Introduction

ADATA is Taiwan's largest manufacturer of flash storage and DRAM memory for computers. They have been at the forefront of SSD development for many years, bringing us famous SSDs like the SX8200, SX900, and S510.



Today, we have for review the ADATA Swordfish SSD in the 1 TB variant. It comes in the M.2 form factor, using a fast PCI-Express x4 3.0 NVMe connection to interface with the rest of the system. Under the hood, ADATA is using a Realtek RTS5763DL controller, which is Realtek's entry-level budget SSD controller with four channels, but the full PCIe x4 interface bandwidth and support for AES encryption. The flash chips are 96-layer 3D TLC flash made by Toshiba/Sandisk. ADATA has rebranded the NAND chips and merely states these to be "3D NAND flash". For cost reasons, a DRAM cache module is not installed. We reviewed the ADATA Falcon last week, which is slightly higher-end: $10 more expensive and with higher performance because it's based on the RTS5763DL, it also has more capacity because it lacks additional overprovisioning.

The ADATA Swordfish is available in capacities of 250 GB ($40), 500 GB ($65), 1 TB ($115), and 2 TB ($230). Endurance for these models is set at 120 TBW, 240 TBW, 480 TBW, and 960 TBW respectively. ADATA includes a five-year warranty.

Packaging

The Drive

The drive uses the M.2 2280 form factor, which makes it 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.


Like most M.2 NVMe SSDs, the ADATA Swordfish connects to the host system over a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface.


On the PCB, you'll find the controller and four flash chips; DRAM cache is not available.

Chip Component Analysis

The four-channel flash controller is made by Realtek. RTS5763DL is one of their most affordable models.


The four flash chips each have a capacity of 256 GB. They are 96-layer 3D TLC made by Sandisk and rebranded by ADATA.