Looking to get onto the SATA 3 bandwagon but strapped for cash? We have an affordable ADATA Sandforce SF-2281 SATA III drive in our midst.
Product on Review: S510
Manufacturer and Sponsor: ADATA
Street Price: £99inc. VAT (At time of review)
ADATA have their roots in the enterprise sector and whilst they may not be the most popular brand for enthusiast SSD they have an undeniably strong name in other areas of business. Their product range covers memory, USB, and other storage devices.
SSDs have now become the mainstay for the enthusiast and gaming market due to the speed, sound and reliability benefits. Many SSDs are still highly priced, making it difficult for those on a tighter budget to afford such a lucrative product but ADATA hope to change this with the S510.
S510 is based on the popular Sandforce SF 2281 series controller which is able to achieve transfer rates of up to 550 MB/s read and 510 MB/s write. At less than £1 per GB, this has to be one of the most affordable SSDs to hit the market, but how does performance compare? Let’s find out!
ADATA’s words on S510
IThe S510 is a highly cost-effective option for SSD upgrades of existing systems, and for new SATA 6Gb/s enabled computers. The S510 utilizes the new generation SandForce SF-2200 series controller, with native support for the SATA 6Gb/s platform. In both desktop and notebook computers, users will enjoy an unprecedented high-speed experience. The S510 can reach 550/510MB read and write speeds respectively, with 4K random write speeds as high as 85,000 IOPS.
Technical Specifications
Capacity
60GB/120GB
NAND Flash
MLC (Mulit-level cell) Asynchronous Flash
Form Factor
2.5 inch
Dimensions
100 x 69.85 x 9.5mm (L x W x T)
Weight
76g
Performance
60GB Performance
Documents Data Transfer (ATTO) :
Read: Up to 550MB/S
Write: Up to 500MB/S
Multimedia Data Transfer (AS-SSD)
Read: Up to 200MB/S
Write: Up to 75MB/S
120GB Performance
Documents Data Transfer (ATTO):
Read: Up to 550MB/S
Write: Up to 510MB/S
Multimedia Data Transfer (AS-SSD)
Read: Up to 200MB/S
Write: Up to 140MB/S
4K Random Write (Aligned): 60,000 IOPS
Maximum 4K Randdom Write: 85,000 IOPS
Operating Temp
0°C ~ 70°C
Storage Temp
-40°C ~ 85°C
Interface
SATA 6Gb/s
Shock Resistance
1500G
Power Consumption
4.7W active; 0.6W Idle
MTBF
1,000,000hrs
Warranty
3 years
Accessories
2.5″ to 3.5″ Bracket
Disk Migration Utility
60GB/120GB
NAND Flash
MLC (Mulit-level cell) Asynchronous Flash
Form Factor
2.5 inch
Dimensions
100 x 69.85 x 9.5mm (L x W x T)
Weight
76g
Performance
60GB Performance
Documents Data Transfer (ATTO) :
Read: Up to 550MB/S
Write: Up to 500MB/S
Multimedia Data Transfer (AS-SSD)
Read: Up to 200MB/S
Write: Up to 75MB/S
120GB Performance
Documents Data Transfer (ATTO):
Read: Up to 550MB/S
Write: Up to 510MB/S
Multimedia Data Transfer (AS-SSD)
Read: Up to 200MB/S
Write: Up to 140MB/S
4K Random Write (Aligned): 60,000 IOPS
Maximum 4K Randdom Write: 85,000 IOPS
Operating Temp
0°C ~ 70°C
Storage Temp
-40°C ~ 85°C
Interface
SATA 6Gb/s
Shock Resistance
1500G
Power Consumption
4.7W active; 0.6W Idle
MTBF
1,000,000hrs
Warranty
3 years
Accessories
2.5″ to 3.5″ Bracket
Disk Migration Utility
Packaging, Bundle & Closer Look
The S510 arrives in a vibrant and lively box. ADATA have kept the design to a professional level and listed significant features on the front with capacity, speed and physical size too.
Opening the box up reveals a plastic container holding the SSD, a 2.5” to 3.5” bracket and quick installation guide.
Packaging for S510 catches the eye
The accessories bundle includes 2.5” to 3.5” adapter
Observing the S510 from the front, we see that this SSD has a minimalist design. A black metal outer shell with a product label covers this front section – again, just like the packaging there are details on the capacity, speed and physicals size of this drive. There is also a disclaimer to warn users against voiding warranty.
The front of S510
Spinning the drive over, the back details the model number, warranty code, EAN code and serial number. The Disk Migration Utility key is also on the back of the drive. Being SATA 3 6GB/s the S510 has exactly the same connectors as a SATA 2 drive would have.
The rear of S510
From the pictures already, you will have noticed that S510 has this brushed aluminium surface texture. This instantly instils a sense of quality and prowess. S510 looks very good.
A brush aluminium appearance
Taking the cover off the S510 the internal PCB reveals some key characteristics. The PCB, Controller and NAND are very similar to other SSDs such as Patriot Pyro and Corsair’s Force Series.
Driving the S510 is SandForce SF-2281 controller. There are also 8 modules of Micron 25nm asynchronous NAND flash memory (29F64G0BCBAAA) on both sides and each flash module has up to 8GB.
An overview of S510 PCB, Controller and NAND
With the inspection now over let’s see how S510 performs whilst under testing conditions against a list of rival drives.
Testing Methodologies
Our SSDs have recently been moved to a new test system as the Intel P67 setup has been decommissioned for the newer Intel Z77. As a result, the database whilst still having a reasonable number of test subjects to compare against isn’t as extensive as we would like so keep a look out over the coming weeks for more additions!
The system is formatted and a fresh version of Windows is installed with just drives in place – no additional applications. Windows is then updated to the latest release and the drivers are installed. Included in the list of benchmarks are the following applications:
ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46
AS SSD
CrystalDiskMark 3.0
Iometer
SiSoftware SANDRA 2012
Windows 7 Boot Time Test
Test system
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K
Motherboard MSI Z77A-GD65
Graphics MSI R7970 Black Edition
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz
HDD
– ADATA S510 120GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB (Sata Gbps)
– Kingston HyperX 240GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Intel 520 480GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Samsung 830 Series 256GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Samsung HD103SJ 1TB (Sata 3Gbps)
PSU OCZ 750W Fatal1ty
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit
Motherboard MSI Z77A-GD65
Graphics MSI R7970 Black Edition
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz
HDD
– ADATA S510 120GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB (Sata Gbps)
– Kingston HyperX 240GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Intel 520 480GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Samsung 830 Series 256GB (Sata 6Gbps)
– Samsung HD103SJ 1TB (Sata 3Gbps)
PSU OCZ 750W Fatal1ty
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit
Benchmarks: ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.46
The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.
Benchmarks: AS SSD
AS SSD Benchmark is a straightforward tool for measuring the speed of your SSD drive.
Simply launch the program, choose your drive, click Start, and it’ll test your SSD’s read and write speed in a variety of ways, delivering a score for each when it’s done. And if that’s not enough, there are also additional file copy and compression-related benchmarks available from the Tools menu. (The author’s support page is German only, but if you need further English explanations then there’s a thread on the program at the OCZ Technology forum.).
Simply launch the program, choose your drive, click Start, and it’ll test your SSD’s read and write speed in a variety of ways, delivering a score for each when it’s done. And if that’s not enough, there are also additional file copy and compression-related benchmarks available from the Tools menu. (The author’s support page is German only, but if you need further English explanations then there’s a thread on the program at the OCZ Technology forum.).
Benchmarks: CrystalDiskMark 3.0
CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software that analyses different types of hard drive. Giving sequential benchmark write and read statistics in MB/s. A simple program that is very useful.
Benchmarks: IOMeter
Iometer is based on a client–server model, where one instance of the Iometer graphical user interface is managing multiple ‘workers’ (each one representing a separate Dynamo.exe process) which are doing the I/O. Iometer performs Asynchronous I/O – accessing files or block devices (later one allowing to bypass the file system buffers).
Iometer allows the configuration of disk parameters such as the ‘Maximum Disk Size’, ‘Starting Disk Sector’ and ‘# of Outstanding I/Os’. This allows a user to configure a test file upon which the ‘Access Specifications’ configure the I/O types to the file.
Iometer allows the configuration of disk parameters such as the ‘Maximum Disk Size’, ‘Starting Disk Sector’ and ‘# of Outstanding I/Os’. This allows a user to configure a test file upon which the ‘Access Specifications’ configure the I/O types to the file.
For the purpose of this test. The 4K 50%/50% read/write file will be under the examination with 100% Random Distribution – reporting back on IOPS and MBs per Second.
Benchmarks: SiSoftware SANDRA 2012
SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.
Sandra is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
Sandra is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
Real-world Benchmarks – Windows 7 Boot Time
Synthetic testing is valuable in the examination of Solid State Drives. But some of the tests may not mean all that much to some readers so the final test in this review is a real world test showing the Windows 7 boot time.
In order to perform this test (and indeed all other benchmarks), a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional was installed on the HyperX 3K – the image of this install with no additional applications or drivers was exported for importing onto each drive at the time of testing. This will provide a clean and fair environment for comparing the boot times on each of the drives. The times were monitored using a stopwatch.
In order to perform this test (and indeed all other benchmarks), a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional was installed on the HyperX 3K – the image of this install with no additional applications or drivers was exported for importing onto each drive at the time of testing. This will provide a clean and fair environment for comparing the boot times on each of the drives. The times were monitored using a stopwatch.
Conclusion
Whilst there are obvious performance benefits to upgrading to a 6GB/s SSD many enthusiasts still have qualms with pricing against the conventional hard drive but today’s review subject reveals that this no longer needs to be an issue.
ADATA’s S510 delivers some great performance figures in a variety of benchmarks against some of the popular rivals in the industry. Performance did take a hit during the sequential benchmarks but for the most part, the S510 does allow the casual enthusiast to channel into 6GB/s performance at a much lower cost. The performance trade-off is due to asynchronous NAND. Synchronous offers better performance but costs more to develop.
Priced at under £99inc. VAT, the S510 120GB is a very attractive investment for the multitude wanting to jump onto the SSD bandwagon. For those who have been reluctant due to soaring prices, they needn’t worry – at well under £1 per GB the S510 is a great value for money option.
ADATA have made it possible for SATA 3 6GB/s to be more than affordable, the S510 is a great value for money storage route.
Pros
+ Good performance
+ Affordable to the masses
+ 3 years warranty
Cons
– Some performance loss during sequential testing
+ Good performance
+ Affordable to the masses
+ 3 years warranty
Cons
– Some performance loss during sequential testing
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
