Review Adata XPG Atom 50 NVMe review - The best mainstream PCIe 4.0 drive out there?

[UsandThem]

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/adata-xpg-atom-50-1-tb/

Thanks to its low price, the ADATA XPG Atom 50 is the best price/performance option available on the whole market today if you want a PCIe 4.0 drive. Noteworthy alternatives are the WD Black SN850 for $180—the fastest, if you have the money—and WD Blue SN570 for $90 or Kioxia Exceria for $85—if you want the absolute best value and can live with slightly lower performance. That's it, not much else can impress as much as these four drives.

The $ / performance of this drive looks great. However, with all the component changes (often swapping in significantly inferior performing ones) they've done with their drives over the last 2 years, I don't think my personal opinion / trust level will change regarding them until they consistently demonstrate they are done doing this. However, based on the last paragraph of the TechPowerUp review, it appears they are finally addressing the elephant in the room regarding that very issue:

What's very important to mention, and I confirmed this personally with ADATA, is that they guarantee that the Atom 50 will always come with the components that we tested: Innogrit IG5220 controller paired with 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash from Micron. This will ensure peace of mind for many customers who've been burnt by various component-level changes on other SSDs.

 

[VirtualLarry]

So far, Adata is batting 0 with me for NVMe drives. Every single one has failure, before NAND wearout.

 

[coercitiv]

However, based on the last paragraph of the TechPowerUp review, it appears they are finally addressing the elephant in the room regarding that very issue:

I'm also seeing them release a lot of SSD models with different branding, which suggest that maybe they've chosen to make a "model" for each controller/NAND combo they deem worthy. Not a bad idea per se, although still toxic for their premium offering, since the average Joe will have major difficulties telling ADATA sub-brands apart.

But hey ADATA, keep that controller & Micron NAND untouched in the Atom and maybe in a year or two we'll be buddies again. Or maybe not, I change my mind as often as you change NAND.