XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB Unboxing Review

AVerMedia's ADATA gaming sub-brand, XPG, introduces the new S60 PRO M.2 SSD, a new mainstream choice in PCIe Gen4 x4 form factor, using SiliconMotion's (SMI) SM2269XT host controller to deliver sequential read/write performances of 5,000 MB/s & 4,500 MB/s, with 2TB of maximum expandable capacity, and with an optional With optional 1 mm thin copper sheet for heat dissipation, 5-year limited warranty and 2000 TBW data write total bytes, the SM2269XT is a new option for the mainstream specification to target the price-performance market.

XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB Spec:

Interface: PCI-Express 4.0 x4
NVMe: 1.4
Interface format: M.2 2280
Sequential read speed: 5000 MB/s
Sequential Write Speed: 4500 MB/s
Random read speed: 400000 IOPS
Random Write Speed: 550,000 IOPS
Capacity Options: 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
Controller: SiliconMotion(SMI) SM2269XTF AB
NAND Flash: ADATA's own 3D NADA cells
Cache: HMB (Host Memory Buffer) and Pseudo Single-Level Cell (pSLC) Technology
Size: 80 x 22 x 3.13mm (with heat sink) / 80 x 22 x 2.15mm (without heat sink)
Warranty: 5-year limited warranty
Durability: 2000 TBW

XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB Open Box

The XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 SSD that came out of the box has a continuous read/write performance of 5000 MB/s & 4500 MB/s using the PCIe Gen4 x4 interface. From the specifications and the naming of the product, it seems that the S60 PRO is the product that XPG is targeting at the mainstream level, so if you want to get a stronger read/write performance, you can go up to the S70 PRO and S70 BLADE. S70 PRO and S70 BLADE are also available.

The S60 PRO is available in 3 capacities: 512 GB / 1 TB / 2 TB. The 1 TB and 2 TB capacities boast 5000 MB/s & 4500 MB/s sequential read/write performance, while the smaller 512 GB capacity has 5000 MB/s & 2700 MB/s sequential read/write performance only, and the 2 TB capacity is the largest capacity that the author unboxed this time.

∆ XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 SSD.

∆ Back specification.

 

The S60 PRO is a common M.2 2280 size, and comes with a thin copper heatsink with a thickness of about 1 mm for self-installation. If you want to install it in a laptop or PS5, you can use it with supplementary cooling, and since the heatsink itself is not particularly large, the S60 PRO is compliant with the PlayStation 5's M.2 SSD expansion space specification.

The ∆ S60 PRO body and the heatsink are separate from each other, so users can decide whether to install them or not depending on the device. Nowadays, motherboards basically come with M.2 SSD heatsinks as standard, so it should not be necessary to add them.

∆ The back of the heatsink is made of a thin thermal conductive adhesive, which is troublesome to tear off after sticking it on.

∆ The total thickness after installation is 3.13 mm.

∆ Motherboard installation demonstration, but in fact can be without special copper thin heat sinks.

 

Although it is said that the thin copper heat sink can help dissipate the heat, during the actual installation, the author found that because the height of the main controller chip of XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO is lower than the NAND Flash particles, and the copper heat sink does not have any thicker thermal pads to make up for the difference in height, resulting in the main controller chip not being able to touch the thin copper heat sink.

Since there is no way for the main controller chip to touch the heat sink, the temperature of the main controller will of course be affected. The author suggests that XPG can provide a thicker thermal pad for users to stick on the main controller chip, so that the main controller chip can properly conduct heat to the thin copper heat sink, instead of the current awkward situation where only the NAND Flash particles can dissipate the heat.

∆ Because of the difference in height between the main controller chip and the particles, even if the copper heat sink has been pressed very hard, it is still not possible to make the main controller and the heat sink fit together, which will result in a poor heat dissipation performance of the main controller.

∆ This is true even if the strips are mounted on the motherboard heatsink, which also represents a thin copper heatsink, and I expect XPG to improve this problem in the future.

 

XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO uses SiliconMotion (SMI) SM2269XT controller with four ADATA NAND Flash chips (60079364), according to the number on techpowerup.com, it's 176-layer TLC NAND flash. According to techpowerup.com, it is 176-layer TLC NAND flash, but I can't guarantee that it is TLC because there is no official information on this part.

There is no physical DRAM cache on the front, and according to the official website, the S60 PRO uses Host Memory Buffer (HMB) and Pseudo Single-Level Cell (pSLC) technology to achieve 5000 MB/s & 4500 MB/s read and write performance, and to improve durability. improve durability.

The SSD itself also supports LDPC (Low Density Parity Check Code) technology and Windows TRIM optimization commands to further protect data accuracy and enhance read/write performance.

∆ SiliconMotion(SMI) SM2269XT main control and ADATA 3D NAND Flash.

∆ Single-sided particle layout.

 

XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB Performance Testing

The test platform uses an Intel i9 13900K processor with an MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY motherboard and an XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB installed in the first slot M2_1 of the motherboard, which is provided with full PCIe Gen4 x4 bandwidth by the processor's direct channel. Performance may vary depending on the firmware version of the SSD, system hardware configuration, and other factors, so these results are provided for reference only.

Testing Platform
Processor: Intel Core i9 13900K (QS)
Cooler: darkFlash Nebula DN360
Motherboard: MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY ( BIOS version: 7D29v1G )
Memory: T-FORCE XTREEM DDR5 8000 MT/s 2x 16 GB
Display Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Quick Silver 8G OC
Operating System: Windows 11 Professional 22H2
Test Drive: XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB (formatted empty)
System Drive: Plextor PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 2280 SSD 512GB
Gaming Disk: Intel 670P 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe SSD (Solidigm)
Power Supply: MONTECH TITAN GOLD 1200W
Case: STREACOM BC1 Benchtable V2
Graphics driver: GeForce Game Ready 551.23

 

Let's start with the CrystalDiskInfo software to see the basic information of the XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB, which utilizes the PCIe 4.0 x4 transfer mode and NVM Express 1.4 standard, with support for features such as S.M.A.R.T., TRIM, and VolatileWriteCache. Support for S.M.A.R.T., TRIM, and VolatileWriteCache, and a standby temperature of 31°C when used with a motherboard heatsink.

1.86 TB can be used after ∆ formatting.

∆ CrystalDiskInfo software view information, standby temperature is 31 °C.

 

XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB read/write performance was tested using CrystalDiskMark software on an empty disk with the test file size set to 1GiB in default mode, and the read/write speeds were 5033MB/s and 4505MB/s.

The Q8T1 test result in the first column represents a thread with eight queue depths, which means that there are eight 1MB-sized accesses in the worklist waiting to be accessed. This corresponds to a real situation, such as reading or writing eight 1MB files from or to a hard disk at the same time, which is generally less likely to be done in general.

∆ CrystalDiskMark default mode 1GiB profile test result.

 

For daily use or for gamers, the QD1 to QD4 range is a good reference. If we switch the CrystalDiskMark profile to real-world performance, the first column will be Q1T1. Although the result will be a bit lower than the Q8T1, it will be more in line with the actual performance of the daily use experience.

The reason for this is that most of the daily operating systems use the Q1T1, which is a queue-depth mode with one thread, so the Q1T1 is more suitable for daily use than the Q8T1. The read/write speeds of the Q1T1 in Q1T1 mode are 3974 MB/s and 4175 MB/s with the capacity of the test file set to 1GiB.

∆ CrystalDiskMark Settings: Default / Profile: Real World Mode 1GiB profile test result.

 

After that, CrystalDiskMark was set to NVMe SSD and the Random Access default project was turned on. The read/write speeds of RND4K Q32T16 were 2815 MB/s and 3665 MB/s. RND4K Q32T16 is a 16 out of 32-threads queue-depth mode, and the type of the file is random access to the 4 KB file size. File types are random access 4 KB size files written or read into the SSD.

∆ CrystalDiskMark Settings:NVMe SSD / Profile:Default, Random Access Default Mode RND4K Q32T16 test results.

 

ATTO Disk Benchmark was then used to test the sequential read/write performance and stability of different file sizes, with maximum values of 4.25 GB/s for writing and 4.64 GB/s for reading.

∆ ATTO Disk Benchmark.

 

Professional video multimedia file write and read performance test, using the AJA System Test to simulate the scenario test, set to 5120×2700 5K RED format 64GB and 1GB files, the final results were 3969 MB/s for 1GB write, 4336 MB/s for read, and 3905 MB/s for 64GB mode, 4322 MB/s for write, 4322 MB/s for read. The final results were 3969 MB/s written and 4336 MB/s read for 1GB and 3905 MB/s written and 4322 MB/s read for 64GB mode.

∆ AJA System Test 1GB.

∆ AJA System Test 64GB.

 

TxBENCH is now tested in the default test file 512MB mode, with 4772 MB/s read and 4179 MB/s write.

∆ TxBENCH Default test file 512MB mode results.

 

The 3DMark Storage Benchmark test uses game startup loading, game file copying, game archiving, game installation, and OBS game recording for testing. The scenarios mainly use a number of games to conduct actual tests, so that gamers can clearly refer to the performance of the hard disk in terms of gaming usage. The higher the storage benchmark score, the better.

∆ 3DMark Storage Benchmark Test.

 

PCMARK 10 was used to test the performance of both types of storage. The Full System Drive Benchmark uses a range of everyday applications and software, including Windows 10, the Adobe series of software, game launchers, Microsoft clerical software and related applications, to test the performance of the hard drive in real-world usage scenarios. In the test, a bandwidth of 493.09 MB/s, an average access time of 56 µs, and a total score of 3038 points were achieved.

Data Drive Benchmark (Data Drive Benchmark), the main test object for data disks used for storing documents, can also be used to test NAS, UFD, and memory cards and other related types of storage devices, in this test, 339 JPEG files (a total of 2.37 GB) will be copied to the SSD, and then create a copy of these JPEG files, and finally copy 2.37 GB of JPEG files to another hard disk to complete the entire write-read-read three-step test, the results in this test are the frequency of write-read-read. In this test, 339 JPEG files (totaling 2.37 GB) were copied to the SSD, then copies of these JPEG files were made, and finally 2.37 GB of JPEG files were copied to another hard drive, completing the entire write-read-write-read three-step test, which resulted in a bandwidth of 704.91 MB/s, an average access time of 34 µs, and a final total test score of 4662 points.

∆ PCMARK 10 Full System Drive Benchmark.

∆ PCMARK 10 Data Drive Benchmark.

 

Finally, AIDA64 was used to conduct the Read Test Suite, Linear Read, and Linear Write tests. The Read Test Suite mainly uses Linear Read, Random Read, and Buffered Read to test the read performance of the hard disk through these three read methods.

∆ AIDA64 Read Test Suite reads the performance combination test.

 

AIDA64's Linear Read and Linear Write full disk read/write tests will read/write large files with MAX capacity of the hard disk to let users observe its read/write stability. In the Linear Read test, the hard disk stays stable at an average of 5763.6 MB/s until the end of the test.

In the Linear Write test, when the HMB (Host Memory Buffer) and pSLC (Pseudo Single-Level Cell) buffers are exhausted at 45~46 %, the write speed will drop to a minimum of 624 MB/s, and then occasionally climb back up to the lowest level before the end of the test, and then drop back to the lowest level again. Until the end, the overall write speed is 2620 MB/s on average, which means unless the user writes a large file of more than 900 GB at one time, he/she can enjoy the high-speed performance of about 4000 MB/s sequential write.

∆ AIDA64 Linear Read.

∆ AIDA64 Linear Write.

 

The author conducted three additional CrystalDiskMark tests in different mode profiles, during which the HWinfo64 software was used to record the maximum temperature of the hard disk after passing all the test items. Three temperature sensors can be read in HWinfo64, and the maximum temperature of drive temperature 3 (which should be the main controller) was 74°C. The maximum temperature of the drive temperature 3 was 74°C, and the maximum temperature of drive temperature 3 was 74°C.

∆ HWinfo64 Temperature Sensor View.

Conclusion

During the test, the XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 2TB did meet the official website's sequential read/write performance of 5000 MB/s & 4500 MB/s. However, unlike AMD platforms where read/write performance is better, this SSD's sequential read/write performance is better on Intel platforms. This is why I did not use the MSI X670E ACE for this test.

The XPG GAMMIX S60 PRO in my hand is using SiliconMotion (SMI) SM2269XT controller with 176-layer TLC NAND flash (not guaranteed) solution, relying on Host Memory Buffer (HMB) and Pseudo Single-Level Cell [pSLC] technology, it really has more cache than pSLC alone in the 2TB sequential write test for a single large file. Pseudo Single-Level Cell [pSLC] technology, in the 2TB continuous write test of a single large file, it does have more cache space than the pSLC solution alone. According to the author's test, unless a large file of more than 900GB is written at one time, the S60 PRO's continuous write speed for a single large file can be maintained at around 4000 MB/s. When writing a large file of more than 900GB at one time, the speed does not drop. According to the author's test, S60 PRO can maintain a continuous writing speed of 4000 MB/s for a single large file unless the file size exceeds 900 GB.

 

After talking about the specifications and advantages, it is time to talk about the warranty and weaknesses. The five-year limited warranty is very common in the market, but the TBW is only 2,000 TBW, which may be a little less than other high-end or flagship M.2 SSDs. However, according to the formula, you have to write more than 1,095 GB of data every day for five years in order to be able to exceed the 2,000 TBW data within the same period of five years. The total number of bytes written, general users and e-sports gamers are actually very difficult to achieve this level of data writing if they are using it normally, so ordinary users or gamers can use it with confidence.

Although the thin copper heatsink that comes with this SSD has the advantage of being thin and light, and is compatible with all platforms such as PS5, laptop, and PC, the difference in height between the chip and the die prevents the main controller chip from touching the heatsink resulting in higher temperatures, which can lead to overheating and speed loss during continuous high load file transfer, or in serious cases, it can lead to a reduction in the lifespan of the SSD, so it is recommended that users install a thicker thermal pad for the main controller chip to connect to the heatsink to facilitate waste heat transfer from the main controller chip to the heatsink. Therefore, it is recommended that when installing the heatsink, users should prepare a thicker thermal pad for the main controller to be connected between the heatsink and the main controller, so as to facilitate the main controller to completely conduct the waste heat to the heatsink.

This part depends on whether XPG is willing to increase the cost of attaching a thicker heat sink, or optimize the firmware version to reduce heat generation while maintaining the same performance, so that the S60 PRO controller can have lower operating temperatures even when the heat sink is not in contact with the S60 PRO. If XPG is going to use the firmware optimization method in the future, consumers can download the SSD Toolbox software from the official website. If XPG is to perform a firmware update in the future, consumers can also download the SSD Toolbox software from the official website and simply update the firmware through the software.