ADATA Legend 970 PCIe Gen5 x4 M.2 SSD Review

It’s September of 2023, and we finally have our next PCIe 5.0-based M.2 storage module for review. ADATA was kind enough to send the Legend 970 in 1TB flavor. The new drive utilizes a Phison E26 controller with speeds listed up to a blistering fast 10,000 MB/s on reads and writes (2 TB version) and comes with its own heatsink and active cooling to help prevent throttling. Read on to see the specifications and see how the 1 TB performed in our test suite.

Specifications and Features

The ADATA Legend 970 boasts two sizes, 1 TB and 2 TB, driven by Phison’s PS5026-E26 controller. The 8-channel controller boasts sequential read and write speeds up to  10,000 MB/s for reads and writes, respectively. The version on the test bench runs up to 9,500 MB/s and 8,500 MB/s on writes. The 232-layer Micron TLC flash is supported by 2 GB of Hynix DDR4 DRAM running at DDR4-2666 and 4GB on the 2 TB. MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) is listed at 1.6 million hours, while the TBW (Terabytes Written) value is 1,400. The latter isn’t as much as some (the MSI we just reviewed was 3,000 TBW). However, I wouldn’t worry about surpassing that value through its usable life. It also includes TRIM functionality, SMART, AES-256 encryption, and more.

Packaging

The retail packaging on our Legend 970 is a simple box with plastic inside to hold the drive in place. The front shows a picture of the drive along with some high-level information, including the model and capacity. The back of the box lists several certifications along with serial numbers and a QR code to easily access the drive details.

The ADATA Legend 970 M.2 SSD

The Legend 970 is a dual-sided drive, as are many others these days. Our sample came with its heatsink on top and, when removed, fully exposes the controller and ICs below (no sticker removal). Flipping the drive over exposed more of the NAND and has QR codes for additional information.

A Closer Look

Zooming in on the drive, we get a better look at the Phison PS5026-E26 controller in silver towards the business end of the drive. The 2 GB SKHynix DDR4 DRAM IC is next to that. ADATA uses four Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND chips that run at 2,400 MT/s to make the 1 TB capacity. Since all the spaces are taken up on the PCB already, the 2 TB model uses higher-density NAND.

Legend 970 – Top

Legend 970 – Bottom

Phison E26 Controller

Micron 3D TLC NAND

SKHynix DRAM IC

Software

ADATA’s SSD Toolbox is a comprehensive application to monitor and control your ADATA (and other brand) SSDs. The colorful software displays drive information, diagnostic scans, system information and optimization, benchmarks, and even has some cloning capability. Overall, it works on our ADATA drives without issue and presents users with plenty of information and options on configuration.

Testing Method and Test System

Below are the tests we run with a brief description.

• Crystal Disk Mark v8.0.4 x64 – Set to NVMe Settings (5 Passes)
• AS SSD v 2.0.7316 – Run at Default Settings
• ATTO v4.01 0f1 – Run at Default Settings except for the QD Set to 10
• Thermal Testing  (HWinfo64 v7.46-5110)– Monitored throughout testing
• DiskBench v2.8.1.0 – Use predefined 120 GB transfer file
• Anvil Storage Utility Benchmark v 1.1.0 – Default Settings

All tests will be performed with the drives installed in the CPU-connected PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 socket to utilize the direct CPU interface.

Benchmark Results

CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark is the premier benchmark for verifying an SSD’s advertised speed. Depending on the test, our Legend 970 did well overall, matching or beating the Corsair Gen 5 drive and easily beating out the PCIe 4.0-based Legend 960 1TB in most tests. Remember, we’re using the 1TB drive which has slightly slower specs than the 2TB Corasair. Overall, this benchmark shows a performant drive, though the random 4K 1T tests were a lot lower in this test system.

AS SSD

Similar to CrystalDiskMark, AS SSD tests the drive’s abilities in sequential and 4K read and write tests. Here, our Legend 970 did well in 4K results, beating out the other Gen 5 drive along with most others. The sequential reads and writes were slower than the Corsair MP700 (Gen 5) in this test as expected with the 1 TB option. Nothing to worry about here.

ATTO

The ATTO benchmark utilizes a file size spectrum to gauge speeds based on the file’s relative size. Here, our drive again beat out the Gen 4 devices as expected and slower than the 2 TB Corsair.

Anvil Storage Utility

Anvil’s Storage Utility is another benchmark that measures read and write speeds, similar to CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD. The main difference with ASU is that it produces a performance score for comparison rather than an actual speed. This performance score is more of an all-encompassing overview of the drive’s capabilities. We don’t see anything unusual from ASU either.

Thermal Testing

Thermal testing on our Legend 970 was sourced from the ADATA software, as HWinfo did not read the temperatures on the drive. As you can see, the actively cooled Gen 5 drive ran a lot cooler than the previous Gen and the other hot-running Gen 5 drive in the test group. Worth noting the tiny fan on this heatsink is loud. You will hear it over your chassis cooling. As of now, there doesn’t appear to be any way to adjust the speed to lower the noise.

DiskBench

Moving on to DiskBench provides us with a great, real-world test. It was designed to determine actual file transfer time. Using a 120 GB file composed of random data, we transfer the file from the primary (OS) drive to the test drive, recording the actual transfer time. If you do a lot of large file transfers, this is the test to pay attention to.

Diskbench results have our drive in third place behind a Gen 5 and, surprisingly, a Gen 4 drive as well.

Conclusion

The ADATA Legend 970 1 TB proved to be one of the fastest M.2 drives we’ve tested so far and competes well with our other PCIe 5.0-based M.2 module in the Corsair MP700, even though it’s the 1 TB version and a bit slower. The 2 TB version is the direct competition. Still, we saw some solid results throughout our testing, showing it’s typically more performant than any Gen 4 drives we’ve tested as expected. We’ll gather more data as the drives become available for testing.

The Legend 970 comes with its own heatsink that works well and keeps the drive running cool enough that it didn’t throttle in our longer-running tests and transfers. In other words, it functions great. That said, the fan is fairly loud and sings with a high pitch, so it was quite audible over the chassis fans and AIO used in our test system. I’d like to see the curve changed a bit so that it stays quiet, at least on idle, or maybe offering some control, even if it’s pre-defined modes, through software.

Priced (MSRP) at $190 for the 1 TB version we’ve reviewed and $330 for the 2 TB version, it’s expensive compared to last-gen drives, but that’s to be expected. Compared to other 1 TB drives, it is competitive with prices ranging from around $180 up to $220. 2 TB PCIe 5.0-based M.2 modules range from around $300 to $400 dollars. In short, the Legend 970 at both 1 TB and 2 TB capacities is reasonably priced in the market as well. Overall, we like what the ADATA Legend 970 has to offer. Just make sure you don’t need silence in your build if you don’t plan on changing the heatsink.

Joe Shields (Earthdog)

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