Adata XPG SX8200 Pro review: A perfect ratio of power to price

Falling NAND prices have been making it easier than ever to find swift NVMe SSDs at low prices. We’ve already seen the Crucial P1 get close to the premium Samsung 970 Evo on file transfer speeds for as little as 15.5p per gigabyte, and Adata’s XPG SX6000 also impressed at 20.8p per gigabyte.

The XPG SX8200 Pro, however, might just deliver the best balance of high speeds and pricing we’ve seen yet. Its official performance numbers – 3,500MB/s read speed and 3,000MB/s write speed – match or, in the case of write speed, are higher than what Samsung claims of the 970 Evo, and yet Adata’s SSD is cheaper across all its available capacities.

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Adata XPG SX8200 Pro review: Price and competition

The largest 1TB model (which we’re testing) works out at 18.5p per gigabyte, while the 512GB and 256GB versions are 20.5p and 23.4p: all lower than their 970 Evo equivalents, which range from 21.4p for the 500GB model and go up to 23p for 1TB and 30.8p for 256GB.

Adata XPG SX8200 Pro review: Specifications

True, it’s not quite as cheap as the Crucial P1, but it is a step up on specs. It uses 3D TLC memory instead of QLC, so should already be able to run faster and last longer than the P1. A lot longer, in fact: Adata rates the XPG SX8200 Pro’s durability at 160TBW (terabytes written) for the 256GB model, 320TBW for the 512GB model and 640TBW for the 1TB model, while the P1 is only guaranteed for 100TBW at 500GB and 200TBW at 1TB. Even the 970 Evo doesn’t quite keep up, claiming 600TBW for its own 1TB model, although in fairness it’s unlikely most users will come anywhere close to writing this much data.

Adata XPG SX8200 Pro review: Performance

So far, so good, at least theoretically. But the XPG SX8200 Pro quickly proved that it wasn’t just talking the talk: in the standard CrystalDiskMark sequential test, it achieved searing scores of 3,522.1MB/s read and 2,917.9MB/s write speeds. That’s more than a match for the 970 Evo, which managed 3,568.4MB/s read and 2,514.6MB/s write.

In the more challenging 4K test, the XPG SX8200 Pro beat the 970 Evo on both read and write speeds. Its 365.6MB/s read and 267.4MB/s write results are modest gains over the Samsung drive’s 334.4MB/s and 245.2MB/s, but significant considering the much cheaper cost of Adata’s SSD.

The good news continued into our own file transfer tests. Starting with the easiest huge file test, the XPG SX8200 Pro managed a 1,137.8MB/s read speed and a 1,225.1MB/s write speed – so it can’t avoid the usual performance drop compared to a synthetic sequential test, although it did once again outpace the 970 Evo, which scored 1,073.1MB/s read and 1,115.6MB/s write.

Read speeds barely fell in the more intensive large files test, ending up at 1,126.8MB/s – another victory over the 970 Evo, which produced 995.3MB/s in the same test. The XPG SX8200 Pro’s 1,027.1MB/s write speed is slightly faster, too, albeit after taking a larger drop compared to the huge test.

Finally, the toughest small files test saw the XPG SX8200 Pro manage a read speed of 413.2MB/s and a write speed of 438.5MB/s. These may look low, but they’re very good indeed for shifting as many little files as this test requires, and since the 970 Evo only managed a 373MB/s read speed and a 363.8MB/s write speed, it’s another great showing for the newer SSD.

In fact, it’s been a long time since any NVMe SSD has performed so well in our tests, least of all one that costs less than 20p per gigabyte. As far as we can tell, the only reason to consider the 970 Evo superior is if you need a larger capacity: Samsung offers 2TB and 4TB options, whereas the largest XPG SX8200 Pro model we can find is 1TB. A 2TB version is listed on Adata’s website, but is curiously absent from any online retailer outlets.

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Adata XPG SX8200 Pro review: Verdict

Still, the appeal of the this SSD isn’t anything to do with size: it’s all about top-tier performance at even lower prices than Adata’s own value-minded alternatives, namely the XPG SX6000 Pro. It even has a neat little extra in its stick-on heat spreader, which comes pre-applied with thermal compound. SSD heatsinks tend to be a peace-of-mind measure rather than something that can significantly boost performance and working lifespan, and there’s no reason to believe this is different, but it’s easy to attach and gives the drive a cleaner look, so it’s a welcome inclusion.

Fast, cheap and durable, the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro is our new favourite NVMe SSD, and the first one you should consider when building a PC or upgrading a laptop.