The ADATA GAMMIX S50 Lite 2TB SSD Review: Mainstream PCIe Gen4
by Billy Tallis on April 30, 2021 8:00 AM ESTBurst IO Performance
Our burst IO tests operate at queue depth 1 and perform several short data transfers interspersed with idle time. The random read and write tests consist of 32 bursts of up to 64MB each. The sequential read and write tests use eight bursts of up to 128MB each. For more details, please see the overview of our 2021 Consumer SSD Benchmark Suite.
 |
|||||||||
| Random Read | Random Write | ||||||||
| Sequential Read | Sequential Write | ||||||||
The ADATA XPG Gammix S50 Lite performs well on most of the burst IO tests, especially when the test is confined to a narrow range of the drive so that it won't overflow the SLC and DRAM caches. When the test ranges over 80% of the drive, the S50 Lite's write speeds are much lower (due to less available SLC cache) and the random read performance is also a bit lower (due to insufficient DRAM).
Sustained IO Performance
Our sustained IO tests exercise a range of queue depths and transfer more data than the burst IO tests, but still have limits to keep the duration somewhat realistic. The primary scores we report are focused on the low queue depths that make up the bulk of consumer storage workloads. For more details, please see the overview of our 2021 Consumer SSD Benchmark Suite.
 |
|||||||||
| Random Read | Throughput | Power | Efficiency | ||||||
| Random Write | Throughput | Power | Efficiency | ||||||
| Sequential Read | Throughput | Power | Efficiency | ||||||
| Sequential Write | Throughput | Power | Efficiency | ||||||
Adding in some slightly higher queue depths and longer test durations doesn't substantially change how the S50 Lite ranks. Its peak performance is still competitive with the best PCIe Gen3 drives, but as the drive fills up and the locality of the workload drops, it loses more performance than those 8-channel Gen3 drives with the full amount of DRAM.
The power efficiency score on these tests generally look better for the S50 Lite than the energy usage scores from the ATSB tests. Its efficiency is generally at least middle-of-the-road except in the situations where performance starts seriously dropping.
 |
|||||||||
| Random Read | |||||||||
| Random Write | |||||||||
| Sequential Read | |||||||||
| Sequential Write | |||||||||
Looking across the full range of queue depths shows the same performance patterns for the S50 Lite continuing and amplifying. Except on the sequential read test, the S50 Lite shows huge performance disparities between the narrow 32GB range test runs and those that cover 80% of the drive. The lower DRAM ratio is a handicap on the random read test, and the SLC cache often overflows when testing writes against an 80% full drive. But when the tests are only covering a small slice of the drive, the S50 Lite shows good performance scaling that is comparable to the best gen3 drives.
Random Read Latency
This test illustrates how drives with higher throughput don't always offer better IO latency and Quality of Service (QoS), and that latency often gets much worse when a drive is pushed to its limits. This test is more intense than real-world consumer workloads and the results can be a bit noisy, but large differences that show up clearly on a log scale plot are meaningful. For more details, please see the overview of our 2021 Consumer SSD Benchmark Suite.
 |
|||||||||
The ADATA S50 Lite starts out with decent random read latency at low loads, but the 99th percentile latencies climb quite a bit during the early part of the test. The S50 Lite ultimately fails to make it to the high IOPS range we expect from such a drive, and instead loses control of its latency around 150k IOPS—behavior that's more fitting of a QLC drive.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
93 Comments
View All Comments
Qasar - Monday, May 3, 2021 - link
" Not a fan of freedom of speech/expression/press? " that what it is, its just his bias opinion, for some reason, he hates QLC, and seems to go to great lengths to say how bad it is.Linustechtips12#6900xt - Monday, May 3, 2021 - link
I love seeing the fights in the comment sections, honestly makes my day lolFunBunny2 - Monday, May 3, 2021 - link
" " Not a fan of freedom of speech/expression/press? " "a frequent complaint, esp. the Lunatic Right. the text of the US Constitution *only* promises that the Damn Gummint cannot, arbitrarily, shut you up. they can if your calling for insurrection, for instance. and it says nothing about what a private entity can do. you remember seeing signs on retail doorways - 'no solicitation allowed'? that means union organizers can't say what they want on or near the premises. it also means that Big Bad Tech can monitor and quash speech/text they find objectionable; no reason need be given. the list goes on forever.
GeoffreyA - Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - link
Qasar, I think he's making a valid complaint, and fears, like many of us do, that Q will become the standard soon and T the costlier "pro" variant. QLC began with a dubious reputation and so we're resistant to its replacing something we trust. For one thing to replace something else, it must be better, not equal or weaker. Q's argument is better size and price; but, as it stands, doesn't seem to be delivering much in those areas, yet wants to usurp the throne from TLC.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - link
'Qasar, I think he's making a valid complaint, and fears, like many of us do, that Q will become the standard soon'Just wait for PLC. It's coming, apparently.
romrunning - Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - link
I'm inclined to agree also. I've seen the transition from SLC to MLC to TLC, and I have no doubt that soon QLC will replace even TLC (at least for consumers). TLC wasn't too far a drop-off performance-wise from MLC, but QLC is quite a bit less.I don't doubt that most consumers won't be able to see the difference, but I'm disappointed that we're going down the spec-tree instead of up (a lower baseline now), primarily because the mfgs want to save money.
Oxford Guy - Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - link
It's amusing to see how, despite the many comments condemning QLC from other posters on this site in very recent articles, I am suddenly being singled out.Ad hominem won't change the facts:
Every dollar spent on QLC is a dollar that reduces TLC production, raising TLC prices by increasing TLC scarcity. The same thing happened with MLC.
QLC has double the voltage states for only 30% more density. That's diminished returns.
TLC was made much more viable via the change from planar to 3D production. Remember how the Samsung 840 (planar TLC) was so unstable from voltage drift that the only solution was a kludge: re-writing the data again and again? That very serious symptom of a very troubling problem (due to the increase in voltage states in going from MLC to TLC) was solved via the introduction of 3D lithography. Where is the silver bullet for QLC? It has been produced in 3D from the beginning and yet its flaws are still quite evident.
Samus - Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - link
I'm kinda with Banshee here, spreading nonsense like this is not just ignorant and counterintuitive, but dangerous. People stupid opinions can be protected by free speech but outright lies shouldn't be.GeoffreyA - Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - link
"protected by free speech but outright lies shouldn't"Like any principle taken too far, free speech can certainly be abused, and sow lies, discord, or hatred. That's why it's got to be bound by other rules.
Oxford Guy - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
Free speech is a myth. All speech is subjected to censorship, including by the mind of the person producing it. The key here is that echo chambers (which aren't difficult to find on tech websites like Ars and Slashdot) are not the only solution to having community feedback.