ADATA Explains Changes with XPG SX8200 Pro SSD

[AleksandarK]

ADATA has recently been in a spot of controversy when it comes to their XPG SX8200 Pro solid-state drive (SSD). The company has reportedly shipped many different configurations of the SSD with different drive controller clock speeds and different NAND flash. According to the original report, ADATA has first shipped the SX8200 Pro SSD with Silicon Motion SM2262ENG SSD controller, running at 650 MHz with IMFT 64-layer TLC NAND Flash. However, it was later reported that the SSD was updated to use the Silicon Motion SM2262G SSD controller, clocked at 575 MHz. With this report, many users have gotten concerned and started to question the company's practices. However, ADATA later ensured everyone that performance is within the specifications and there is no need to worry.

Today, we have another report about the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro SSD. According to a Redditor, ADATA has once again updated its SSD with a different kind of NAND Flash, however, this time the report indicated that performance was impacted. Tom's Hardware has made a table of changes showing as many as five revisions of the SSD, all with different configurations of SSD controllers and NAND Flash memory. We have contacted ADATA to clarify the issues that have emerged, and this is the official response that the company gave us.




For starters, you can take a look at the table made by Tom's Hardware, highlighting all the different revisions starting from V1 to V5.


SSD table of changes by Tom's Hardware

We have received detailed feedback from ADATA, and can now publish more information about the changes. First, the label of changes, from V1 to V5, is not chronological. The appearance of these versions has remained a bit weird. ADATA shipped V4 and V5, then followed by V2 and V3 during 2020. ADATA no longer shipped V4 and V5 after they have shipped V2 and V3, which makes sense. Since December 2020, the company has shipped V1 of SX8200 PRO 1 TB and 2 TB to the US market. As you can tell, there is data missing from the Tom's Hardware table. The information on V4 and V5 is too old. Additionally, sourcing 64-layer 3D TLC NAND chips is hard for any brand.

In our own review of the XPG SX8200 Pro SSD, we have tested the V1 version of the SSD. The V1 version that is shipping in 2020/2021 is still using the same controller, like our sample, which points towards a controller consistency here for at least the 1 TB+ models.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheLostSwede]

@AleksandarK you sure you didn't mix up V1 and V5? The text reads like it anyhow.

 

[AleksandarK]

@AleksandarK you sure you didn't mix up V1 and V5? The text reads like it anyhow.

No, I didn't. Just the order is a bit weird by how the company shipped these revisions and how Tom's article named it. Checked it multiple times and this is the actual response.

 

[redzo]

There is a change that other manufacturers do the same with their products.
I recently purchased a kingston A2000 which is also reviewed here, but some components can't be identified properly as this will probably void your warranty if you take off some sticker covering them.

 

[maxfly]

What kind of weak explanation is that?
Im glad to hear my recent 1tb purchases are solid but it doesnt change my decision to avoid adata drives from here on out. 5 revisions and you wait until your caught doing it to make a sorry excuse as to why?
I like to know that im getting exactly what im paying for. Not i maybe, depending on nand or controller availability. I gave adata a chance and they blew it. Ill be sticking with samsung and crucial once again for storage.

 

[Makaveli]

Still not buying Adata thanks for coming out.

 

[bug]

We have received feedback from the company regarding the changes and we can now publish some information about it. Firstly, the changes from V1 to V5 are not chronological.

Ok, so where the rest of the feedback?

Also, the customers don't care about explanations, they now know one company will launch one thing and then move on to sell another. It's done.

 

[TheLostSwede]

No, I didn't. Just the order is a bit weird by how the company shipped these revisions and how Tom's article named it. Checked it multiple times and this is the actual response.

But you said 64 layer NAND is hard to get, which is V1, whereas V5 is 96 layer NAND...

 

[silentbogo]

this will probably void your warranty if you take off some sticker covering them.

...only to find out that Kingston laser-etched all chips to be unidentifiable, in good spirits of shady Aliexpress counterfeit chip sellers ))))

Tom's Hardware has made a table of changes showing as many as five revisions of the SSD, all with different configurations of SSD controllers and NAND Flash memory. However, we have contacted ADATA to clarify the issues that have emerged, and we are here with the official response the company gave us.

There are two important quotes from Toms that are missing, which would make things clearer for people who weren't following the issue:
1) Adata has reached to clarify that the Redditor measured performance with the new SSD configuration connected to the PCH and compared performance to the originally-shipping SSD connected to the CPU.
2) Adata has clarified that the endurance rating remains the same.

Pretty sure that with either variant or configuration the actual performance will be within the margin of error(~10% sequential). I did own both SX8200 and I do own an SX8200Pro, and as far as I know, the only noticeable difference is random R/W, and only in benchmarks. Not something you'll even notice in daily use.

I like to know that im getting exactly what im paying for.

You are paying for a product that fits the spec, not for tiny letters on tiny chips.
AFAIK, either an official spec on their website or product datasheet even mentions which 2262 gen it has and who's NAND do they slap on it.
Not every company has means of manufacturing their own NAND and controllers.

 

[gamefoo21]

V1 and V2 are the drives you want in that order.

V3 Samsung flash drives are hot trash.

I also recently ordered two Grammix S11 Pro drives, one was Samsung(China V3) and one was Micron(Taiwan V2)

 

[dj-electric]

5 whole iterations so far?

...wow

 

[maxfly]

...only to find out that Kingston laser-etched all chips to be unidentifiable, in good spirits of shady Aliexpress counterfeit chip sellers ))))


There are two important quotes from Toms that are missing, which would make things clearer for people who weren't following the issue:
1) Adata has reached to clarify that the Redditor measured performance with the new SSD configuration connected to the PCH and compared performance to the originally-shipping SSD connected to the CPU.
2) Adata has clarified that the endurance rating remains the same.

Pretty sure that with either variant or configuration the actual performance will be within the margin of error(~10% sequential). I did own both SX8200 and I do own an SX8200Pro, and as far as I know, the only noticeable difference is random R/W, and only in benchmarks. Not something you'll even notice in daily use.


You are paying for a product that fits the spec, not for tiny letters on tiny chips.
AFAIK, either an official spec on their website or product datasheet even mentions which 2262 gen it has and who's NAND do they slap on it.
Not every company has means of manufacturing their own NAND and controllers.

I know exactly what i paid for and why. I dont need your half assed attempt at trying to educate me as to what the specs or components are on drives ive thoroughly researched long ago. If i sounded like i needed assistance you were gravely mistaken.
I could care less if adata is having manufacturing issues or cant source components, whatever, thats not my concern.
The fact that ive built and sold several rigs with their potentially sub par drives in them is and thats unacceptable. Unlike adata i stand behind my builds. When i say a drive will hit its stated r/w speeds it had better do exactly that.

 

[jcwbnimble]

Bought two of these 8200pro 2tb drives based on every review I read, plus the price was nicer than my usual brand, Samsung. Unfortunately it bit me in the arse, as both drives did not perform as expected AND one has now started to be buggy. Unfortunately I am passed returning them and will now have to deal with Adata for replacement. In the meantime I purchased a 970 Evo plus drive and am much happier with the performance. Like everything else in life, I got what I paid for. I Paid less for the XPG drive, and I got crappier drives.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Here, we'll sell you this drive, but wait, we're really gonna ship you this drive, but dont worry its still within specs...

 

[BSim500]

I avoid any SSD manufacturer whose request RMA service link on their own warranty page is dead...

 

[TheLostSwede]

I avoid any SSD manufacturer whose request RMA service link on their own warranty page is dead...

It works from the drop down menu at the top of the page though...

 

[evernessince]

Bought two of these 8200pro 2tb drives based on every review I read, plus the price was nicer than my usual brand, Samsung. Unfortunately it bit me in the arse, as both drives did not perform as expected AND one has now started to be buggy. Unfortunately I am passed returning them and will now have to deal with Adata for replacement. In the meantime I purchased a 970 Evo plus drive and am much happier with the performance. Like everything else in life, I got what I paid for. I Paid less for the XPG drive, and I got crappier drives.

How much you pay doesn't equal how much you get.

The HP EX950 is still much cheaper than samsung options and is a bit better than the SX8200 Pro.

 

[mx62]

how to know internal specs of my 8200pro?
type of nand etc...?
ty

 

[ShurikN]

'ADATA explains changes' by not explaining anything.

 

[maxfly]

how to know internal specs of my 8200pro?
type of nand etc...?
ty

View attachment 190528

Silicon motion sm2262en controller.
Micron 64L 3d tlc nand
The same components as the hp950. Anandtech did a review of the two when they were released.
The toms article has all the specs and data in it.

Adata XPG SX8200 Pro Review: Go Pro on a Budget

Today we tear into the XPG SX8200 Pro, Adata’s highest-performing NVMe M.2 SSD yet.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Kaczorowaty]

I think there is another version, similar to v5, but uses Micron 96L TLC. I call it v1.5. But we can call it v6. I have two reports of it.

ADATA SX8200 Pro v6 [ SM2262ENG + Micron 96L TLC ]

 

[timta2]

I was going to buy one of these until I heard about the games that ADATA was playing with them and how performance was suffering.

 

[watzupken]

I think people who are savvy should understand that 3rd parties like Adata have no control over the parts they use in their products since they produced none of it. They usually just buy off the shelf products. But for Adata to quietly make those changes and with obvious degrade to performance, I feel they could have handled the situation a lot better. In my opinion, they can't get away with this bad business decision. They've lost the credibility that they have built up over the last few years, and unlikely to get it back any time soon.

 

[Athlonite]

Thankfully when I bought mine I managed to get the V.1.0 SX8200Pro but bang goes getting another as I can't trust I'll get the same version drive

As for why Adata did what they did well it has to be cost doesn't it I bet the other versions use a cheaper controller which is not only slower in speed but has less channels and cheaper nand going from 64 layer to 96 layer must be saving them quite a bit of money as 96 layer nand is cheaper per Gigabit than 64 layer

 

[1d10t]

There is a change that other manufacturers do the same with their products.
I recently purchased a kingston A2000 which is also reviewed here, but some components can't be identified properly as this will probably void your warranty if you take off some sticker covering them.

I bought A2000 too after reviewed here, but not until I read about Kingston shady businesses. I guess I'm lucky enough to get early batch or whatever.