In early 2023, we got our first taste of the latest PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs, offering up to 10,000 MB/s read and write capabilities. These drives were fast but we knew that faster drives would be entering the market sooner or later as the technology matured. Furthermore, Gen5 platforms are more accessible to a wider range of audiences with the introduction of mainstream AMD & Intel motherboards.
While offering 10 GB/s speeds as a start, SSD manufacturers have quickly started rolling out faster drives by optimizing thermal designs and utilizing enhanced NAND solutions. ADATA launched its first Gen5 drives in late 2023, kicking things off with the Legend 970, a 10 GB/s drive that featured active cooling and was based on the Phison E26 controller. The drive was decent but the company was also working on various other Gen5 products that would be introduced later in its upper-high-end range. Some of these SSDs were showcased at Computex 2023 and today, we are giving you a first taste of the brand-new Legend 970 PRO SSD.
For today's review, we will be taking a look at the ADATA Legend 970 PRO 2 TB SSD which is equipped with an InnoGrit Gen5 controller and is aiming at the high-end storage segment. This SSD comes at a retail price of around $500-$550 US which puts it in the same league as other rivaling Gen5 SSDs in 4 TB capacities.
ADATA Legend 970 Pro 2 TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD
The ADATA Legend 970 PRO is part of the Legend Gen5 lineup. The MSI Legend Gen5 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature the latest Micron 232-layer TLC 3D NAND flash which offers larger capacities of up to 4 TB, twice the performance of Gen4 drives, & full compliance with Microsoft's DirectStorage API. The Legend Pro series SSDs are based on the high-end InnoGrit IG5666 Gen5 controller which makes it one of the first InnoGrit Gen5 SSDs we have tested.
- PCIe Gen5 x4 transmission interface
- Up to 14,000/11,000MB/s sequential read/write speed
- Dual-layer aluminum alloy and fan form an active air cooling system
- Compared with a fanless heat sink, temperatures significantly reduced by 20%
- 4TB capacity
- Active cooling is powered directly from the M.2 slot, no additional charging cable is needed
- Operates long-term without slowing down or crashing
- Supports the latest Intel and AMD platforms
- 5-year warranty
As for the specs, the ADATA Legend 970 Pro SSD comes with the standard NVMe 2.0 PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface in the M.2 2280 form factor. It will feature 1 TB, 2 TB, and up to 4 TB capacities with a rated speed of up to 14 GB/s (Sequential Read) and 10 GB/s (Sequential Write). The majority of Gen 5 drives available right now peak out at 12 GB/s Read and 11 GB/s Write speeds. One of the major features of this SSD is the use of a large heatsink which is said to reduce temperatures by up to 20 percent compared to a non-fan solution.
Note - The 2 TB model that we tested had a peak sequential read speed of 14,000 & a write speed of 10,000 MB/s. The Random Reads and Writes IOPS were rated at 1800K/1300K IOPS & endurance was rated at 1480 TBW.
| Capacity | 1TB / 2TB / 4TB |
|---|---|
| Form factor | M.2 2280 |
| NAND Flash | 3D NAND |
| Controller | IG5666 |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 80.6 x 24.2 x 17.9mm / 3.17 x 0.95 x 0.7inch |
| Weight | 52.1g/1.84oz |
| Interface | PCIe Gen5 x4 |
| Sequential Read (Max) | Up to 14,000MB/s |
| Sequential Write (Max) | Up to 11,000MB/s |
| 4KB Random Read IOPS(Max) | Up to 1,800K |
| 4KB Random Write IOPS(Max) | Up to 1,300K |
| Operating temperature | 0°C - 70°C |
| Storage temperature | -40°C-85°C |
| Shock resistance | 1,500G/0.5ms |
| MTBF | 1,600,000 hours |
| Terabytes Written (TBW) | 2,960TB |
| Warranty | 5-year limited warranty |
ADATA Legend 970 PRO 2 TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD – Unboxing and Closer Look
The ADATA Legend 970 PRO 2 TB comes in a small package. The package is colored black/purple and features a large picture of the SSD on it.
The front also lists down some features such as capacity, PCIe 5.0, and its NVMe M.2 form factor. The back of the package lists some specifications of the SSD and some performance figures which we will get to in a bit.
The SSD comes pre-attached with the dual-layer aluminum alloy heatsink which incorporates the active-fan cooler.
The ADATA Legend 970 PRO SSDs are a bit non-traditional due to their active-cooling fan design but will easily fit in the M.2 slot without interfering with the GPU or motherboard heatsinks due to their compact nature.
The heatsink makes use of an aluminum alloy block which is big enough to keep the SSD cooled even when running passively. There's enough space within the heatsink for the air to pass through.
Both the front and back of the heatsink fully enclose the SSD PCB within it and the only exposed area is the M.2 slot connector.
The bottom of the heatsink is a cover with the standard labels on it. That's about it as far as the outside is concerned.
The ADATA Legend 970 PRO SSDs measure 80.6x24.2x17.9mm and weigh 52.1 grams.
The heatsink is disassembled by unscrewing four screws on the sides. One of the screws is hidden beneath the "Warranty Void" sticker. Once disassembled, you can note that both sides of the heatsink have large thermal pads underneath them that cover the entire length of the SSD from front to back.
The front of the drive has the InnoGrit "IG5666FAA" controller with two Samsung "K4A8G165WC-BCTD" DRAM modules offering 4 GB of DDR4-2666 of cache (2 modules - one on front and one on back) and four NAND Flash dies (two on front and two on back).
On the back of the SSD, you can also note another Samsung DDR4 module along with two NAND Flash modules. This makes up a total of 8 GB of LPDDR4 cache onboard the SSD.
Lastly, you can note a small connector on the other end of the PCB which is for the active fan. The SSD doesn't feature any additional cable to power up the fan which makes for a nice cable-free installation.
Test Setup
Our test platform for this review consisted of an Intel Core i9-13900K processor which ran at stock clocks on the MSI Z790 ACE motherboard. The platform was coupled with 32 GB of DDR5 memory from G.Skill (Trident Z5/ 16 GB x 2) and the MSI MEG Ai1300P PSU. For graphics, I used the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X. This rounds up as a high-end platform for tests with modern-day SSDs. The MSI Z790 ACE specifically houses a single Gen 5.0 x4 NVMe slot that sources its lanes from the Raptor Lake CPU.
Wccftech SSD Test Setup For Gen5:
| Processor | Intel Core i9-13900K |
|---|---|
| Motherboard: | MSI MEG Z790 ACE |
| Power Supply: | MSI MEG Ai1300P (1300W) |
| Solid State Drive: | Team Group T-Force GC PRO 2 TB Gen5 Crucial T710 PRO 2 TB Gen5 Samsung 9100 PRO 2 TB Gen5 KLEVV Genuine G560 2 TB Gen5 ADATA Legend 970 Pro 2 TB Gen5 MSI Spatium M580 Frozr 4 TB Gen 5 PNY XLR8 CS3150 2 TB Gen 5 MSI Spatium M570 Pro 2 TB Gen 5 Team Group T-Force CARDEA Z540 2 TB Gen 5 Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 Crucial T700 Gen 5 2 TB AORUS Gen 5 10000 2 TB |
| Memory: | G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-7400 (2 x 16 GB) |
| Case: | Cooler Master C700M |
| Video Cards: | MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X |
| Cooling Solutions: | MSI MEG S360 AIO Liquid Cooler |
| OS: | Windows 11 64-bit (24H2) |
ADATA Legend 970 PRO 2 TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD Performance Benchmarks
First up, we have the official performance stats for these drives as listed by their manufacturers. You can compare these stats with the rest of the drives I tested in the following chart:
Official SSD Stats (MB/s)
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark download is a Windows 10 utility software program that tests the performance of solid-state drives. With its help, you can find out the speed of all installed SSDs and take care of any issues that the tests may reveal. The free app performs three separate tests to provide you with conclusive evidence of your driver's general behavior while it copies, reads, and writes data. The app determines the access time of an SSD, along with its speed and performance capabilities
AS-SSD Benchmark
ATTO 3.05 Disk Benchmark
As the industry’s leading provider of high-performance storage & network connectivity products, ATTO has created a widely-accepted Disk Benchmark freeware software to help measure storage system performance. As one of the top tools utilized in the industry, Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, solid-state drives, RAID arrays as well as the host connection to attached storage. Top drive manufacturers, like Hitachi, build and test every drive using the ATTO Disk Benchmark.
The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturer's RAID controllers, storage controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), hard drives, and SSD drives, and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.
ATTO v3.05 128 KB Sequential QD4
Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64
CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software. It measures sequential reads/writes speed, random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed, selects test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill),
Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64 SEQ1M Q8T1
Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64 4KiB Q1T1
File Transfer Speeds (100 GB File Size)
To test the maximum average transfer speeds of the drives, I used a 100 GB file to test the limits.
File Transfer Rate (MB/s)
PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark
The PCMark 10 Storage benchmark is designed to test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and a selection of popular games. You can test the system drive or any other recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 10 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.
PCMark 10 System Disk Storage Bench
PCMark 10 System Disk Access Times
Forspoken DirectStorage Benchmark
Forspoken DirectStorage Benchmark (Load Time In Seconds)
Conclusion - Upgraded Legend With Faster Speeds & Cable-Free Design
The whole Gen5 SSD ecosystem is relatively new and we are seeing gradual improvements coming with each new product release. So far, most companies have settled down at 12.4 GB/s which is a big improvement over what Gen4 SSDs offer and a 28% improvement over the first iteration of the Gen5 products. Pushing for high-speeds results in the Gen5 controller & NAND getting a bit toasty and that's why all manufacturers have put their engineering expertise in heatsink solutions which are some of the biggest we have seen for SSDs yet.
There are currently three Gen5 solutions you can select from. There are the standard non-heatsink SSDs that come with Graphene pads, there are the pre-installed heatsink variants and then there are heatsink solutions that you can purchase separately.
ADATA's solution for its high-performance Legend 970 PRO drives comes with a pre-installed heatsink. ADATA upgraded the original Legend design to improve the cooling potential of its existing solution while also making it cable-free, which was a nuisance to the previous Legend products. This leads to easy installation and better cooling performance which accompanied by InnoGrit's Gen5 controller make for a breezy Gen5 experience.
Temperatures
In terms of performance, the ADATA Legend 970 PRO is still a very high-end SSD that sits at the high end of our charts. The saw has great raw performance but the use of DDR4-2666 memory hinders its Random capabilities a bit. Then there's the other issue which is that there aren't a lot of use cases for such high-performance NVMe speeds at the moment. The technology is there but the software needs work. There have been a few cases where Gen5 SSDs are starting to showcase their prowess but besides some DirectStorage games, there isn't a whole lot.
As for pricing, ADATA hasn't shared that with us yet but we expect the 2 TB model of the Legend 970 PRO to be priced somewhere around the $300 US range which. 14 GB/s drives usually end up in the $350 US price point so something close to that will be decent in the limited 14 GB/s space & anything lower like $320-$330 will be great for those who want to experience the fastest storage solutions on the market right now.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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