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ADATA is one of the first brands to release some of the fastest SSDs powered by the latest Silicon Motion SM2508 controller. The MARS 980 BLADE promises higher performance and improved energy management compared to earlier PCIe 5.0 SSD series, making it an upgrade that gamers and computer enthusiasts have been eagerly anticipating. In our review, we will explore what you can expect from the MARS 980 BLADE SSD, particularly at its fastest capacity of 2TB, which is also the most popular choice among gamers.
Let’s start with specifications and features, which will tell us what we will test.
Specifications and Features
MARS 980 BLADE is the gaming PCIe 5.0 Gen5 SSD for laptops, delivering up to 14,000/13,000MB/s speeds and 4TB capacity. Engineered for long-lasting, stable performance, AI workloads, PS5 expansion, and the latest Intel and AMD platforms.
Key Features
- The gaming laptop-ready PCIe 5.0 SSD
- PCIe Gen5 x4 transmission interface
- R/W speed up to 14,000/13,000MB/s for PC/laptop
- Powered by TSMC 6nm process — runs cool without extra cooling hardware
- Work with PS5
- Capacity up to 4TB
- SLC Caching and DRAM Cache Buffer
- Pyrite encryption support
- Advanced LDPC ECC Technology
Specifications
| ADATA MARS 980 BLADE Specifications | |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 |
| Heatsink | Aluminum |
| Interface | PCIe Gen 5.0 x4 |
| Max Sequential Read | Up to 14000MB/s |
| Max Sequential Write | Up to 13000MB/s |
| Storage Temperature | -40°C to + 85°C |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C to +70°C |
| Endurance | 2,960 TBW (4TB), 1480 TBW (2TB), 740 TBW (1TB) |
| MTBF Hours | 2,000,000 Hours |
| NAND Technology | 3D TLC |
| Controller | SMI SM2508 |
| Encryption | AES 256-bit / Pyrite |
| Warranty | 5-year limited |
ADATA was one of the first brands to release a new SSD series based on the Silicon Motion SM2508 controller. While I write this review, there are already more store options, but ADATA remains the least expensive. I wouldn’t call it cheap, as there are no truly affordable PCIe 5.0 SSDs, but it already offers us affordable and high-speed storage. More importantly, the new controller operates at significantly lower temperatures, allowing it to be used in all devices, including those small and compact, such as mini PCs or laptops. ADATA has added the MARS 980 SSD to the compatibility list of PS5 consoles; however, PCIe 4.0 SSDs remain a more reasonable option due to the console’s bandwidth limit.
The MARS 980 BLADE SSD arrived in perfect condition, as indicated by CrystalDiskInfo.
ADATA offers a software tool called SSD ToolBox, which provides drive information, diagnostic tests, and firmware updates. As you can see below, the SSD arrived with the latest firmware, and we haven’t noticed any issues during the tests.
Packaging and Product Photos
The MARS 980 BLADE 2TB SSD arrived in a small retail package that is enough to protect its contents. The package’s exterior provides us with all the information we need to know about the SSD, and we can find more details on ADATA’s website. Inside the box is a well-protected SSD. ADATA replaced a popular plastic blister pack with a folded cardboard design. All new ADATA products are more environmentally friendly. In our next review, I will provide more information about it, where we present the latest DDR5 memory kits from the Eco series.
The MARS 980 BLADE has a thin aluminum heatsink, which can drop the temperature by 2-3°C and protect the components. It’s not much, but it still counts and is thin enough to be installed in all types of computers. ADATA decided to include it in the package separately, so we have to install it ourselves. If we have a motherboard with M.2 SSD heatsinks, they should be used instead of the ADATA solution.
The MARS 980 is in the most popular M.2 2280 standard and should fit every gaming PC. The SSD is double-sided, but most, if not all, M.2 PCIe 5.0 sockets are compatible with it.The review sample was tested on a regular desktop PC and a Minisforum mini-PC. There were no problems with the space or temperatures.
Below are close-ups of the components used on the PCB: the SMI SM2508 controller, rebranded 3D TLC NAND, and two 8 GB Samsung K4A8G165WC-BCTD LPDDR4-2666 chips that serve as cache. One of the Samsung chips is on the back of the PCB. The dual-sided design is the only issue we see here, as it prevents us from installing this SSD in certain devices. On the other hand, thin laptops require single-sided SSDs, and I doubt that many users will think about installing the MARS 980 BLADE on those devices.
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 | FSP 1350W 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 MARS 980 BLADE 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD ADATA Legend 970 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 |
| 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 obtained on the AMD Ryzen platform, so some of the presented results may vary when compared to the same SSDs tested on Intel chipsets.
The 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 was once 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 primary factor in describing storage performance, as marketed by many brands.
The MARS 980 BLADE’s sequential bandwidth is the best we have seen in our reviews, surpassing even the fastest SSDs from other brands.
CrystalDiskMark
Nowadays, CrystalDiskMark is the leading benchmark for home and office storage devices. It’s free, easy to use, and provides many valuable results.
In sequential read and write tests, the MARS 980 BLADE achieves higher bandwidth as specified by the manufacturer, up to 14459MB/s read and 13466MB/s write.
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. The MARS 980 BLADE is the first SSD to pass a magical 100MB/s low-queue 4K random read on our AMD test setup.
IOPS results are more important for professional work and content creation, but also for other applications. Our results show higher IOPS than those declared by ADATA, and are also significantly higher than those of any other SSD in our comparison.
PCMark 10 Storage Benchmarks
PCMark 10 shows expected performance gains in popular applications and daily workloads. Even though MARS 980 BLADE isn’t in the top spot in this benchmark, it’s still speedy and not much slower than our best results.
3DMark Storage Benchmark
Our test rig seems to limit the 3DMark Storage Benchmark. However, this benchmark’s results look significantly better on Intel chipsets. We can still tell that the difference between PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 SSDs is significant, and the MARS 980 BLADE beats all the competition.
AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
Ultimately, we tested the AIDA64 Disk Benchmark in random read and write operations. This benchmark isn’t widely used, but it does provide a specific workload—extended random operations.
All the newest and top-speed SSDs based on Phison or Silicon Motion series controllers perform worse than expected in this benchmark. As long as it doesn’t describe the SSD’s overall performance, it’s an interesting test that shows whether it throttles during extended high loads. We had no problems with that on our review sample. Since I mentioned throttling, let’s check the temperatures.
Temperatures
The MARS 980 BLADE SSD didn’t throttle in regular tests, and we couldn’t notice any throttling, maintaining a sustained bandwidth.
However, during the extended write tests, the SSD was at the edge of throttling, and we observed occasional performance drops. It doesn’t happen while running long mixed tests, such as PCMark, or while gaming, but we may still notice it if we move many large files from one drive to another. Since it affects only write performance and is up to half the maximum bandwidth, we won’t ever notice it in gaming. I recommend using the MARS 980 BLADE with a motherboard’s heatsink or the included ADATA heatsink, but in a case with good airflow.
If we use the MARS 980 BLADE for gaming or regular mixed-load usage, temperatures won’t be much higher than 60-65°C. This represents a significant improvement over Phison-based PCIe 5.0 SSDs, where, without an additional heatsink and adequate airflow, we consistently experienced thermal throttling.
Conclusion
The XPG MARS 980 BLADE delivers top performance and significantly lower temperatures compared to SSDs using older-generation controllers. It’s an improvement that gamers have been waiting for, and it allows the use of PCIe 5.0 SSDs in small computers and gaming consoles. Even though we could still see thermal throttling in some scenarios, it doesn’t affect the general experience, and we won’t see it while playing games. Games are what work best on the MARS 980 BLADE. After all, it’s a gaming product, so the target users should be delighted.
We had no problems with the tested MARS 980 BLADE SSD. Its performance was higher than ADATA specified, making it one of the fastest M.2 SSDs on the market. It’s not the fastest option, but it’s the fastest we reviewed, and it costs less than competitive M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSDs. The 2TB version costs $199 in the ADATA online store, so about $50 less on average than the Samsung 9100 and even more than some other brands. As I mentioned, it’s not cheap, but perfectly reasonable if you expect one of the fastest SSDs that runs cool enough to be installed in small computers or those with limited airflow.
The XPG MARS 980 BLADE 2TB is a well-designed SSD that offers high performance and compatibility at a reasonable price. It’s perfect for gamers and computer enthusiasts. The XPG MARS 980 BLADE 2TB NVMe PCIe 5.0 SSD receives a well-deserved Overclockers Approved Stamp!
Click the stamp for an explanation of what this means.
Bartosz Waluk – Woomack
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