Final Words & Conclusion
Final Words & Conclusion
Okay yes, it might not be a Samsung 970 EVO Plus killer, but man it's pretty darn close. What we have shown you today is a very impressive M2 SSD. The S70 is very close to the fastest SSDs on the globe thanks to that blazingly fast Phison controller and a proper amount of SDRAM cache.
Performance
Technologies like TLC and QLC face some challenges writing more bits per cell of NAND, we noticed a dropoff in performance with mixed heavy workloads that exceed writing ~25 Gigabyte continuously. After you pass that value of writes (and I do mean continuous sustained/linear writes minute after minute), then the SSD buffer is full and starts to write directly to TLC NAND. This, in a nutshell, is what you need to be aware of with TLC and QLC SSDs. IOPS performance is good on this unit, really good. The overall workload traces also indicate this SSD to be extremely capable and fast. Out of the dozens of SSDs we have tested, this one makes the top 10 (until you run out of that buffer). This SSD will write as fast as it can through a cache, once that cache runs dry you drop in write performance. Before you run into that 'issue' you need to realize the complexity of workload. We have written 25 GB continuously at max speed before the SSD dropped to 1 GB/sec (which is till hugely fast for something priced 11 cents per GB). That is the one difference with Samsungs 970 EVO (Plus), they can keep up that write hole up-to roughly 80 GB for the 1 TB model. Also please do realize that the performance in writes differs per volume size you purchase, a 512 and 256GB model would write slower. So we are strictly compressing this conclusion towards the 1 and 2TB models. So the question, how often do you write such large files? If that answer is likely to no, and far less. in that case the S70 is going to kick butt in terms of value for money. TBW values are good as well, 1200 TBW for the 1 TB model. Albeit how companies calculate or test these values these days, is a bit of a mystery.
Concluding
I am left nothing other than impressed with the Addlink S70. It's a super-fast TLC based M.2 SSD that ticks all the right boxes. It is and remains to be a very strong performer, even without heatsink. The one caveat is the aforementioned TLC write hole which we measured once you pass that 25 GB region of continuous writing. That's a value that requires really significant workloads, and for a DIY or game PC it's a value that ain't even relevant. Once the write hole does kick in, you're still hovering at 1 GB/sec write performance. This all is not different for the Samsung flagship SSDs, however, their TLC buffer only kicks in after 80 GB written (on the 1 TB models). The TB value is 1200 Terabyte written for this SSD, that's alongside a 5-year warranty. We do know Samsung will be around for five years but is addlink around as well? Really, the only thing left to argue here is the fact that you purchase an SSD from a relatively unknown Taiwan based company. But given the PCB arrangement, and baby blue PCB color we're pretty sure this SSD originates from the same OEM that others like Corsair, Plextor, TeamGroup, Patriot and so on purchases them as well. At a price hovering at 11 to 12 cents per GB I would be willing to take that bet. You can spot this 1TB SSD for as little as 114 USD (at the time of writing) on Amazon. Yes at the very least it deserves our great value award, what a nice product and price!
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