Introduction

ADATA's SX8200 SSD was one of the highlights in our recent SSD reviews—it pairs amazing performance with excellent pricing.

Now, ADATA has released the successor to the SX8200, simply called the SX8200 Pro. This new SSD uses an updated SMI controller which was just announced earlier this year. The SM2262EN comes with eight flash channels and TLC support, just like the SM2262 used on the SX8200 non-Pro. The differences seem to be under the hood as all other specifications are identical, too, with the exception that read and write speeds have gone up, now to a rated 3500 MB/s read and 3000 MB/s write.

As flash, ADATA is using the same IMFT Intel/Micron 3D NAND TLC; they just rebranded the package with "ADATA" this time around. Two DDR3 DRAM memory chips with a total capacity of 1 GB provide memory for the controller's lookup tables.

ADATA is making the SX8200 Pro available in capacities of 256 GB (not available yet), 512 GB ($118), and 1 TB ($215, this review). Endurance is set to 160 TBW, 320 TBW, and 640 TBW respectively.

As little goodie for power users, ADATA is including a small heatsink with sticky tape in their packaging, which will help bring down temperatures for desktop users. The fact that the heatsink is not pre-installed is actually a good thing, as it ensures notebook users and users with their own M.2 coolers won't have to rip off the heatsink, possibly damaging the SSD in the process.

Packaging and Contents

The Drive

The drive uses the M.2 2280 form factor, which means it is 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.


Like most M.2 NVMe SSDs, the ADATA SX8200 Pro uses a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface.


The included heatsink comes with sticky tape preattached.


Just peel off the protective film and stick it on the SSD. Note how the white sticky tape and screw cutout match the PCB layout.


You will find the SSD controller and four flash chips on the PCB. Two DDR3 DRAM chips are also present to provide the SSD controller with operating memory for mapping tables.


The Silicon Motion SM2263ENG is a new controller with improved performance.


The four flash chips are Micron 64-layer 3D TLC NAND; they have been rebranded as "ADATA". Each chip has a capacity of 256 GB. For cost optimization, ADATA buys silicon wafers from Micron, cuts them up, tests and bins the chips, and puts them inside their own packaging.


Two Nanya 512 MB DDR3 chips provide fast DRAM storage for the controller to store the mapping tables in.

Test Setup