Jesper Berg
The XPG Gammix S70 is ADATA’s flagship M.2 NVMe SSD as of 2021. At launch, it was one of the market leaders in terms of raw sequential performance. Like the Gammix S50, it utilizes the PCI Gen4 interface, but thanks to a new InnoGrit controller, the S70 is significantly faster. This SSD’s main competitors in the first half of 2021 are drives such as the Samsung 980 PRO and WD Black SN850.
Overview: Memory Type, Controller, and Cache
While the Gammix S50 uses the same Phison E16 controller and therefore performs about the same as a host of other SSDs, including Seagate’s Firecuda 520 and the Corsair MP600, the S70 instead uses a novel controller from InnoGrit. More specifically it goes by the title InnoGrit ‘Ranier’ IG5236 and is an 8-channel PCI Express 4.0 x4 chip compliant with NVMe 1.4.
Furthermore, the XPG Gammix S70 uses 96-layer TLC (triple-level cell) NAND from Micron, which is a common choice – not least in Micron’s own Crucial-branded SSDs. It also uses a 1 or 2 GB DDR4 DRAM buffer for improved performance and wear leveling.
Specs: ADATA XPG Gammix S70 Vs. S50
| XPG Gammix PCIe Gen4 SSDs | XPG S50 1TB | XPG S70 1TB | XPG S50 2TB | XPG S70 2TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | Phison E16 | InnoGrit IG5236 | Phison E16 | InnoGrit IG5236 |
| DRAM | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR4 |
| Sequential Read | 5,000 MB/s | 7,400 MB/s | 5,000 MB/s | 7,400 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 4,400 MB/s | 5,500 MB/s | 4,400 MB/s | 6,400 MB/s |
| Random Read | 750K IOPS | 350K IOPS | 750K IOPS | 650K IOPS |
| Random Write | 750K IOPS | 720K IOPS | 750K IOPS | 740K IOPS |
| Endurance | 1,800 TBW | 740 TBW | 3,600 TBW | 1,480 TBW |
As of this writing, the XPG Gammix S70 is the only SSD on the market with the InnoGrit IG5236 controller. It clearly excels at sequential performance, where it so far outperforms market leaders such as the high-end Samsung 980 PRO and Western Digital’s WD Black SN850. The S70 is also well ahead of the XPG Gammix S50 and other Phison E16 drives in this regard. It does not do quite as well in terms of random performance, which in several respects is a more important metric.
An interesting aspect of the XPG Gammix S70 is that it comes with a rather large heatsink. This heatsink is not optional as with many other SSDs in the M.2 form factor, so it’s not well-suited for a laptop.
Like the Gammix S50, the S70 is available in 1TB and 2TB varieties, and the performance difference between these capacities is more pronounced in the S70.
Warranty and Endurance Rating
Another detail worth noting when comparing the XPG Gammix S50 and S70 is that the latter only offers around half the endurance rating of its lower-end sibling. However, the S70’s TBW (terabytes written) ratings are still slightly above the ones offered with other high-end SSDs.
Expert Reviews
The combination of the first IG5236 controller we’ve seen in the wild and the Micron NAND allows the Gammix S70 to hit some seriously high heights.
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.
Specification: ADATA XPG Gammix S70
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