AData XPG S70 slow write speeds

TT158 · 5 Jan 2022 at 18:11

Hi All,

I bought a 2TB AData XPG S70 Blade gen 4 nvme drive on Black Friday, and just installed it yesterday, but I'm getting Crystal Disk Mark speeds below other for read (6,500 vs 7,500) and well below benches for write (3,300 vs 6,500).

It's in an MSI X570 Unify with a 5800X. I'm not using it as my OS drive.

After searching the Internet, I've tried the following:

Removed and reinstalled in a different slot (moved from M2_2 to M2_3)
Tried reformatting
Tried the secure erase feature in the bios and then created the volume again.
Tried to update firmware (it is the latest, 3.2.F.2A, according to the AData update tool)
Checked that write caching is enabled (also tried turning it off and on)
Checked the bios for any settings that might be related to it but can't find anything.
Defragmented
Used the TRIM tools in Windows and the AData control panel.

It just seems to be locked at 3,300 write speed, with very little variation. Task Manager shows it at 100% utilisation during both read and write tests.

I'm a bit lost. Any ideas appreciated!

TT158 · 5 Jan 2022 at 21:52

Syore said:
It could be throttling. What are the temps on the nvme?

Sorry, I should have mentioned the temp. Max temp according to HWINFO is 50 degrees

TT158 · 5 Jan 2022 at 21:57

And to make it more strange, it seems to score higher in the 'Mix' test than in the read or write...

Benchmarks I've seen have the mix test lower than either read or write, like this one: https://www.legitreviews.com/adata-xpg-gammix-s70-2tb-ssd-review_226104/4

TT158 · 6 Jan 2022 at 08:31

Syore said:
It looks like you got a bad one, time to rma it.

I'm not absolutely ruling out a bad drive, but does it really make sense that it will read and write faster than it will write though? That's usually a slower operation from what I've seen. It feels more like a Windows issue.

TT158 · 6 Jan 2022 at 13:42

Syore said:
Oh forgot to ask, have tried using the M2_1 slot(am guessing this is your OS) and re-test it? Am trying to rule out if the x570 chipset on the motherboard which is connected to the M2_2 & M2_3 is probably making write speeds slow due to the number of things connecting to it which it states on the motherboard specs.

I'm actually going to try that next

I read up on whether or not bandwidth is shared across devices at all when populating all m.2 slots on this motherboard, but couldn't find anything affirming that. Still, I'm out of ideas so changing it up can't hurt!

I'm wondering if I can use my same Windows key for a fresh install on the new drive, without deregistering / deleting the install on the original drive that is in M2_1?

TT158 · 7 Jan 2022 at 17:03

So after delaying the switch of ssd slots, more reading and messing around, and eventually doing a clean install of Windows 10, to no effect, because someone said that worked for them, I switched the slots and found that:

I've kinda come to the conclusion that Crsytal Disk Mark 8.0.4 just doesn't work well with my system, for some reason, and also that there may be some performance degradation going from M2_1 to the other M2 slots. The WD SN850 drive shows much less degradation in CDM benchmarks than the Adata XPG S70 though.

I still don't really get results consistent with reviews from CDM, but AS-SSD bench, the drives seem to perform better than I've seen in reviews, and much closer to each other, which makes sense.

The AData XPG S70 performed more like what it should in M2_1:

The iops seem to be way off, but the sequential is fine.

The WD SN850 showed worse results in M2_2, again with really low iops readout, but not that bad:

The "real world" tests in CDM seem more in line with reviews:

AS SSD benchmark on the SN850 seems in line with a review I saw, with the Adata S70 comparable generally@

Comparable review: https://www.servethehome.com/wd-black-sn850-1tb-nvme-ssd-review-testing-on-amd-and-intel-cpus/2/

Anyway, I've left all of this here in case it helps someone in future. Lesson learnt is that benchmarks can be a bit odd. There likely is still something not perfect in the system, but it seems to operate fine, so I'll roll with it for now.

Thanks for your input @Syore!

By the way, I couldn't see where maximum payload size is in HWINFO. Can you direct me to it, please?