File Copy and Workstation Performance
DiskBench
With DiskBench we run three different tests. First, we place a 50GB single file onto the test drive. We copy this file from the test drive to a new folder on the test drive, volume to volume. This tests the performance of the drive’s ability to copy a single large file from itself to itself as if you were copying files on the same drive, it replicates this drive being your primary and only drive. Second, we do the same thing but with a 100GB file. Third, we do the same thing but with the SteamLibrary folder. The SteamLibrary folder is a 243GB folder containing 570 smaller files. This replicates a folder with varying different file sizes and copying those files.
Copying a large 50GB file from volume to volume on the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD resulted in a time of 14.879 seconds to copy, resulting in the lowest performance out of the SSDs on this graph. The ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD underperformed the LEGEND 970 by 2%, which wasn’t the fastest drive either on this graph. The ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD underperformed the fastest drive here by 14%.
When copying a very large 100GB file, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD once again trails the pack of SSDs with the slowest performance at 29.963 seconds. It is very close to the LEGEND 970 performance, both seem to be rather slow for this larger file size. Compared to the fastest drive, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD trails it by 17%.
We do finally see a win for the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD when it comes to the STEAM Library Folder, which has multiple file sizes within it. There is an improvement over the previous generation LEGEND 970 SSD by 1%, it isn’t much, but at least is faster this time, instead of slower. In comparison to the other SSDs, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD falls behind quite a bit, and it is 13% slower than the fastest drive here.
SPECworkstation 3.1
We are using SPECworkstation 3.1 and specifically the WPCstorage test. “The storage workload is based on storage transaction traces from a wide variety of professional applications engaged in real work.” It includes media and entertainment, product development, life sciences, energy, and general operations. Each program receives a score, and they are averaged together for an overall score; higher is better.
In SPECworkstation 3.1 WPCstorage testing, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD turns in the slowest performance with an overall score of 7.82, according to this workstation-focused benchmark. Despite the LEGEND 970 PRO having “PRO” in the name, this is not the best option for a workstation-class level of performance, as it even trails the previous generation LEGEND 970 by 5%. The MSI SPATIUM M570 PRO, CORSAIR MP700 PRO, and MSI SPATIUM M580 are better suited for workstation applications.