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 are reviewing the company's entry-level NVMe M.2 solid-state drive called the "SX6000 Pro", which was released in late 2018. Unlike the majority of SSDs on the market which use a controller from Phison or Silicon Motion, ADATA has chosen to go with a controller from Realtek. This move probably helps reduce the cost of the SSD. Another cost optimization is the lack of a dedicated DRAM chip. On SSDs, the DRAM chip stores the mapping tables for the SSD to know where its data is located. Without a DRAM chip, random IO performance will be lower because the SSD has to do this housekeeping purely in its own controller. To mitigate these performance effects, the Realtek controller supports a feature called "Host Memory Buffer", which sets aside a small portion of your computer's memory to be used by the SSD for its mapping tables. On the ADATA SX6000 Pro, the HMB is sized at 64 MB by default.

The ADATA SX6000 Pro is available in capacities of 256 GB ($40), 512 GB ($68), and 1 TB ($110). Endurance for the 1 TB version in this review is rated at 600 TBW; the 512 GB version has 300 TBW, and the 256 GB model has 150 TBW. All models come with a five year warranty.

Packaging and Contents

The Drive

The drive uses the M.2 2280 form factor, which makes it 22 mm wide and 80 mm long. You will find the SSD controller and four flash chips on the PCB. The other side of the board is empty.


Like most M.2 NVMe SSDs, the ADATA SX6000 Pro uses a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface.


Included in the package is a little metal heatsink you can stick on to your SSD.


Do note that the sticky tape doesn't exactly match the layout of the components, but this shouldn't be an issue.


On the PCB, you'll find four flash chips and the controller—a DRAM chip is not installed.


The 4-channel flash controller is made by Realtek and supports operation without an additional DRAM chip. In that mode, it can use a small portion of the system's memory to improve performance—a feature called Host Memory Buffer (HMB). On the SX6000 Pro, this buffer is sized at 64 MB by default.


The four flash chips are Micron 64-layer 3D TLC NAND, of which each has a capacity of 256 GB.

Test Setup