ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO 1TB Review – Decent, Though Heatsink Needs Improvement

Unboxing & Walkaround

Here we have the ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO SSD, in particular the 1TB version, with nothing else but a paper box that secures the SSD in its place.

The SSD itself comes exposed out of the box, where as can directly see the components (and the lack of a DRAM chip, which suggests that this drive uses HMB). There is a metal heatsink provided, which is relatively thin and comes with an adhesive to permanently attach it to the SSD. Note that this is a single-sided SSD as all the components are placed on one side, so it should work on ultra-thin laptops.

Like the ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX we tested previously, this heatsink uses a permanent adhesive as its thermal interface layer – meaning you can’t remove it once the heatsink is attached. I’m not sure why this is the case, and I’d say this is just plain unnecessary. Just use regular thermal pads, ADATA.

Specifications

ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO 1TB (SLEG-900P-1TCS)

Full specifications available on product webpage and datasheet.

Capacity	1TB (as tested), 2TB, 4TB
Form Factor	M.2 2280, single-sided
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x4
Controller	Innogrit IG5236 “RainierPC”
NAND Type	ADATA 600799LS (NAND type unknown)
DRAM	None, HMB (Host Memory Buffer) only
Read/Write Speed (Rated)	1TB: 7,400 MB/s (Read) / 6,000 MB/s (Write) 2TB: 7,400 MB/s (Read) / 6,500 MB/s (Write) 4TB: 7,400 MB/s (Read) / 6,500 MB/s (Write)
IOPS	Unspecified*
Write Endurance	1TB: 600 TBW 2TB: 1200 TBW 4TB: 2400 TBW
Power Draw	Unspecified
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	1,500,000 hours
Warranty	5 years
Dimensions	22 x 80 x 2.15 mm (without heatsink) 22 x 80 x 3.43 mm (with heatsink)

*Innogrit’s controller specifications listed random I/O performance as follows:
Read = 1,000,000 IOPS / Write = 800,000 IOPS

Test System

CPU	Intel Core i9-13900K
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition
Memory	ADATA XPG CASTER DDR5-6000 CL30 (2x16GB) *configured to DDR5-6400 CL32
Storage	ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB > ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO 1TB
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 1250 V2 Full Modular (ATX12V 2.52) 1250W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 24H2

Performance

CrystalDiskMark

Right off the bat, the ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO registers a very respectable performance for a PCIe 4.0 SSD, albeit slightly less than manufacturer’s claims in terms of sequential read performance. That being said, it actually performs slightly better in general compared to the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB we reviewed, in particular the random write performance and mixed operation performance.

AS SSD Benchmark

On the contrary, AS SSD benchmark shows that the LEGEND 900 PRO is a bit behind the Samsung drive, which scored 10,008 points here. Most of that comes down to 4K 64-thread and access time performance. The cheaper Kingston NV3 also runs neck-and-neck with the ADATA SSD in this benchmark.

Anvil’s Storage Utilities

The ADATA drive seems to perform better in sequential workloads, though in situations like high queue depth and large block sizes, it does struggle a bit comparing to the two competing models we just mentioned. Not a deal-breaker, I’ll say, although better options certainly exist.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Here’s where we observed something less than usual: on super small block sizes like 512 bytes and 1KB, the LEGEND 900 PRO struggle a lot with I/O and throughput – it’s hard to say why it behaves as such. That being said, read performance is quite solid further down the line, even outperforming the Samsung 990 EVO Plus in some metrics.

Write Endurance (AIDA64)

When it comes to sustained write performance, the ADATA SSD can actually hold quite a while at high-speed state, hovering around 5.3GB/s until 25% of the space has been filled; this suggests that the drive employs around 250GB for its pSLC cache – a pretty typical figure. Once that is exhausted, the write speed went through a bit of a rollercoaster then settles down at around 200MB/s until the drive is full.

Value

In terms of value, the ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO 1TB is in a rather odd position. Its sibling model, the LEGEND 960 MAX, only costs a hair more; and if you’re willing to spend extra in exchange for better value overall, the 2TB version of Samsung 990 EVO Plus, at RM0.043 more per GB, is going to deliver significantly better sustained performance if that is what you’re looking for. For maximum value, the Kingston NV3 offers pretty competitive performance against the ADATA drive while costing significantly less.

Verdict

At the current price of RM460 for the 1TB version, the ADATA LEGEND 900 PRO can be a decent choice on its own, but competition has made this product stuck between a rock and a hard place, essentially. The non-removable heatsink adhesive design is also not a great design decision, so hopefully we can see the next iteration fixing this aspect at least.

Special thanks to ADATA for providing the LEGEND 900 PRO 1TB for this review – ADATA is currently hosting a contest with All IT Hypermarket where you can enjoy 5% off coupon upon purchase of ADATA & XPG products, along with a lucky draw to win prizes, including a Nintendo Switch 2! Click here to learn more.