Temperature:
While faster than their SATA-based SSDs, PCIe drives like the LEGEND 960 tend to generate more heat. In fact, if your computer doesn't have enough airflow or a large video card covering your M.2 slots, they can get quite hot. To prevent themselves from overheating, most SSDs have implemented a mechanism called thermal throttling which automatically reduces a drive's performance when it reaches a certain temperature.
If you're someone looking to get the most out of your SSD, this is something that you don't want to happen. So companies like ADATA have begun to include an optional, stick-on heatsink with many of their PCIe SSDs.
Without the heatsink, the LEGEND 960 idled at around 31 ºC. When pushed hard, the drive reached temperatures as high as 67 ºC when reading and 72 ºC when writing. At these temperatures, I saw a persistent slowing when reading and occasional drops in performance when writing.
With the optional heatsink installed, the LEGEND 960's temperature averaged about 35 ºC when idle, which is actually a few degrees higher than what we saw without it. Also, the drive still thermal throttled when reading and writing. However, it took a little longer to reach this point. That being said, if you're going to push the LEGEND 960 hard and don't want thermal throttling to activate, you may want to consider adding a cooling fan to increase air flow or attach a more robust heatsink like the MC1 or MC1 Pro from be quiet!
Final Thoughts:
ADATA has knocked another one out of the park with its new LEGEND 960 SSD. While aimed more towards creative professionals, this compact, M.2 form factor SSD packs more than enough performance to satisfy gamers and enthusiasts alike. The LEGEND 960 is powered by Silicon Motion's SM2264 controller and is available with up to 2TB of 3D TLC NAND flash. Combine this with a large DRAM cache and an ultra-fast PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe 1.4 interface and you have a drive capable of reading and writing at 4x the speed of a standard PCIe Gen3 SSD. The 1TB version of the LEGEND 960 flew through our sequential transfer rate tests, reading at speeds as high as 7,480 MB/s and writing at nearly 6,700 MB/s. It also did very well in our random write tests, producing more than 191,000 IOPS at low queue depths.
Of course, fast read and write speeds aren't the only things the LEGEND 960 has to offer. In addition to a slim, aluminum heatsink, the drive uses dynamic SLC caching and a DRAM cache buffer to improve read and write performance. The LEGEND 960 also employs hardware Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) code technology and AES 256-bit encryption to ensure data security and integrity. To top it all off, the drive works with ADATA's SSD Toolbox software and is backed by a 5 year warranty.
The LEGEND 960 is available now in 1TB and 2TB capacities and can be purchased through retailers like Amazon for $130 and $250, respectively.
Highs:
- Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities
- PCIe 4.0 x4 interface with NVMe protocol
- Silicon Motion SM2264 controller
- Equipped with 176-layer 3D TLC NAND
- Excellent sequential and random read and write speeds
- Small M.2 2280 form factor
- Dynamic SLC caching and DRAM cache buffer
- Advanced hardware LDPC ECC technology
- Includes optional aluminum heatsink
- AES 256-bit encryption
- Works with ADATA's SSD Toolbox software
- Reasonably priced
- 5 year warranty
Lows:
- Write speed drops when SLC cache is full
- Starts to thermal throttle at relatively low temperatures
