ADATA is back in our lab again, this time it’s with an even faster PCIe Gen4 SSD, the Legend 960 Max. Unlike the Legend 850, this SSD finds itself on the same plane as the Kingston Renegade and KC3000, WD Black SN850X, as well as the Samsung 990 Pro.
What Am I Looking At?
To put it simply, the Legend 960 Max is a PCIe Gen4 M.2 SSD, launched by ADATA earlier this year. As for its internal specifications, it is available in three capacities: 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. All SKUs are equipped with an SM2264 Controller from Silicon Motion and have sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,400MB/s and 6,800MB/s, respectively. For the 1TB model, however, its maximum sequential write speed is capped at 6,000MB/s.
While the Legend 960 Max is designed to work primarily on a PC, the speeds on this M.2 SSD means that ADATA is able to make the claim that this component is also compatible with the Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) console.
What’s So Good About It?
In terms of speed and performance, the ADATA Legend 960 Max isn’t the first PCIe Gen4 SSD to launch with sequential read speeds of 7,000MB/s or higher. Mind you, the company says that it is capable of achieving speeds up to 7,400MB/s, but the average sequential read and write speeds I was getting with this unit was higher than 6,000MB/s, which is still really good.
What is even more enticing about the Legend 960 Max is that ADATA ships out each and every unit with a relatively meaty heatsink, along with the necessary tool to facilitate its installation, should you feel that your hand is unsteady to stick it onto the chips at a glance.
What’s The Catch?
One drawback to the Legend 960 Max is that is as old as the concept of M.2 SSDs itself, and it’s the heatsink that comes with it. It’s not a tall heatsink but unless you are willing to do away with your motherboard’s aesthetics – most motherboards today come with their own heatsinks, either in individual pieces or as part of a bigger sheet that envelops motherboards – you’re going to want to do away with it.
Another issue against the Legend 960 Max on the scale is its pricing. The 1TB unit I have here retails at RM465. That price tag errs a little towards the expensive side of things, especially when PCIe Gen4 SSDs with similar performance metrics, such as the Kingston Renegade 1TB, is going for RM349. Having said that, it’s a naked component and Kingston doesn’t offer a heatsink with its product, unlike this ADATA product here.
Should I Buy It?
Like the Legend 850, the ADATA Legend 960 Max is yet another aggressively priced PCIe Gen4 SSD. There isn’t a whole lot to say that I can say to deter you, the readers and consumers, from actually throwing this lightning-fast storage component into your pool of consideration, either for your next PC build, or as an option to populate those expansion slots, be it for a desktop or laptop.
Photography by John Law.
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