Conclusion
Today we have taken a look at ADATA’s new XPG ATOM 30 KIT, this is an SSD kit with two SSDs inside, one in the NVMe M.2 2280 format and the other in the SATA 2.5″ format. This kit is $124.99 online right now, and with that, you get 1TB of storage space plus 250GB of SSD storage space.
This dual-SSD kit is meant to provide enthusiasts and gamers with a budget-friendly, entry-level entrance into SSD performance. Perhaps you have an older system or a pre-built, and just want better performance and storage. This kit allows you to upgrade to PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe SSD performance and a decent 1TB storage capacity at that. In addition, it comes with a 250GB SATA SSD that can be used in the same system for more storage space, or in a second computer or laptop that you also need to upgrade.
These SSDs are not the fastest you can get, they aren’t meant to be, but they are much faster than any mechanical drive, and the PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD, while not the fastest, is certainly a lot faster than SATA and will work great for gaming.
Performance
When looking at the performance of an SSD we must evaluate if it can even match the rated or quoted speed by the manufacturer. The XPG ATOM 30 SSD has a rated read speed of 2500MB/s and a write speed of 2000MB/s. In our testing, we found that this performance was measured, and in fact even better than expected. The XPG ATOM 30 performed great in read and write sequential data performance, exceeding its quoted performance. The ADATA SU670 Ultimate has a rated read of 520MB/s and a rated write of 450MB/s. In our throughput testing, this SSD also hit all its marks, performing just as it should.
When we look at the comparison data, starting with the XPG ATOM 30 SSD, we start to see where it falls in line with other PCIe Gen3 x4 SSDs. The XPG ATOM 30 SSD sits in the middle of the road between the comparison SSDs in PCMark10, and toward the lower end of the scale in PassMark PerformanceTEST. In CrystalDiskMark it is the lowest, in terms of read and write speeds, compared to the other SSDs we have on our graphs, though its random performance is very good. In As SSD’s copy performance it is again the middle ground, and in gaming load times it is the middle ground. It’s not the best SSD for workstation performance.
When we look at the comparison data on the ADATA SU670 Ultimate SSD we see that it falls under SAMSUNG 860 EVO performance in PCMark 10 and PassMark but is able to perform a lot faster than the Silicon Power Ace A55. This trend continues in CrystalDiskMark where it is faster than the Silicon Power Ace A55 but lags behind the SAMSUNG 860 EVO slightly. In terms of copy performance, it is about the middle of the road. It’s slower on game load times than we expected, and is also not really meant to work well as a workstation SSD.
Cooling
We had the heatplate spreader installed on the XPG ATOM 30 1TB PCIe SSD, and according to our Stress Test Temperature testing, it reached a high of 54c. This is well below the other SSDs in our lineup which did not have any heatsinks installed in our temps shown above. The ADATA XPG ATOM 30 SSD is by no means the fastest PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD, and as such, it does not stress the controller as hard, and thus even without the spreader doesn’t get as hot as the other SSDs. With the spreader on it helps spread out the heat and keep its temperatures low. We did take a reading on the ADATA SU670 Ultimate SATA SSD and it was just 46c in our testing, so nothing to worry about there.
Software
We look at the software tools to see how useful they are, in terms of the ADATA SSDs the software lets you monitor temperature, drive health, and remaining life of the SSD. This is all useful information and in our opinion a staple that every SSD software should be able to do, and this one does that, so kudos to ADATA for that information. We can also examine the S.M.A.R.T. tables more closely and drive details, which is great. The software also has a diagnostic ability and OS optimizations options with TRIM command. The firmware can also be easily detected automatically and updated for the SSDs so that is great to see. The one area where the software lacks is the ability to do Secure Erase or drive Encryption in software in Windows. It would be great to see those features and a benchmark to check that the drive is performing as it should be.
Final Points
The ADATA XPG ATOM 30 KIT is an interesting kit, with two SSDs meant for budget-friendly entry into the SSD storage performance space for older systems or pre-builts that need a little kick. By giving us two separate interface formats, M.2 2280 and SATA III, you have the option to upgrade one system, or two depending on what you have.
If you don’t have the latest PCIe Gen4 capable motherboards, then the PCIe Gen3 x4 ATOM 30 SSD is the perfect fit. It will bring you up to NVMe SSD performance on your system, or laptop. The second SATA SSD can then be used to further augment storage, or on a secondary system upgrade. The ATOM 30 SSD comes with an ample 1TB of SSD storage space, but the 250GB ADATA SU670 Ultimate SSD is a bit lacking in capacity.
These two SSDs are not the fastest in their category, this is just the fact of the matter. The 1TB XPG ATOM 30 is not the slowest PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD, but it is also not in the faster high-end tier of PCIe Gen3 x4 SSDs that can achieve 3000MB/s reads and writes. The ATOM 30 SSD is a bit slower at 2,500/2,000 MB, plus it does not have a DRAM cache and relies on Host Memory Buffer support to overcome that. The ADATA SU670 Ultimate SATA SSD has competitive read speeds at 520MB/s but has a write speed of 450MB/s and therefore does lag behind the higher tier of SATA SSDs capable of 500MB/s+ write speeds.
These choices though, do bring the price down to more tolerable levels, at $124.99 you get 1TB of NVMe storage and 250GB of SATA storage, so that’s not a bad deal for the combined capacity. However, we would like to see a higher-tier kit available from ADATA/XPG in the future. A kit with the faster tier 3000MB/s+ PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD with DRAM at 1TB and maybe a 512GB SATA SSD (instead of 250GB) and with higher write speeds would be a more enticing upgrade path kit.
If you are on a budget and want to upgrade to SSD performance from an aging system or pre-built give the ADATA ATOM 30 KIT a consideration. Just know that it is on the lower-end, entry-level, side of SSD performance for today’s SSD availability, but still way faster than anything mechanical.