The ADATA Legend 960 SSD, is a high-performance solid-state drive that offers impressive read and write speeds of 7,400/6,800 MB/s. With its finned heat sink design and support for PCIe 4.0, this SSD delivers exceptional performance while maintaining stability.
It is not only suitable for use as expanded storage for the PS5, with capacities of up to 4TB, but also compatible with the latest Intel and AMD platforms, making it a powerful choice for creative professionals.
The Legend 960 supports the latest PCIe Gen4 x4 interface, which complies with the NVMe 1.4 standard. It provides incredible speed and is designed to work seamlessly with the latest Intel and AMD platforms, making it an unstoppable powerhouse for creative tasks.
Introduction
The Legend 960 utilizes 3D-stacked flash memory, allowing it to offer capacities of up to 4TB. It also incorporates various protection and correction technologies, making it durable and reliable for long-term use. With LDPC (Low Density Parity check Code) and AES 256-bit encryption, the Legend 960 ensures the accuracy and security of your data and files. You can create without worrying about the safety of your valuable information.
What sets the ADATA Legend 960 apart is its ability to compete with top drives in most of our tests. What’s even more impressive is that it is priced per TB lower than most of its competitors.
In terms of design, the Adata Legend 960 offers an installable heatsink/heatspreader, providing users with the flexibility to optimize heat dissipation.
This is particularly beneficial for high-end drives, as users can choose their own solution for superior cooling. The SSD features one DRAM and two NAND packages per side, optimizing heat dissipation thanks to its layout.
Let’s see how it performs and its main features.
Performance
With sequential read and write speeds of 7,400/6,800MB per second, the LEGEND 960 outperforms standard PCIe Gen3 SSDs by up to 4 times and SATA SSDs by 13 times. This SSD is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0, making it an excellent choice for professionals who want to push the boundaries of performance.
The Legend 960 is equipped with a Silcon Motion SM2264 controller, 176-layer TLC NAND, and 1GB of DRAM primary cache per TB of capacity. It is a M.2, NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 drive. Featuring blazing-fast sequential read and write speeds, the ADATA Legend 960 is an excellent choice for professionals in photography, videography, graphic design, and gaming. Its double-sided design and slim heat spreader make it suitable for both desktops and select laptops, including the PlayStation 5.
The Legend 960 manages to surpass its rivals in terms of multi-queue sequential read/write speeds, which is quite an achievement. When considering the transfer rates, including sequential and random, the Legend 960 continues to hold its ground against other top drives.
The LEGEND 960 SLC Caching and DRAM Cache Buffer, which provide advantages in system loading and data caching. It also delivers impressive 4K random read/write speeds of up to 750K/630K IOPS, ensuring smoother multitasking.
See ADATA LEGEND 960
NVMe PCIe Gen4 x 4 M.2 2280, Speed up to 7,400MB/s, Internal Solid State Drive for PS5 with Heatsink
Heat Dissipation
The LEGEND 960 features a cooling system that maximizes heat dissipation. The exclusive cooling fins provided significantly reduce the temperature of the SSD by 40%. This ensures a seamless gaming experience even during intensive usage.
The drive comes with a separately packed heat spreader in the box, giving you the option to use it. While it can be attached if required, many high-performance motherboards already have their own heatsinks. Using a heat spreader on top of the drive may result in a snug fit.
Without the heatsink, the drive reached around 90°C. However, after adding the heatsink, the surface temperature decreased to 72°C.
Compatibility with PS5
The Legend 960 is the perfect storage solution for PS5 consoles. Its size is designed to fit perfectly in the slot, allowing you to expand your storage and take your PS5’s performance to the next level. With the Legend 960, you can enjoy lag-free gaming and showcase your skills to the world.
SSD ToolBox Software
The ADATA SSD Toolbox software is included with the LEGEND 960. This software allows you to monitor the health and remaining life of your drive using Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) attributes.
It also provides real-time information about the operating temperature, capacity, and total space used. Additionally, the software keeps you updated on firmware releases for optimal performance.
Our team conducted extensive tests on the ADATA Legend 960, a PCIe 4.0 internal SSD. Equipped with an MSI X570 motherboard and AMD Ryzen CPU, . We evaluated it through various benchmarks including Crystal DiskMark 6.0, PCMark 10 Storage, and UL’s 3DMark Storage Benchmark. These tests assessed the drive’s throughput, gaming-related tasks, and overall performance.
The Crystal DiskMark’s sequential speed tests revealed extraordinary results, showcasing the drive’s ability to transfer large files quickly and efficiently.
Our tests confirmed that the ADATA Legend 960 became the first SSD to achieve a sequential read speed exceeding 7,500 megabytes per second (MBps) in Crystal DiskMark. Surpassing the manufacturer’s 7,400MBps speed rating, this SSD outperformed four other drives in our test group. Additionally, it achieved the second highest sequential write score, on par with the manufacturer’s 6,800MBps rating. However, its 4K write score was relatively lower compared to other drives.
Table of features ADATA Legend 960 SSD
| ADATA Legend 960 SSD | |
|---|---|
| Form factor | M.2 2280 |
| NAND Flash | 3D NAND |
| Controller | SMI SM2264 |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 80.6 x 23.2 x 10.65mm / 3.17 x 0.91 x 0.42inch(with heat sink) 80 x 22 x 3.3mm / 3.15 x 0.87 x 0.13inch (without heat sink) |
| Weight | 36.6g /1.3oz (with heat sink) 7.3g /0.26oz (without heat sink) |
| Interface | PCIe Gen4 x4 |
| Sequential Read (Max) | Up to 7,400MB/s (PC/Laptop)*, Up to 6,400MB/s (PS5) |
| Sequential Write (Max) | Up to 6,800MB/s* |
| 4KB Random Read IOPS(Max) | Up to 750K* |
| 4KB Random Write IOPS(Max) | Up to 630K* |
| Operating temperature | 0°C – 70°C |
| Storage temperature | -40°C-85°C |
| Shock resistance | 1,500G/0.5ms |
| MTBF | 1,500,000 hours |
ADATA Legend 960 SSD veredict
The ADATA Legend 960 is a high-performing NVMe SSD available at a mid- to lower-tier price. It demonstrate exceptional performance, setting a new record for the fastest aggregate time we have seen thus far. While the 1TB Legend 960 may not be ideal for extremely long data transfers, this is true for most 1TB drives. Longer operations require higher capacity drives. However, these types of operations are uncommon for most users, and the drive’s performance is exemplary in all other aspects.
In our opinion, this SSD is a game-changer in terms of performance considering its price and it’s an excellent value for money.
See price ADATA 1TB SSD Legend 960
[Massive Capacity] ADATA LEGEND 960 SSD provides up to 4TB capacity with 3D-stacked flash memory, satisfying all daily needs with various protection and correction technologies, compatible with PS5.
[High Performance] ADATA LEGEND 960 SSD delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 7,400 and 6,800MB/s with 3D NAND technology.
[SSD ToolBox Software] ADATA SSD Toolbox allows for the monitoring of drive health and remaining life through Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) attributes. It also lets you keep track of the current operating temperature, capacity, and total space used, plus keeps you up-to-date on firmware.
