Conclusion
In this review, we took a look at the addlink S95 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD which is a creator-focused SSD in the top-range of performance from addlink’s SSD offerings. The addlink S95 offers the same performance as the A95, but without a heatsink. The addlink S95 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD offers a 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB model with PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe performance at up to 7200MB/s. The addlink S95 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD is a 3D TLC NAND flash-based SSD with a DRAM cache. The 2TB model we reviewed today is rated at 7200MB/s sequential read speeds and 6500MB/s sequential write speeds, offering top-tier PCIe Gen4 x4 performance, using the Phison E18 controller and 176-Layer Micron 3D TLC NAND.
Cooling
The addlink S95 2TB SSD we have reviewed today does not come with a heatsink or even a heat spreader. Only a thin sticker atop the components. Addlink does offer an aluminum heatsink in the higher-end A95 SSD. As you can see, temperatures on the S95 are a weak point, rising to 78c in our stress testing. Keep in mind that this is the “worse case” scenario writing data for 20 minutes, the temperature of the ASIC/controller rose to about 78c maximum temperature which was the hottest SSD on our graph, even hotter than other SSDs with heat spreaders.
Addlink does offer the same version of this SSD with an integrated aluminum heatsink in the form of the addlink A95. It would be interesting to compare temperatures with it, to see how much cooler that keeps the SSD. It is evident that the performance of this SSD does come with the price of adding heat and needing better thermal dissipation.
We recommend using your motherboard’s integrated M.2 heatsink to help cool this SSD. If your motherboard does not have an integrated M.2 heatsink, you can buy 3rd party SSD heatsinks, and for this particular one, in a high-use, highly-accessed environment, or a workstation environment, you may want to proceed with a third-party cooler or integrated motherboard heatsink. While we did not encounter thermal throttling in our testing, we cannot account for every scenario. This should work fine on a laptop, but if you are pegging this on a laptop, cooling could be an issue. This SSD is fast, and it just simply needs good cooling to maintain that.
addlink SSD ToolBox
Addlink does have an SSD ToolBox software to manage the SSD. Addlink has addlink M.2 PCIe SSD Toolbox software, and we can do some important things. The SSD ToolBox allows you to see a summary of your drive and access S.M.A.R.T. health data as well as hardware ID information and firmware version. There is also a Secure Erase feature, which is great to see and allows you to remove disk data securely on your SSD, so that functionality is great.
The software overall is a bit lacking, however, there is no feature to monitor drive health and endurance of the drive to check the remaining life. There is also no feature to check for and upgrade the firmware. There is no disk copy or migration software available either. Adding these features would extend the management capability of the SSD.
Performance
Starting in PCMark 10 Full System Drive benchmark, the addlink S95 2TB SSD performed with a score of 3083 and came in with average PCMark performance. This was due to the access time, which was in the average range. In the Quick System Drive Benchmark, the score was very high, as the second fastest SSD, proving the merits of the fast DRAM cache. In PassMark PerformanceTEST the addlink S95 2TB SSD topped the charts with the highest performance due to its write performance.
In throughput performance, the addlink S95 2TB SSD performed very strongly in CrystalDiskMark where it demolished every other SSD in write performance. Whether it was sequential, or random performance, it pulled in the fastest write performance. It was also strong on read performance, reaching past its quoted and rated performance. This SSD delivered.
The addlink S95 2TB SSD also performed extremely well in sub-tests, such as file copy and game loading times. The disk copy file test resulted in the fastest file copy we’ve seen yet, beating every SSD on the graph. In addition, the game load times were also impressive, with above-average results. The addlink S95 2TB SSD was also strong in SPECworkstation 3.1 with above-average workstation application performance.
Final Points
If there is one thing we can wrap up about the addlink S95 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD we have reviewed today, it is to emphasize its write performance. In sequential and random write performance, across the board the S95 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD came in extremely strong, delivering the fastest write speeds we’ve ever encountered yet in our testing. This was really the key point of this SSD, and it was unexpected. This fast write performance leads to fast benchmark results in several tests.
We were also impressed with the file copy performance, game loading times, and workstation or creator-focused performance. The addlink S95 2TB SSD provided the fastest disk file copy performance, above-average game loading time, and above-average workstation application performance. We also experienced great performance in the small workload traces, where the DRAM cache came into play.
The addlink S95 is a well-rounded SSD that offers a huge capacity option with up to 8TB of storage capacity, that’s just huge for this level of performance. The Phison E18 controller paired with 176-Layer Micron 3D TLC NAND Flash is the perfect combo, providing very high-end performance and good endurance. The 2TB model we reviewed impressed us by hitting its rated read performance, and absolutely demolishing the scene in write performance, whether it was sequential or random performance. With a DRAM cache on board, the S95 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD is really geared for any individual, from creator to workstation, and of course gaming.