Table of Contents
ADATA is one of the first manufacturers to present the fastest PCIe 5.0 SSD option based on an Innogrit IG5666 controller. Most of the competition sticks with the Phison E26. At the same time, the Legend 970 PRO is the fastest option on the market with the new controller, making it even more interesting to see it in action.
The Legend 970 PRO SSD has multiple unique features, which we will describe before moving to performance tests. Let’s start with the specifications and features.
Specifications and Features
Key Features
- PCIe Gen5 x4 transmission interface
- Up to 14,000/11,000MB/s sequential read/write speed
- Dual-layer aluminum alloy and fan form an active air cooling system
- Compared with a fanless heat sink, temperatures significantly reduced by 20%
- 4TB capacity
- Active cooling is powered directly from the M.2 slot; no additional charging cable is needed
- Operates long-term without slowing down or crashing
- Supports the latest Intel and AMD platforms
- 5-year warranty
Active cooling evolved
The LEGEND 970 PRO utilizes a double-layered aluminum heatsink designed with integral air ducts to divert hot and cold air while the built-in micro-fan accelerates heat discharge. This revolutionary active cooling architecture precipitates a compact form factor that supports installation in tight spaces and allows the LEGEND 970 PRO to be used in systems where oversized bulky heatsinks cannot. In addition, the LEGEND 970 PRO is the only actively cooled SSD on the market that draws fan power from the M.2 slot, eliminating the clutter and hassle of an additional power cable.
Unrivaled performance
The LEGEND 970 PRO is equipped with the latest generation PCIe Gen5 x4 transmission interface which meets the NVMe 2.0 standard and delivers a sequential read/write speed of 14,000/11,000MB/s. It is fully backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 platforms. The LEGEND 970 PRO is also built with an SLC cache and DRAM Cache Buffer, offering unique advantages in system loading and data caching and supplies excellent 1,800K/1,300K IOPS random read/write to improve multi-tasking efficiency. Furthermore, it supports the latest Intel and AMD platforms, allowing users to produce 3D animation, AI renders, or graphic creations with unprecedented ease.
Unmatched durability and quality
The LEGEND 970 PRO is manufactured with rigorously selected 232-layer 3D NAND flash memory and is available in generous capacities of up to 4TB. The drive utilizes a variety of data protection and correction technologies to significantly increase its TBW (Total Bytes Written) and durability. Various mechanisms such as LDPC (Low Density Parity Check Code) error correction, TCG OPAL, and other high-level encryption technologies are used to ensure data transmission accuracy and file security. SSD Toolbox is free to download and allows users to instantly grasp hard drive status and the LEGEND 970 PRO comes with a limited 5-year warranty. For more detailed product information, please visit the official ADATA Technology website at www.adata.com.
ADATA Legend 970 PRO features; Source: ADATA
Specifications
| ADATA Legend 970 PRO Specifications | |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 |
| Heatsink | Aluminum with fan |
| Interface | PCIe Gen 5.0 x4 |
| Max Sequential Read | Up to 14000MB/s |
| Max Sequential Write | Up to 11000MB/s |
| Storage Temperature | -40°C to + 85°C |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C to +70°C |
| Endurance | 2960 TBW (2/4TB) |
| MTBF Hours | 1,600,000 Hours |
| NAND Technology | 3D TLC – Micron 232-layer NAND |
| Controller | Innogrit IG5666FAA |
| DRAM Cache Size | 2GB Samsung DDR4-2666 |
| Encryption | AES 256-bit |
The 970 PRO uses Micron 3D TLC NAND, the most popular high-end SSD series. Interestingly, ADATA declares the same endurance for the 2TB and 4TB versions—at least 2960TBW- more than in competitive series. I wonder if it’s a mistake, as the 2TB version is supposed to have about half of this value, but the official specs are for both models.
The PCB also contains 2GB of fast Samsung cache. It’s not the largest cache we have seen, but it should be enough for more demanding work.
The most interesting thing is probably the controller used, as only a few SSDs use the Innogrit IG5666. At the beginning of the year, we could see promises that it would be better than Phison E26, and as you may see in our tests, it’s better in some scenarios, while in others, it’s worse.
The Legend 970 PRO SSD arrived in perfect condition and in a retail package—precisely the same as those you may find in stores.
ADATA offers software that can be downloaded from its website. It shows S.M.A.R.T. status, system info, and a basic performance test.
We can also perform some additional tasks like updating the firmware. However, the software couldn’t find any new firmware, even though we received it from our ADATA contact. The initial firmware was causing performance issues in some tests, so providing it to end-users is crucial.
Packaging and Product Photos
The Legend 970 PRO 2TB SSD arrived in a small retail package that is enough to protect the package’s contents. The package’s exterior tells us everything we may need about the SSD, and we can find more details on ADATA’s website. Inside the box, we will see only a well-protected SSD. The installation is straightforward and is described in every motherboard manual.
The SSD is equipped with a large heatsink and a small fan. The fan is connected directly to the PCB with a tiny plug, an improvement over the Legend 970, which uses external power delivery for the fan. Even though there is no speed management, the fan had audible speed differences (it was less noisy) when the SSD was under high load. This happened only in some tests, which may suggest that the shared power slows down the fan.
The fan itself is very loud and barely meets safe environment limits. The maximum acceptable noise for the office environment is 65 dB. The fan was below that but passed 60 dB. At the same time, 55 dB is accepted as a limit for extended noise during work with a PC. In short, I had difficulty sitting next to it during extended tests like AIDA64. This is not acceptable in a product designed for content creators and gamers.
Moreover, during extended tests, the cooler had problems keeping the SSD below the throttling point (around 75°C). ADATA could follow some other brands and release this SSD without any cooler but with the description that it requires a large motherboard heatsink or a third-party M.2 cooler. The Legend 970 PRO tested with a passive but large ASRock or Gigabyte motherboard heatsinks had lower temperatures and no problems with performance.
The Legend 970 PRO is in the most popular M.2 2280 standard and should fit every gaming PC. However, the cooling requirements make it impossible to use in SFF PCs with limited airflow. The Innogrit IG5666 SSDs use 2-3W more than the Phison E26 SSDs, making them even more challenging to tame.
Below are close-ups of the mentioned components: Innogrit controller, Micron NAND, and Samsung cache.
Comparison Tests
| Test Setup | |
| Processor | Ryzen 7 7950X |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte X870E Pro ICE |
| Graphics Card | Colorful RTX4080 Advanced OC 16GB |
| Memory Kit | Corsair Dominator Titanium 48GB DDR5-7200 CL36-46-46 1.40V |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX1200, 1200W 80+ Platinum |
| OS Storage | Kingston Fury Renegade 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD |
| Test Storage | Acer Predator GM7000 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD ADATA Legend 970 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD ADATA Legend 970 Pro 2TB PCIE 5.0 SSD ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD Corsair MP700 Pro 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD Corsair MP700 Pro SE 4TB PCIe 5.0 SSD Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD Crucial T500 Pro 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD Crucial T700 Pro 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD KLEVV CRAS 930 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD Patriot VP4300 Lite 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD TEAMGROUP CARDEA A440 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD TEAMGROUP MP44 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD TEAMGROUP Z540 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD TEAMGROUP GC PRO 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD |
| Operating System | Windows 11 Pro x64 with the latest updates |
Tests were performed on popular synthetic benchmarks and benchmarks that simulate daily workloads. Most tests are free, so you can compare some results at home without spending money.
Results were made on the AMD Ryzen platform, so some of the presented results may vary if we compare them to the same SSDs tested on Intel chipsets.
Benchmarks list includes:
- AIDA64 Storage Benchmark: Random Read and Write
- ATTO Disk Benchmark
- CrystalDiskMark: Sequential Read and Write, Random Low Queue Read and Write, IOPS
- PCMark 10 Storage Benchmarks: Data, Quick, and Full System Tests
- 3DMark Storage Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark
ATTO used to be the most popular benchmark for testing storage performance. However, it focuses on sequential bandwidth, which, in recent years, hasn’t been as crucial as random operations. It still counts and is the main factor describing the storage performance by the marketing of all brands.
The 970 PRO performs well in the ATTO benchmark, achieving our comparison’s highest sequential read bandwidth. The sequential writing isn’t as good, but it is still respectable.
CrystalDiskMark
Nowadays, CrystalDiskMark is the leading benchmark for home and office storage devices. It’s free, easy to use, and provides many valuable results.
The 970 PRO performs slightly better than declared in sequential bandwidth tests. This is as long as the SSD is cool enough, as multiple passes cause it to throttle in writes down to about 3GB/s.
Low queue random operations are essential for daily usage, and the random read bandwidth is significant for gaming. The results still highly depend on the chipset and motherboard used. We can expect better results on Intel chipsets, but on AMD, the 970 PRO also performs excellent in this test. Phison SSDs, like even ADATA Legend 970 (non-PRO), perform better than Innogrit on our motherboard with AMD chipset.
IOPS results are more important for professional work and content creation. The new Innogrit controller’s results are excellent. It’s the first controller to pass the magical 2M IOPS! It’s also a significantly better result than what was specified by ADATA.
PCMark 10 Storage Benchmarks
PCMark 10 shows expected performance gains in popular applications and daily workloads. The 970 PRO results are not so spectacular in this benchmark, achieving scores about as high as better PCIe 4.0 SSDs. However, the Crucial T500 Pro, PCIe 4.0 SSD, is still significantly better.
3DMark Storage Benchmark
The 3DMark Storage benchmark shows similar results as those in the PCMark 10 benchmark – the 970 PRO is barely faster than the higher PCIe 4.0 SSD series.
AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
Ultimately, the AIDA64 Disk Benchmark is in random read and write operations. This benchmark isn’t popular but gives us one specific workload—extended random operations. ADATA Legend 970 PRO performs poorly in random reading but has the same results as the Team Group GC PRO SSD, which uses the same controller. Results in random write are much better than most SSDs based on the Phison E26 controller.
Let’s check the temperatures.
Temperatures
We could see thermal throttling during extended or high-load tests, and it was as easy to repeat as running CrystalDiskMark tests the second time.
The maximum reported temperature was around 78°C in a PC case with a very good airflow. Large motherboard heatsinks could keep it below 74°C in all tests. Considering the SSD power usage, I recommend removing the cooler and using it with high-series motherboards and their heatsinks, as the 970 PRO performs well and maintains complete stability.
Conclusion
I was very curious about the ADATA Legend 970 PRO and couldn’t wait to test it. Still, the disappointment came quickly as the SSD was very loud and throttled during higher loads, but also because the initial firmware was causing performance issues. The firmware has been improved, and with the new version, the performance is pretty good, but for most users, it will still be worse than SSDs with Phison E26 controllers. The 970 PRO leads in tasks where count high IOPS, so in most cases, professional solutions. It’s also great for games, but low queue random bandwidth results are significantly better on Intel chipsets. If we have an AMD motherboard, then a Phison-based SSD will be again a better option.
It’s hard to recommend the ADATA 970 PRO in its current form as the cooler is not good enough and is way too loud. I wasn’t happy about the ADATA 970 noise, but the PRO version is even worse. If anyone wants to use this SSD with a large motherboard heatsink (standard small heatsinks won’t be good enough), it’s still a good and fast option. However, ADATA puts a sticker on the cooler’s screw, so we will lose the warranty if we do so.
When writing this review, we couldn’t find the ADATA Legend 970 PRO 2TB in any large online store. The expected price is around $300, while the non-PRO version costs around $250. We can get a high PCIe 4.0 SSD at about half of its price and won’t see any significant difference, but save ourselves possible cooling problems.
If ADATA had decided to sell the 970 PRO without a cooler, we would have looked at this product differently. The SSD performs well and, in some tests, even gets top scores. However, various problems that the end user may have made it hard to recommend.
Click the stamp for an explanation of what this means.
Bartosz Waluk – Woomack
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