison against the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD. From the specifications on Kingston's website, the drive uses the same flash controller as the ADATA XPG SX300, although there has been some issues lately with specifications vastly differing from what is actually installed. Upgrading to an SSD is a worth while investment. The superior transfer rate and access time shoots them to the top of the list. An SSD can breath new life into an aging PC. While I think that 120 Gb is getting a little small for an operating system drive, it is still a viable option and I would happily recommend the ADATA XPG SX300 to anyone looking to install a mSATA drive into their system. [sc:must_have_award ]