Adata Premier Pro SP920 SSD: From 128 To 1024 GB, Reviewed

Features
By Christopher Ryan
published

Adata shifts away from SandForce in its Premier Pro SP920 SSD family. With promises of incredible performance and spiffy features like DevSlp, Adata's latest employs the Marvell controller we saw in Crucial's M550. But the two share quite a bit more...

Test Setup And Benchmarks

Our consumer storage test bench is based on Intel's Z77 Platform Controller Hub paired with an Intel Core i5-2400 CPU. Intel's 6- and 7-series chipsets are virtually identical from a storage perspective. We're standardizing on older RST 10.6.1002 drivers for the foreseeable future.

Updates to the RST driver package occasionally result in subtle performance changes. They can also lead to some truly profound variance in scores and results as well, depending on the revision. Some versions flush writes more or less frequently. Others work better in RAID situations. Builds 11.2 and newer support TRIM in RAID as well. Regardless, results obtained with one revision may or may not be comparable to results obtained with another, so sticking with one version across all testing is mandatory.

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Test Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 3.1 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled
MotherboardGigabyte G1.Sniper M3
MemoryG.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1866 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V
System DriveIntel S3500 480 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: 0306
Drive(s) Under TestAdata SP920 1024 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01
Row 5 - Cell 0 Adata SP920 512GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01
Row 6 - Cell 0 Adata SP920 256 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01
Row 7 - Cell 0 Adata SP920 128 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01
Comparison DrivesCrucial M550 1024 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01
Row 9 - Cell 0 Crucial M550 512 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01
Row 10 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 730 480 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: L2010400
Row 11 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 120 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q
Row 12 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 250 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q
Row 13 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 500 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q
Row 14 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 1000 GB, Firmware: EXT41B6Q
Row 15 - Cell 0 SanDisk X210 256 GB, Firmware X210400
Row 16 - Cell 0 SanDisk X210 512 GB, Firmware X210400
Row 17 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 530 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: DC12
Row 18 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 520 180 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 400i
Row 19 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA, Firmware: LLKi
Row 20 - Cell 0 SanDisk A110 256 GB M.2 PCIe x2, Firmware: A200100
Row 21 - Cell 0 Silicon Motion SM226EN 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M0709A
Row 22 - Cell 0 Crucial M500 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02
Row 23 - Cell 0 Crucial M500 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02
Row 24 - Cell 0 Crucial M500 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02
Row 25 - Cell 0 Crucial M500 960 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02
Row 26 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q
Row 27 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q
Row 28 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO 480 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q
Row 29 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q
Row 30 - Cell 0 SanDisk Ultra Plus 64 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: X211200
Row 31 - Cell 0 SanDisk Ultra Plus 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200
Row 32 - Cell 0 SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware X211200
Row 33 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q
Row 34 - Cell 0 Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q
Row 35 - Cell 0 SanDisk Extreme II 120 GB, Firmware: R1311
Row 36 - Cell 0 SanDisk Extreme II 240 GB, Firmware: R1311
Row 37 - Cell 0 SanDisk Extreme II 480 GB, Firmware: R1311
Row 38 - Cell 0 Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: B660
Row 39 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 525 30 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi
Row 40 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 525 60 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi
Row 41 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 525 120 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi
Row 42 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 525 180 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi
Row 43 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 525 240 GB mSATA 6Gb/s, Firmware LLKi
Row 44 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 335 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 335s
Row 45 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: PWG2
Row 46 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.25
Row 47 - Cell 0 OCZ Vector 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0
Row 48 - Cell 0 Samsung 830 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO3B1Q
Row 49 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 000F
Row 50 - Cell 0 Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 1.02
Row 51 - Cell 0 Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: M206
GraphicsMSI Cyclone GTX 460 1 GB
Power SupplySeasonic X-650, 650 W 80 PLUS Gold
ChassisLian Li Pitstop
RAIDLSI 9266-8i PCIe x8, FastPath and CacheCade AFK
System Software and Drivers
OperatingSystemWindows 7 x64 Ultimate
DirectXDirectX 11
DriversGraphics: Nvidia 314.07RST: 10.6.1002IMEI: 7.1.21.1124Generic AHCI: MSAHCI.SYS
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Benchmarks
ULINK DriveMaster 2012JEDEC 218A-based TRIM Test
Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0Trace-Based
Iometer 1.1.0# Workers = 1, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential, 8 GB LBA Precondition, Exponential QD Scaling
PCMark 7Secondary Storage Suite
PCM VantageStorage Suite
Christopher Ryan
21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rolli59
    Would buy one in a heartbeat. Regardless of who makes them, nice move Adata.
    Reply
  • blackmagnum
    I prefer Sandisk, if you don't mind.
    Reply
  • cryan
    13011395 said:
    I prefer Sandisk, if you don't mind.

    The X210 is pretty awesome, but newer Marvell implementations are built with Haswell-style power features in mind. If you're looking for a drive to use in mobile applications, mind the heat and power consumption stats.

    Regards,
    Christopher Ryan
    Reply
  • rajangel
    Awhile back I purchased a few different SSD's to test out (OCZ, Crucial, Patriot, Adata). The Adata is the only one still running and was always the quickest. I don't know how this one is built, but the last Adata was built tough. The OCZ was so flimsy it felt like paper. The Crucial and the Patriot were slightly better in build quality. Now that I'm in the market for a new drive I may consider this.
    Reply
  • cryan
    13012280 said:
    Awhile back I purchased a few different SSD's to test out (OCZ, Crucial, Patriot, Adata). The Adata is the only one still running and was always the quickest. I don't know how this one is built, but the last Adata was built tough. The OCZ was so flimsy it felt like paper. The Crucial and the Patriot were slightly better in build quality. Now that I'm in the market for a new drive I may consider this.

    I have to say, the plastic or metal chassis a drive comes in doesn't mean much. In the lab, I like a nice heavy metal SSD casing, but in a laptop? You probably want a flimsy plastic chassis. It's not conductive and doesn't add much weight.


    Regards,
    Christopher Ryan
    Reply
  • rajangel
    It's a matter of opinion. I like things that are built well, and have a quality appearance. I think build quality does affect performance (read reliability). Especially when connectors/etc are cheap in construction. However, just my opinion.
    Reply
  • cryan
    13012326 said:
    It's a matter of opinion. I like things that are built well, and have a quality appearance. I think build quality does affect performance (read reliability). Especially when connectors/etc are cheap in construction. However, just my opinion.

    I agree that a substantial chassis tends to reinforce the perception of a drive's build quality, but much of the time its aesthetic. The component choice on the PCB speaks more to quality. I've seen some downright terrible drives in the fanciest of cases.

    Regards,
    Christopher Ryan

    Reply
  • rajangel
    I think there should be a restriction that prevents the article author from replying, unless there is a substantial mistake that was noted. I feel like tomshardware authors troll their own threads. This has become a problem lately. I'm at the point where I feel my business and time would be better spent on a real tech website. Tomshardware is like the Yahoo of tech sites lately.
    Reply
  • iltamies
    Typo on last page: "Adata gets a solid product able to soften the wait, and Micron (Crucial's parent company) gets to more more volume." should read "move more volume."
    Reply
  • Wisecracker
    Impressive ... power consumption is a bit high though, compared to the Samsung 120GB Evo (my current $80 fav)

    Are 'microseconds' considered 'milliseconds' ??
    Reply