ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB Solid State Drive

Model: ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB Solid State Drive
Manufacturer: ADATA Technology
Provided By: ADATA Technology (USA)

ADATA Technology is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high performance memory modules and data storage solutions. Founded in 2001 with a staff of 20, this Taiwanese company set itself apart from the competition early on thanks to its professionalism, industry know-how and eye-catching product designs. Today, ADATA continues to lead the way through constant innovation and development of products that exceed customer expectations. Backed by technical expertise, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and premium customer service, ADATA currently offers a variety of products including DRAM modules, USB flash drives, memory cards, solid state drives and portable hard drives.

Earlier this year, ADATA launched its latest 2.5-inch SATA SSD, the Ultimate SU750. Designed to deliver terrific value, great performance and superb reliability, the SU750 is powered by Realtek's new RTS5733DMQ controller and is available with up to 1TB of 3D TLC NAND flash. The drive also features intelligent SLC caching to improve performance along with advanced LDPC error correcting code technology to ensure data integrity. To top it all off, SU750 works with ADATA's SSD Toolbox and Migration Utility.

The Ultimate SU750 is available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities. For this review, ADATA sent us the 512GB version of the drive which is capable of delivering up to 550 MB/s sequential read and 520 MB/s sequential write speeds as well as up to 65,000 random read and 75,000 random write IOPS.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the Ultimate SU750 has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at ADATA's new SSD and then see how well it performs. Does the SU750 have what it takes? More importantly, is it the best bang for your buck? Keep reading as we find out.

The Ultimate SU750 comes in an eye-catching, black and blue box. Along with a picture of the drive, the front advertises many of its key features including its 512GB capacity, SATA 6Gbps interface and 3D NAND. The back of the box provides a bit more information regarding the SU750's features and performance. Surprisingly, the SU750 does not come with any accessories or documentation. I'm guessing this is an attempt by ADATA to make the drive as affordable as possible.

Physical Features:

The Ultimate SU750 looks very similar to ADATA's other 2.5-inch SSDs. The top of the outer casing is made out of black plastic with a large, blue and black sticker showing that the SSD is part of the company's SU750 series. The bottom of the casing is made out of metal and is painted black to match the top. The sticker on the bottom shows information like the model number, warranty code and WWN code.

The Ultimate SU750 is one of the first drives to use Realtek's new RTS5733DMQ controller. There isn't a lot of information available regarding this controller but after talking to Realtek we learned that it supports two channels with up to eight chip enables (CE) per channel. The RTS5733DMQ is also compatible with 3D TLC/QLC NAND flash and offers features like AES 256-bit encryption and low-density parity check (LDPC) technology for greater reliability. For whatever reason though, AES encryption does not appear to be enabled on the SU750.

For the 512GB version of the SU750, ADATA has opted to use its own 3D TLC NAND flash. Looking at the picture above, you can see that there are two 256GB NAND flash packages on bottom of the PCB. Also take note that there is no DRAM cache chip. According to Realtek, the DRAM cache is embedded in the RTS5733DMQ.

Like ADATA's other SSDs, the Ultimate SU750 works with their SSD Toolbox. This free downloadable utility is an easy way for users to obtain information about their drives and change various system settings. Additionally, it can be used to speed up your SSD and even improve the endurance of a drive.

When you run ADATA SSD Toolbox, the main screen displays information about your drives. From here, users can view information like the capacity, used space, temperature, health and lifespan of each drive. By clicking on the tabs, you'll also find information like the model name, firmware version, serial number and World Wide Name (WWN).

The SSD Toolbox offers two different diagnostic scans. The quick diagnostics scan runs a basic test on free space and is usually completed in under two minutes. The full diagnostics scan runs a read test on all used space and a write test on all free space of the selected drive. Needless to say, the full scan takes much longer to complete.

ADATA's SSD Toolbox also includes a number of utilities. Along with the ability to do a secure erase, users can update a drive's firmware, upgrade the software and export a log file containing information about your system and drives.

The System Optimization option gives users the ability to run a TRIM command on a selected SSD. Users also have the ability optimize their OS by enabling features like superfetch, prefetch and automatic defragmentation.

SSD Toolbox can also be used to view information about your system. The utility displays a number of things including the operating system, CPU, amount of usable RAM and the model and BIOS version of your motherboard.

The test system used in this review is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 motherboard, 32GB (16GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 memory, Samsung 960 PRO 512GB SSD and a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Enterprise.

To test the performance of ADATA's Ultimate SU750 SSD, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark, HD Tach RW, ATTO Disk Benchmark, AS SSD, HD Tune Pro, Anvil's Storage Utilities, Iometer and PCMark 8. For comparison, I've also included test results from the Samsung 860 QVO, Samsung 860 PRO, Crucial MX500, Plextor M8V, Crucial BX300, ADATA Ultimate SU900, Plextor S3C, Toshiba OCZ VX500, ADATA Ultimate SU800, Plextor S2C, Crucial MX300, Plextor M7V, PNY CS1311, OCZ Trion 150, PNY CS2211, Plextor M6V, Crucial BX200, OCZ Trion 100, Kingston HyperX Savage, Crucial MX200, OCZ Vector 180, Kingston BX100, Samsung 850 EVO M.2, Samsung 850 EVO mSATA, AMD Radeon R7, Silicon Power Slim S80, Samsung SSD 850 EVO, OCZ ARC 100, SanDisk Ultra II, Crucial MX100, SanDisk Extreme Pro and Samsung SSD 850 PRO.

As I mentioned earlier, the Ultimate SU750 is based on Realtek's RTS5733DMQ controller chip. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it performs equally well with both incompressible (0%) and compressible (100%) data.

CrystalDiskMark 5.1.2:

First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

According to ADATA, the 512GB version of the SU750 is capable of reading at 550 MB/s and writing at 500 MB/s when tested with CrystalDiskMark. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the drive had no problems reaching these speeds in the sequential read and write tests.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB - All 0x00, 0Fill

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB - All 0x00, 0Fill

The SU750 performed equally well when using highly compressible 0x00 (0 Fill) data. This time around, the drive was able to read at 551.9MB/s and write at 516.8 MB/s.

HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:

Next, I used HD Tach to test the SU750's read, write and burst speeds as well as its seek times and CPU usage.

The SU750's performance was hit and miss when tested with HD Tach. While the drive was able to read at 451.2 MB/s, its write speed averaged out at only 139.9 MB/s.

ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:

I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the SU750's sequential read and write speeds. The tests are run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

When tested with ATTO, the SU750's read speeds topped out at about 551 MB/s and its write speeds at 528 MB/s.

AS SSD:

AS SSD is a benchmark designed specifically for solid state drives. The application contains five synthetic tests which are used to determine the sequential and random read and write performance of a drive.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

AS SSD also includes a copy benchmark. This test copies an ISO (two large files), program (many small files) and game (small and large files), returning the speed and duration of each.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

HD Tune Pro 5.00:

Next, I ran a series of tests using HD Tune Pro. This hard disk utility measures a drive's performance by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its access time, burst rate and CPU usage. For this review, I'm also going to use it to benchmark the SU750's random read and write speeds, random access times and the number of operations per second.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB - Read Benchmark

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB - Read Benchmark

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB - Write Benchmark

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB - Write Benchmark

The SU750 performed relatively well when benchmarked with HD Tune. The drive had average read and write speeds of 469.4 MB/s and 398.9 MB/s, respectively, and a burst rate of 123.9 MB/s when reading.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB - Random Access Read

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB - Random Access Read

ADATA Ultimate SU750 512GB - Random Access Write

Samsung 860 QVO 1TB - Random Access Write

When reading 4KB blocks, the SU750 reached 9,951 IOPS and had an average speed of 38.871 MB/s. The drive was considerably faster when writing, reaching 28,868 IOPS with an average speed of 112.767 MB/s.

Anvil's Storage Utilities:

Anvil's Storage Utilities is another benchmark designed with SSDs in mind. The standard storage benchmark measures a drive's performance by testing its transfer speeds, access times and IOPS.

Iometer:

Lastly, I ran a series of tests using Iometer. This tool can be configured to benchmark a number of things. In this case, I used it to measure the SU750's read and write speeds and the number of operations per second. The tests were run using random bytes and a queue depth of 3.

The SU750's performance was very similar to what we saw in our other tests. The drive was able to read at 524.95 MB/s and write at 472.69 MB/s.

The SU750 wasn't one of the faster drives we've tested when it came to random reads and writes. In our tests, the drive was able to read at 175.25 MB/s and write at 196.36 MB/s.

According to ADATA, the SU750 is capable of 65,000 IOPS when reading and 75,000 IOPS when writing 4K blocks. In our tests, the drive reached 44,864 random read IOPS and 50,267 random write IOPS. As with most drives, the SU750 performed better at higher queue depths. With the queue depth set to 32, it reached 77,280 random read IOPS and 60,509 random write IOPS.

Vantage PCMark 8 - Storage Test:

PCMark 8 is a complete benchmark for Windows. It includes five benchmark tests, each designed around a specific scenario. The storage benchmark measures drive performance using real-world traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games.

PCMark 8 also includes a consistency test which measures the performance consistency and degradation tendency of a storage system. The test reports the performance level at the start, the degraded steady-state and the recovered state as well as the number of iterations required to reach them. For this test, we are focusing on the Adobe Photoshop (Heavy) trace and will look at both the bandwidth and latency of the drive

The SU750 didn't do as well as some of the other drives in this test. Its bandwidth dropped below 30 MB/s during the degradation and steady phases, pushing its latency above the 1600ms mark. The SU750's performance increased somewhat during the recovery phase. However, it still lagged behind most of the other drives, topping out at 214 MB/s.

TRIM Performance:

While SSD's offer many benefits, there are some downsides to using flash memory. One of the biggest issues people run into is performance degradation. Over time, an SSD will run out of fresh blocks and will have to write over data the file system has marked as deleted. This procedure is very complicated and can slow an SSD's write speeds considerably.

To fix this problem, most manufacturers have added TRIM support to their SSDs. The TRIM command allows an operating system, such as Windows 10, to tell an SSD which data blocks are no longer in use. Using this information, the drive pro-actively erases these blocks and adds them to the free block pool.

To test the SU750's TRIM and garbage collection functions, I first put the drive in a "dirty" state. I used Iometer to fill 80% of the drive and then ran a random write test for 30 minutes. This had little impact on the SU750's read speed. However, its average writing speed dropped to a mere 17.28 MB/s.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 - Dirty

To see how well the SU750 could recover, I let the computer sit for about 30 minutes and then reran the test. The drive wasn't able to reach the factory fresh performance shown in our earlier tests. However, its average write speed climbed up to 350.94 MB/s.

ADATA Ultimate SU750 - After TRIM

Lastly, I used Parted Magic to perform a secure erase on the SU750. With the drive wiped clean, it had average read and write speeds of 511.88 MB/s and 482.52 MB/s, respectively.

 
ADATA Ultimate SU750 - Secure Erased

Final Thoughts:

ADATA's Ultimate SU750 is a great choice for the consumer looking for an easy and affordable way to improve the performance of their existing computer. This entry-level drive combines Realtek's new RTS5733DMQ controller with next-generation 3D TLC NAND to deliver good performance at a price that won't break the bank. In our sequential read and write tests, the 512GB version of the SU750 was able to read at speeds as high as 552 MB/s and write at speeds in excess of 515 MB/s. It also did reasonably well in our random write tests, producing more than 50,000 IOPS at low queue depths.

Of course, fast read and write speeds aren't the only things the Ultimate SU750 has to offer. Like most TLC-based SSDs, the drive uses an SLC caching algorithm to optimize performance during sustained writes. The SU750 also uses LDPC error correcting code technology to to detect and fix data errors. Last, but not least, the drive works with ADATA's SSD Toolbox and Migration Utility and is covered by a 3 year warranty.

The Ultimate SU750 is available now in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities and can be purchased directly from ADATA or through some of the sellers listed on Amazon.com. Prices currently range from $40 up to $110, with the 512GB version reviewed here retailing for about $60.

Highs:

• Available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities
• Realtek RTS5733DMQ controller
• 3D TLC NAND
• Good sequential and random read and write performance
• Intelligent SLC caching
• Advanced hardware LDPC ECC technology
• Ultra-slim form factor
• SSD Toolbox and Migration Utility
• Reasonably priced
• 3 year warranty

Lows:

• Does not support hardware based encryption
• Write speed drops when SLC cache is full