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The XPG SX8200 comes in a small black box. Along with a picture of the drive, the front advertises many of its key features including its 256GB capacity, PCIe Gen3x4 interface, NVMe 1.3 support and 3D NAND. The back of the box provides a bit more information regarding the SX8200's features and performance. Inside, you'll find the SSD as well as a black, aluminum heatsink that can be attached to the drive.
Physical Features:
The XPG SX8000 uses the 2280 form factor for M.2 (NGFF) SSDs. It measures 22 x 80 x 3.5 mm and tips the scales at a mere 8g. The drive also has an "M key" edge connector which provides PCIe SSDs with up to 4x lanes of bandwidth.
Like ADATA's XPG Gammix S11 SSD, the SX8200 uses Silicon Motion's SM2262 controller. This 8 channel, PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD controller is powered by a dual ARM Cortex CPU and offers support for 3D NAND from the main flash suppliers. The SM2262 also employs Silicon Motion's proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology to enhance the endurance and retention of 3D NAND.
For the 240GB version of the SX8200, ADATA has opted to use its own Micron manufactured 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash. Looking at the picture above, you can see that there are two 64GB NAND flash packages on either side of the PCB. The drive also has a pair of 128MB NANYA DDR3L memory chips that are used for caching.
The aluminum heatsink included with the SX8200 is simple, yet functional. It attaches to the top of the drive using thermal adhesive and does a surprisingly good job of keeping things cool. With the heatsink installed, the SX8200's temps dropped by about 5 ºC at idle and 10 ºC during heavy loads.
