ADATA XPG Gammix S70 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

1. Introduction & Drive Details
2. Free SSD Software
3. Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM & Anvils
4. Synthetic Benchmarks: AS SSD & ATTO
5. Real-World Testing: Transfer Rates & Gaming
6. Real-World Testing: PCMark 10 Storage Tests
7. Final Thoughts

TweakTown's Rating: 93%

The Bottom Line

The Gammix S70 2TB is one of the fastest Gen4 SSDs we've tested.

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Introduction & Drive Details

ADATA has a new flagship Gen4 x4 SSD that can deliver 7,500 MB/s sequential reads and 6,800 MB/s sequential writes, according to our testing. Those numbers make ADATA's XPG Gammix S70 2TB the consumer SSD with the highest throughput we've tested to date. Making this kind of throughput possible is a new controller brand we've not seen before in the wild.

At its heart, the ADATA XPG Gammix S70 is powered by an InnoGrit IG5236 8-channel Gen4 x4 NVMe 1.4 controller. This Gen4 x4 controller is very fast, as evidenced by the sequential speeds mentioned above. Like most Gen4 SSD, it tends to run on the hot side and requires a substantial heat sink to keep the heat generated in check. Luckily ADATA equips this fire-breathing monster with just such a heat sink.

However, even with an oversized heat sink, the S70 really needs some airflow to keep it running throttle-free.

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The above image is the Gammix S70 2TB idling without airflow across its integrated heat sink. It's a bit hotter than we would like to see.

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This is the drive idling with a small fan blowing across the IHS. Big difference as this brings the S70 more in line with what we want to see for throttle-free performance. During our testing, the S70, with a small fan blowing on it, delivered throttle-free performance even when filling the drive with 723GB of data and during our 100GB write transfer test.

Good enough for us, and what we consider a small price to pay for the kind of performance generated. Also, it should be noted that the S70's heat sink cannot/should not be removed because doing so will likely break components on the PCB. This means that the integrated M.2 heat sink on your motherboard will need to be removed to run this drive if you have one.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's dive into the review, and we will show you what ADATA's XPG Gammix S70 can do for you.

Drive Details

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Jon's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair Hero VIII Wi-Fi (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
• Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 (buy from Amazon)
• Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 4000 (PC4-32000) C19 (buy from Amazon)
• Video Card: GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2070 WINDFORCE 8G (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1000 (buy from Amazon)
• Case: InWin X-Frame
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (buy from Amazon)

ADATA XPG Gammix S70 2TB NVMe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$787.00	$787.00	$795.00	$761.00	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 12/4/2023 at 11:15 pm CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Free SSD Software

ADATA SSD Toolbox/Acronis for ADATA

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Click here to download all the free software that ADATA offers, including ADATA's award-winning SSD Toolbox, Acronis True Image HD, and a very important firmware update should you need it. The Downloads section is located at the bottom of the web page.

If, by chance, your XPG Gammix S70 SSD does not come with at minimum firmware 3.2.7.3, then it is imperative that you update it for full performance. The update is quick and easy, although be forewarned that it will remove all data on the drive.

If you want to easily check your firmware revision you can Click here to download CrystalDiskInfo.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM & Anvils

CrystalDiskMark

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The Gammix S70's sequential throughput is the best we've seen to date from any consumer SSD when filled 50% with data. Impressive. Also impressive is that we can easily exceed factory sequential specs when half full, 80 MB/s for read and a whopping 400 MB/s for write.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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We were hoping for a bit more in terms of the overall score, but because the Gammix S70 doesn't generate a whole lot of performance at QD16, the scoring suffers quite a bit. However, it is important to keep in mind that QD1 and QD4 random performance is really what matters most, and in those categories, the Gammix S70 delivers excellent performance.

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We can't hit factory max random specs when 50% filled with data, but we are close, and both numbers look good.

Synthetic Benchmarks: AS SSD & ATTO

AS SSD

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The scoring here is again a bit lower than we would like. However, sequential performance at 16MB transfers is eye-popping. Like we often see, from even some of the best performers, lower performance with 64 threads in play is drastically affecting the overall score.

ATTO

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We want to see full performance at 128K transfers and 40 MB/s at 512B transfers. We get almost none of that from the Gammix S70. When we hit 1MB transfers, though, the Gammix S70 comes alive and delivers the goods as well as anything we've ever seen.

Real-World Testing: Transfer Rates & Gaming

Transfer Rates

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As we move into real-world testing, the Gammix S70 2TB shows its prowess when transferring data by delivering the second-best performance we've seen to date. This is no easy transfer either. It is 100GB of data composed of more than 62,000 hard to digest files. Excellent.

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Read transfers are more important than write, and the Gammix S70 2TB drops another lab record with a transfer rate of 4,455 MB/s. Impressive and testament to the S70's record-breaking read throughput. Wow.

Game Level Loading

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As our chart demonstrates, the XPG Gammix S70 2TB is indeed a top gaming SSD. It is only a fraction of a second slower than our chart leader.

Real-World Testing: PCMark 10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them.

The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with user experience. Of the two tests, we feel that the Quick System Drive Test most accurately replicates a typical user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

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This is very impressive. The Gammix S70 2TB handles heavy workloads like a boss, even when half full. This is quite a feat for any SSD with Micron 1200 MT 96L flash and ZERO OP (Over Provisioning). This thing is fast and resilient.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

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This is the test we consider our most important. It correlates most directly with a typical consumer user experience. Again, the Gammix S70 2TB mows it right down like nothing.

Final Thoughts

7,000 MB/s sequential throughput has become the new standard for performance-oriented Gen4 SSDs, and the ADATA XPG Gammix S70 2TB takes that and ups it to an eye-popping 7,500 MB/s. Wow. Throughput is one thing, but not nearly as important as consumer workload performance, and as we just saw, the Gammix S70 2TB can do that at near-record levels as well.

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In terms of overall user experience, the 2TB XPG Gammix S70 delivers the goods in a big way thanks to InnoGrit's IG5236 Gen4 controller. It provides some of the best overall user experience by any flash-based SSD we've tested. Impressive.

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As we look back on our test results, we find the ADATA XPG Gammix S70 2TB delivering a few lab records and standout performances. First and most obvious, as demonstrated by our CDM testing, the S70 2TB is the new throughput leader capable of up to 7,500 MB/s sequential performance. We witnessed more excellence when the S70 2TB served up a new lab record for real-world read transfers. The S70 2TB then demonstrated that it's no one-trick-pony by demolishing our PCMark 10 storage tests.

The XPG Gammix S70 2TB is a beast of a performer. However, we cannot help but ding it for running as hot as it does. This can be easily mitigated with a small fan, which we feel is a minor inconvenience when you consider the performance it brings to the table. Nevertheless, it is what it is, and that's totally deserving of a coveted TweakTown Award.

Pros

• Highest Throughput
• Gaming
• Consumer Workloads

Cons

• Runs Hot
• Random Read