ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 2TB SSD Review
XPG GAMMIX S70 Conclusions
We’ve had the XPG GAMMIX S70 2TB drive on the test bench for exactly 50 days now. Over the course of those 50 days we encountered some significant performance issues on the GAMMIX S70 NVMe SSD. The main one was a big deal – overall drive performance would plummet once the drive was over half filled with data.
ADATA was kind enough to send us another drive and the performance was identical to the first. Having eliminated a bad drive all eyes turned to the controller firmware and how garbage collection and other tasks were being handled. InnoGrit and ADATA worked together and have released two firmware updates (3.2.7.3 and 3.2.9.1) since we’ve been working with the drive.
This review was done on firmware version 3.2.9.1 and that build is not public yet. We just got version 3.2.9.1 this week and it finally addresses the performance drop off that we discovered nearly two months ago. This build is currently undergoing internal quality assurance testing and will hopefully be available to the public soon.
It should be noted that the firmware we got was destructive and the GAMMIX S70 had to be updated as a secondary drive on another PC. We feel this is important information to share with our readers as destructive firmware updates in 2021 are very rare and not everyone has multiple desktop PCs to be able to perform a firmware upgrade like this. InnoGrit is a relatively newcomer to the SSD controller market and this is something that will likely improve with time.
It should also be noted that we only discovered the issue because we test SSDs that are 55% full. We’ve seen many review sites praise the GAMMIX S70 and give it awards over the past 50 days that we’ve been struggling to figure out what was wrong with the drive. Most of those review sites are are testing the drives as empty secondary storage drives. Taking a Fresh out of the Box (FOB) drive and running a few super quick benchmarks is not how many consumers will be using this drive. Most of you are going to be buying this as a primary disk drive and will be putting a ton of data on it. When you read reviews please pay attention to how the drive is being tested as it does matter. Far too many people are just cranking out reviews just to get them done and they are missing things and not really helping the community at the end of the day. We understand the battle to get traffic and to be the first to sell usage rights, but it doesn’t really help the community make the right purchasing decision or encourages companies to make improvements where they are needed.
So, what are our thoughts on the XPG GAMMIX S70 with the latest firmware? The InnoGrit Rainer PCIe (IG5236) controller is impressive considering it is their first PCIe Gen 4 controller. InnoGrit was only just founded in 2016, so they are they newcomer in the market. The fact that they are performing this close to Samsung, Phison and other controller makers is very impressive.
We reached 7,447 MB/s read and 6,781 MB/s write in CrystalDiskMark and that exceeds the drives rated specifications. In more real-world benchmarks like the full PCMark 10 storage test, the GAMMIX S70 performed behind the other PCIe Gen 4 SSDs tested that used TLC NAND Flash. It also was the slowest of that group when it came to game load times. A strong showing for a first drive, but it enters a fierce market that is full of worthy competitors.
When it comes to pricing the XPG GAMMIX S70 2TB model that we reviewed here today can be picked up for $399.99 over on Amazon. It comes backed by a 5-year warranty and a 1480 TBW endurance rating. That price point puts it under the Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ($429) and WD_BLACK SN850 ($429). The lower price point aligns well with competing drives considering the overall performance of the drive.
Some might see this as a value option, but just remember that this is the first controller from InnoGrit and we’ve tested 3 firmware versions in under two months. This drive seems best suited for enthusiasts and power users that are okay with doing firmware updates and are wanting to try something new.
Legit Bottom Line: The XPG GAMMIX S70 2TB drive delivers solid performance, but is having teething issues as it is InnoGrits first controller.