[storagecultists] Adata XPG S11 Pro/SX8200 Pro - removing the pro with a partswap

[LukeSavenije]

(Image credit: Adata)

 

Introduction

This article is partially based off Sean Webster's article on Tomshardware. There will be a lot of similar, but hopefully also some new info present in this. As I'm a personal owner of an S11 pro, I've done performance testing and a readout of the SSD for a review I've had pending for a while, but with this news I decided to bring this info to the general public. This SSD includes some of the part swaps mentioned in Sean's article. I'll do my best to go into a neutral perspective with this.

 

What happened?

Long story short, Adata did a part swap on their SX8200 pro and S11 pro series, making them essentially the same as their non-pro counterparts. The main difference in this regard used to be the controller, with non-pro using the Silicon Motion SM2262(G) and the pro variant using the Silicon Motion SM2262EN(G). Together with that, they've chosen a different NAND for the SX8200 pro, but my S11 pro here is using Micron NAND instead of the article mentioned Samsung NAND.

 

How much impact does this have?

Not a lot. SM2262EN is faster in some tasks, but this is by a small margin, which got even smaller over time with the firmware updates that Silicon Motion has pushed to the SM2262. Regardless I think this should be at least documented for compare and information to the consumer, as well as showing that Adata is currently selling 4 nearly identical drives. The main difference being that sx8200 (pro) lacks the heatsink given with the s11 (pro), but the PCB is on all 4 identical.

 

Why did Adata do this?
All things considered, likely cost was the main reason. It's common for many manufacturers to swap parts. Things like NAND/DRAM manufacturers, controllers and such sometimes just have to be swapped with revisions, but as long as this is within the description and performance of the older one, this is totally fine to do. The only problem I have with this is that Adata already has a drive that is basically identical to this one, so even if the margin is small, I'd rather have seen the SX8200/S11 pro retired and replaced by a newer revision of the SX8200/S11 instead of trying to silently partswap the popular two of them with the parts of the other two.

 

The Software Used

CrystalDiskMark 7.0

TxBENCH 0.96 beta

Anvil’s Storage Utilities 1.1.0

AS SSD Benchmark 2.0.7316.34247

ATTO Disk Benchmark 4.01.0f1

 

The Hardware Used

CPU: Intel Core i5-8600K

Motherboard: MSI Z370 Pro Carbon AC

RAM: G.Skill Trident Z 2x8GB 3200Mhz CL16

Storage: Samsung 860 EVO 500GB (OS) & ADATA Gammix S11 Pro (for testing)

Power Supply: Cooler Master V1300

OS: Windows 10

 

CrystalDiskMark

Spoiler

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CrystalDiskMark 7.0.0 x64 (C) 2007-2019 hiyohiyo

                                  Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]

* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

 

[Read]

Sequential 1MiB (Q=  8, T= 1):  3473.246 MB/s [   3312.3 IOPS] <  2396.86 us>

Sequential 1MiB (Q=  1, T= 1):  2804.382 MB/s [   2674.5 IOPS] <   373.52 us>

    Random 4KiB (Q= 32, T=16):   800.338 MB/s [ 195395.0 IOPS] <  2612.93 us>

    Random 4KiB (Q=  1, T= 1):    61.654 MB/s [  15052.2 IOPS] <    66.19 us>

 

[Write]

Sequential 1MiB (Q=  8, T= 1):  2567.934 MB/s [   2449.0 IOPS] <  3242.67 us>

Sequential 1MiB (Q=  1, T= 1):  2427.803 MB/s [   2315.3 IOPS] <   431.42 us>

    Random 4KiB (Q= 32, T=16):  1320.669 MB/s [ 322429.0 IOPS] <  1585.59 us>

    Random 4KiB (Q=  1, T= 1):   180.001 MB/s [  43945.6 IOPS] <    22.52 us>

 

[Mix] Read 70%/Write 30%

Sequential 1MiB (Q=  8, T= 1):  1650.466 MB/s [   1574.0 IOPS] <  5070.08 us>

Sequential 1MiB (Q=  1, T= 1):  2020.657 MB/s [   1927.0 IOPS] <   518.28 us>

    Random 4KiB (Q= 32, T=16):   647.422 MB/s [ 158062.0 IOPS] <  3233.59 us>

    Random 4KiB (Q=  1, T= 1):    76.840 MB/s [  18759.8 IOPS] <    53.08 us>

 

Profile: Default

   Test: 1 GiB (x5) [Interval: 5 sec] <DefaultAffinity=DISABLED>

   Date: 2020/08/10 19:47:26

     OS: Windows 10  [10.0 Build 18362] (x64)

 

TxBench

Spoiler

TxBENCH 0.96 beta

 

Basic Benchmark

----------------------------------------

Date : 8/10/2020 19:59:13

Drive : XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro

Measurement mode : FILE mode (F:)

 

Measuring result

----------------------------------------

Sequential Max(256K) Q32T1

 Read = 3312.084 mB/s ( 3158.649 MB/s )

 Write = 2486.690 mB/s ( 2371.492 MB/s )

 

Random Max(256K) Q1T1

 Read = 0980.551 mB/s ( 0935.126 MB/s )

 Write = 2092.296 mB/s ( 1995.369 MB/s )

 

Random 4K Q1T1

 Read = 0060.477 mB/s ( 0057.675 MB/s )

 Write = 0158.733 mB/s ( 0151.380 MB/s )

 

Random 4K Q32T1

 Read = 0478.947 mB/s ( 0456.760 MB/s )

 Write = 0371.617 mB/s ( 0354.401 MB/s )

 

Mainboard information

----------------------------------------

Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.

Z370 GAMING PRO CARBON AC (MS-7B45)

 

CPU information

----------------------------------------

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8600K CPU @ 3.60GHz

Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 10

 

OS information

----------------------------------------

Microsoft Windows 10 Home

(null)

18362

64-bit

 

Memory information

----------------------------------------

Maximum physical memory = 16722224 KB ( 16330 MB )

Available physical memory = 9492200 KB ( 9269 MB )

 

Maximum paging file = 45033776 KB ( 43978 MB )

Available paging file = 32750500 KB ( 31982 MB )

 

Maximum virtual memory = 2097024 KB ( 2047 MB )

Available virtual memory = 1949480 KB ( 1903 MB )

 

Anvil’s

Spoiler

Read 5,711.71 Write 7,795.52 Total :13,507.23 (XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 512GB/32A0T54B)

 

AS SSD

Spoiler

AS SSD Benchmark 2.0.7316.34247

------------------------------

Name: XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro

Firmware: 32A0T54B

Controller: stornvme

Offset: 16384 K - OK

Size: 476.94 GB

Date: 8/10/2020 20:13:58

------------------------------

Sequential:

------------------------------

Read: 2804.89 MB/s

Write: 2249.50 MB/s

------------------------------

4K:

------------------------------

Read: 57.70 MB/s

Write: 152.92 MB/s

------------------------------

4K-64Threads:

------------------------------

Read: 732.45 MB/s

Write: 1223.81 MB/s

------------------------------

Access Times:

------------------------------

Read: 0.024 ms

Write: 0.024 ms

------------------------------

Score:

------------------------------

Read: 1071

Write: 1602

Total: 3209

 

ATTO

 

Readout data

Spoiler

v0.226a

OS: 10.0 build 18362

Drive   : 3(NVME)

Scsi    : 1

Driver  : W10

Model   : XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro                     

Fw      : 32A0T54B

Size    : 488386 MB

LBA Size: 512

AdminCmd: 0x00 0x01 0x02 0x04 0x05 0x06 0x08 0x09 0x0A 0x0C 0x10 0x11 0x14 0x80 0x81 0x82 0x84 0xC0 0xC1 0xC2 0xE0 0xE4 0xE5 0xE6

I/O Cmd : 0x00 0x01 0x02 0x04 0x05 0x08 0x09

Controller : SM2262 [SM2262AB]

FW revision: 32A0T54B

ROM version: 2262ROM:SVN00235

Bank00: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank01: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank02: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank03: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank04: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank05: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank06: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Bank07: 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

--- Experimental ---

FlashID : 0x2c,0xc4,0x18,0x32,0xa2,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Micron 96L(B27A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die

Channel               : 8

Ch map                : 0xFF

CE map                : 0x01

First Fblock          : 1

Total Fblock          : 236

Bad Block From Pretest: 14

Start TLC/MLC Fblock  : 17

DRAM Info             : [0x4F 0x42]

DRAM Size,MB (*)      : 512

DRAM Bus,bit          : 32

DRAM Type             : DDR3

DRAM Vendor           : Samsung

(*) - Possible incorrect

 

SM2262 Telemetry data:

VERSION                                                  :                8

Re-allocated Sector Count (TLC/MLC)                      :                0

Re-allocated Sector Count (SLC)                          :                0

Power-on Hours Count                                     :                2

Uncorrectable Error Count (XOR Fail) (TLC/MLC)           :                0

Uncorrectable Error Count (XOR Fail) (SLC)               :                0

ECCUnc (Soft LDPC fail) (TLC/MLC)                        :                0

Soft LDPC correction event count (TLC/MLC)               :               -1

TLC read retry fail (TLC/MLC)                            :                0

SLC read retry fail (SLC)                                :               -1

Temperature                                              :              322

RE-allocated Sector Events                               :                0

Total LBAs Written                                       :       2029777228

Total LBAs Read                                          :       2186799154

PS3 Count                                                :                0

PS4 Count                                                :                0

L1.2 Count                                               :               -1

TLC Available Spare Blocks (TLC/MLC)                     :               12

SLC Available Spare Blocks (SLC)                         :                5

WearRangeDelta (TLC/MLC)                                 :                0

WearRangeDelta (SLC)                                     :                0

High Temp                                                :              344

Low Temp                                                 :              299

Avg Temp                                                 :              321

Recent High                                              :               -1

Recent Low                                               :               -1

Auto Calibration FailCount                               :               -1

SLC Nand Data Read (SLC)                                 :       2507890432

TLC Nand Data Read (TLC/MLC)                             :        854714496

Valid block counts                                       :               -1

SLC NAND Writes (SLC)                                    :        393907200

TLC NAND writes (TLC/MLC)                                :        980920320

TLC Wearing Leveling Count (TLC/MLC)                     :                0

SLC Wearing Leveling Count (SLC)                         :                0

TLC NAND writes due to Wearing Leveling (TLC/MLC)        :                0

SLC NAND writes due to Wearing Leveling (SLC)            :                0

Current TLC spare super block (TLC/MLC)                  :              200

Current SLC spare super block (SLC)                      :               10

SLC to TLC defrag count                                  :               -1

TLC Defrag count                                         :          5308416

SLC Defrag count                                         :                0

Read back fail count                                     :               -1

TLC Program Fail (TLC/MLC)                               :                0

SLC Program Fail (SLC)                                   :                0

TLC Erase Fail (TLC/MLC)                                 :                0

SLC Erase Fail (SLC)                                     :                0

TLC Erase cycle average                                  :                4

TLC Erase cycle Max                                      :                6

TLC Erase cycle Min                                      :                3

SLC Erase cycle average                                  :               17

SLC Erase cycle Max                                      :               24

SLC Erase cycle Min                                      :                5

PS0 to PS1                                               :               -1

PS1 to PS0                                               :               -1

PS1 to PS2                                               :               -1

PS2 to PS1                                               :               -1

PS2 to PS Shut Down Entry                                :                0

PS Shut Down to PS2 Exit                                 :                0

Idle Sleep Count                                         :               -1

L1 event count                                           :               -1

ECRC event count                                         :                0

LCRC event count                                         :                0

SLC to TLC program page cnt during Idle                  :                0

SLC to TLC program page cnt durning host activity        :                0

DRAM One Bit Error                                       :                0

SRAM One Bit Error                                       :                0

E2E detect count                                         :                0

PS3.5 count                                              :                0

Throttling light count(transit to PS1 from PS0 and PS2)  :                5

Throttling heavy count(transit to PS2 from PS1)          :                0

Throttling light duration (sec)                          :               40

Throttling heavy duration (sec)                          :                0

Retry count (retry trig)                                 :                0

Soft Decode count (LDPC fail+pass)                       :               -1

total manufacture bad count(unit : plane)                :              179

Worst manufacture bad count(unit : plane)                :               14

SLC Valid 4K count                                       :            25471

TLC Valid 4K count                                       :              257

SLC system block writes(sector)                          :         64931456

SLC writes due to read disturb(sector)                   :                0

TLC writes due to read disturb(sector)                   :                0

Max Open Block SSGS Count                                :                0

Max Closed Block SSGS Count                              :                0

L2P table paging count                                   :               -1

QLC open WL internal pre-read disabled                   :               -1

SLC Max CW error count with RR pass                      :                0

TLC/QLC Max CW error count with RR pass                  :                0

Total Erase Pool Block Count                             :                0

DSLC blocks in link table                                :                4

Max DSLC Erase Cycle Count                               :                5

Avg DSLC Erase Cycle Count                               :                3

DSLC NAND write(sector)                                  :        819330304

DSLC NAND read(sector)                                   :       2098035712

DSLC to DSLC Defrag count                                :                0

DSLC Program Fail                                        :                0

DSLC Erase Fail                                          :                0

DSLC Retired Blocks                                      :                0

DSLC Allocated Size                                      :               84

ReconditionQlcBlocks                                     :                0

MinDSLCEraseCount                                        :                2

MaxTotalEraseCount                                       :                6

MinTotalEraseCount                                       :                3

AvgTotalEraseCount                                       :                4

MaxOpenSsgsCount                                         :               -1

MaxClosedSsgsCount                                       :               -1

SlcDummyWrites                                           :            39400

Qlc/Tlc DummyWrites                                      :                0

DslcDummyWrites                                          :           184792

ReconditionMaxEraseCount                                 :               -1

DummyReads                                               :           294709

CoreDumpCount                                            :                0

Unknown                                                  :       4040173600

NAND Writes in TLC after POH threshold is triggered      :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Max POH delta value (from all TLC super blocks)          :               -1

Min POH delta value (from all TLC super blocks)          :               -1

Ave POH delta value (from all TLC super blocks)          :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

Unknown                                                  :               -1

WAI_TLC                                                  :              223

WAI_TLC2                                                 :              106

WAI_SLC                                                  :               23

TLCErase                                                 :              855

SLCErase                                                 :              275

DSLCErase                                                :              670

SectorPerBlock                                           :          5308416

MapCnt                                                   :               19

 

Block     Erase Count

    1         5

    2         7

    3         7

    4         9

    5         21

    6         14

    7         24

    8         21

    9         23

   10        19

   11        17

   12        21

   13        23

   14        20

   15        22

   16        22

   17        5

   18        5

   19        5

   20        5

   21        5

   22        5

   23        5

   24        5

   25        5

   26        5

   27        5

   28        5

   29        5

   30        6

   31        5

   32        5

   33        5

   34        5

   35        6

   36        6

   37        5

   38        5

   39        5

   40        5

   41        5

   42        5

   43        5

   44        5

   45        5

   46        5

   47        5

   48        5

   49        5

   50        5

   51        5

   52        5

   53        5

   54        5

   55        5

   56        5

   57        5

   58        5

   59        5

   60        5

   61        5

   62        5

   63        5

   64        6

   65        5

   66        6

   67        5

   68        5

   69        6

   70        5

   71        5

   72        5

   73        5

   74        5

   75        5

   76        5

   77        5

   78        5

   79        5

   80        5

   81        5

   82        5

   83        5

   84        5

   85        5

   86        6

   87        5

   88        5

   89        6

   90        6

   91        5

   92        5

   93        4

   94        4

   95        4

   96        4

   97        4

   98        4

   99        4

  100       4

  101       4

  102       4

  103       5

  104       4

  105       4

  106       4

  107       6

  108       4

  109       4

  110       4

  111       4

  112       4

  113       4

  114       4

  115       4

  116       4

  117       4

  118       4

  119       4

  120       4

  121       4

  122       4

  123       4

  124       4

  125       4

  126       4

  127       4

  128       4

  129       4

  130       4

  131       4

  132       4

  133       4

  134       4

  135       4

  136       4

  137       4

  138       4

  139       4

  140       4

  141       4

  142       4

  143       4

  144       4

  145       4

  146       4

  147       4

  148       4

  149       4

  150       4

  151       4

  152       4

  153       3

  154       4

  155       4

  156       4

  157       4

  158       4

  159       4

  160       4

  161       4

  162       4

  163       4

  164       4

  165       4

  166       3

  167       3

  168       3

  169       3

  170       3

  171       3

  172       3

  173       3

  174       3

  175       3

  176       3

  177       3

  178       3

  179       3

  180       3

  181       3

  182       3

  183       3

  184       3

  185       3

  186       3

  187       3

  188       3

  189       3

  190       3

  191       3

  192       3

  193       3

  194       3

  195       3

  196       3

  197       4

  198       3

  199       3

  200       3

  201       4

  202       3

  203       3

  204       3

  205       3

  206       3

  207       4

  208       3

  209       4

  210       3

  211       3

  212       3

  213       3

  214       3

  215       3

  216       3

  217       3

  218       3

  219       3

  220       3

  221       3

  222       Bad

  223       Bad

  224       Bad

  225       Bad

  226       Bad

  227       Bad

  228       Bad

  229       Bad

  230       Bad

  231       Bad

  232       Bad

  233       Bad

  234       Bad

  235       Bad

 

-------- NVME SMART --------

0 Critical Warning                                                             : 0

1 Composite Temperature                                                           : 49

2 Available Spare                                                              : 100

3 Available Spare Threshold                                        : 10

4 Percentage Used                                                          : 0

5 Data Units Read                                                            : 1067773

6 Data Units Written                                                       : 991102

7 Host Read Commands                                                : 27776658

8 Host Write Commands                                                               : 26674054

9 Controller Busy Time                                                   : 40

10 Power Cycles                                                                               : 9

11 Power On Hours                                                         : 2

12 Unsafe Shutdowns                                                    : 5

13 Media and Data Integrity Errors                           : 0

14 Number of Error Information Log Entries         : 0

15 Warning Composite Temperature Time                           : 0

16 Critical Composite Temperature Time                               : 0

18 Temperature Sensor 1                                                             : 49

19 Temperature Sensor 2                                                             : 60

20 Temperature Sensor 3                                                             : 49

21 Temperature Sensor 4                                                             : 49

22 Temperature Sensor 5                                                             : 42

25 Thermal Management Temp 1 Transition Count           : 5

26 Thermal Management Temp 2 Transition Count           : 0

27 Total Time For Thermal Management Temp 1                : 40

28 Total Time For Thermal Management Temp 2                : 0

 

Conclusion

Adata did an odd move here, even if it's still well performing as a high end NVME, it makes the drive and Adata a bit more questionable. Regardless, this isn't an uncommon move and even if I would've preferred to see it done in a different way, it is how it is and the drive still deserves to be recommended.

[Ashleyyyy]

there is a storage cult now too? how many cults will you start luke? can i join the applecultists?

[SavageNeo]

@LukeSavenije Being also storagecultist.

 

Me:

Spoiler

 

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

6 minutes ago, SavageNeo said:

@LukeSavenije Being also storagecultist.

expect more soon 

[SavageNeo]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

expect more soon 

Please. Dont you have life to live?

[Ashleyyyy]

2 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

expect more soon 

apple cult?

[Maurice Janssen]

13 hours ago, Ashley xD said:

apple cult?

Uhm, probably not that, no

[Ashleyyyy]

2 hours ago, Maurice from Madagascar said:

Uhm, probably not that, no

missed oppurtunity in my opinion