From a hardware perspective, the Addlink A93 is identical to drives like the Lexar NM790, Netac NV7000-T and other similar drives using the MAP1602 controller + YMTC 232-layer TLC flash combo. We have been excellent performance from all these drives—at spectacular pricing. What makes the A93 stand out from these drives is that it comes with a fairly large cooling solution. This ensures compatibility with the Sony PlayStation 5 (which requires a physical heatsink). Just like other MAP1602 drives, the A93 does not include a physical DRAM cache chip, but it has support for the Host-Memory-Buffer, which allocates a small portion of the system's RAM for the mapping tables of the SSD. On the 4 TB variant, 40 MB are used, the 2 TB model uses 32 MB.

Synthetic performance results of the Addlink A93 are uninspiring. While sequential throughput does achieve the promised 5 GB/s, random writes are considerably lower than the competition. With just 24175 IOPS at 4K random write, the A93 runs this test in SATA territory. The reason for these low numbers is the drive's DRAM-less nature. Our synthetic tests are performed with a relatively large 32 GB work area, whereas CrystalDiskMark uses a tiny 1 GB size, to show best-case results. The MAP1602 controller is limited to a maximum of 40 MB HMB, which is relatively small for the 4 TB capacity of the drive, which makes it difficult for the controller to optimize random writes over a larger area. On drives with physical DRAM cache, the DRAM stores the mapping tables of the SSD (to figure out where a given piece of data is located). On DRAM-less drives that's handled by some controller magic, optionally with the help of the Host-Memory-Buffer area. We recently tested the 2 TB Lexar NM790, which uses 32 MB HMB, and it shows much better random reads, but these have very little effect on real-life performance.

Still, despite some weak synthetic results, the real-life performance of the Addlink A93 is outstanding. It is able to beat every single PCIe 4.0 drive out there, with the exception of the Samsung 990 Pro, which it is able to match—very impressive! That's why real-life testing is so important. We test actual applications, not replays of disk traces, and the drive is filled to 80% of its capacity, not an empty drive like most reviewers do. This approach puts additional strain on the various algorithms and the SLC cache, just like in real-life. We've seen this in several recent reviews: times have changed and you can no longer dismiss all DRAM-less drives—the controller and how well it handles this configuration matters, too.

Thanks to its pseudo-SLC cache, the A93 can easily absorb large incoming write bursts. A SLC capacity of 240 GB is "good," maybe a bit small in absolute terms when considering that this is a 4 TB drive. Providing 240 GB in SLC mode, which uses three times the capacity, means that up to 720 GB, or 20% of 4 TB gets occupied by the SLC cache. Filling the whole drive completed at an average speed of 1.3 GB/s, which is good, but weaker than what the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs offer.

Our new power consumption tests are a great match for the Addlink A93. It is the most energy-efficient drive in the whole test group—more than twice (!) as efficient as your typical Phison E18+Micron 176-layer drive, a bit less in writes, but still topping our charts. This high energy-efficiency, plus the big heatsink, makes it easy for the A93 to stay cool. In our thermal stress test we still saw a little bit of thermal throttling, after over 500 GB written without pause. The thermals are clearly better than the NM790, which throttled a bit more, because it only has a heat spreader foil, and not a full metal heatsink.

The Addlink A93 is widely available in all important capacities, including 4 TB. Some other drives are hard to find in larger capacities, not a problem with the A93. With a price of $205 for the tested 4 TB version, the A93 is priced competitively. There is strong competition from other MAP1602 drives using the same hardware. For example, the Lexar NM790 4 TB is $190, but it lacks a dedicated heatsink. While there's some 4 TB QLC drives available for $160-$180, these offer terrible write performance once the pseudo-SLC cache is full—not worth the trouble to save 20%. A strong alternative is the Silicon Power XS70 ($205, Phison E18 + Micron 176-layer + heatsink). Many popular SSDs like the WD SN770, Solidigm P44 Pro and Atom 50 don't exist as a 4 TB version. The Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB for $280 is pretty expensive and doesn't even have a heatsink at that price. The WD Black SN850X 4 TB costs $315 right now, way too expensive, just like the Kingston KC3000 for $330 and the PCIe Gen 5 Crucial T700 for $480.