Conclusion

The ADATA Ultimate SU750 is an entry-level SATA SSD. As such, some weaknesses are inevitable, and the question is not really whether the drive turns in some bad benchmark scores but which scores are bad and whether they actually matter to the use cases for an entry-level drive.

On top of that, Realtek is still very much a newcomer to the SSD controller market, and their reputation for other kinds of chips says we should expect some rough edges. So given all that, it might have actually been more surprising if the SU750 didn't have some puzzling performance results and broken idle power management (something every vendor has struggled with at times).

There's not an obvious bright spot in the test results from the SU750. Some DRAMless drives redeem themselves with a few particularly good scores; for the Toshiba TR200, for example, that tends to be the power efficiency and sequential read performance. The SU750 is mediocrity all around, except when it's really bad.

Our list of complaints and caveats about the SU750 isn't really much longer than it is for other DRAMless SATA SSDs. Within that niche, it performs more or less as expected, and it is competitively priced. As usual, the problem with these entry-level SSDs is that mainstream SATA drives just aren't that much more expensive.

This is especially true of products like the ADATA SU800 and Team L5 LITE 3D, which may be cutting corners on NAND quality a bit but still have DRAM caches to enable well-rounded performance. Now that it's been on the market for a while, the SK Hynix Gold S31 also seems to be vying for the spot as the logical next step up from a DRAMless SSD. And as always, a decent sale brings reliable mainstays like the Crucial MX500 or WD Blue within a few dollars of the DRAMless drives.

SATA SSD Price Comparison
(December 2, 2019)
  240-256GB 480-512GB 1 TB 2 TB
ADATA SU750/SU760 $31.99
(12¢/GB)
$51.99
(10¢/GB)
$94.99
(9¢/GB)
 
ADATA SU800 $33.99
(13¢/GB)
$57.99
(11¢/GB)
$85.99
(8¢/GB)
$209.99
(10¢/GB)
Crucial BX500 $31.99
(13¢/GB)
$54.95
(11¢/GB)
$89.99
(9¢/GB)
$214.99
(11¢/GB)
Mushkin Source $32.99
(13¢/GB)
$54.99
(11¢/GB)
$94.99
(9¢/GB)
$209.99
(10¢/GB)
Samsung 860 QVO     $87.99
(9¢/GB)
$229.99
(11¢/GB)
SK Hynix Gold S31 $29.99
(12¢/GB)
$53.99
(11¢/GB)
$105.99
(11¢/GB)
 
Team L5 LITE 3D $33.99
(14¢/GB)
$42.99
(9¢/GB)
   
         
Samsung 860 EVO $54.99
(22¢/GB)
$57.99
(12¢/GB)
$109.99
(11¢/GB)
$229.99
(11¢/GB)
WD Blue 3D NAND $39.99
(16¢/GB)
$59.99
(12¢/GB)
$99.99
(10¢/GB)
$189.99
(9¢/GB)
SanDisk Ultra 3D $44.99
(18¢/GB)
$64.99
(13¢/GB)
$107.99
(11¢/GB)
$179.99
(9¢/GB)
Crucial MX500 $38.99
(16¢/GB)
$56.99
(11¢/GB)
$99.50
(10¢/GB)
$219.99
(11¢/GB)

The ADATA SU750 won't help Realtek score new design wins for their SATA SSD controllers, at least for retail SSDs. It shows that they can play in this space, but there's no reason for an established partner of Silicon Motion or Phison to switch. However, most of Realtek's SSD controller efforts have been focused on NVMe, which will be the focus of our next SSD review. For the shrinking SATA market, it might not be worth Realtek's trouble to update this RTS5733 controller with the die shrink and performance improvements it really needs.

Power Management
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  • sonny73n - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link

    Realtek does audio
    Realtek does networking
    Realtek does storage
    Debbie does Dallas
  • RadiclDreamer - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link

    Realtek may do all of these things, but it does them all poorly.
  • FunBunny2 - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link

    "Realtek may do all of these things, but it does them all poorly."

    Debbie wasn't so hot either. :):)
  • boozed - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link

    I don't know that I'd call them poor. Good value, reliable (in my experience) and good enough for the vast majority of users.

    Other options are available for enthusiasts.
  • eek2121 - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link

    The trouble is that you are talking about a few dollars for a much faster and more power efficient drive. This controller appears DOA as it brings nothing unique to the table.
  • Samus - Saturday, December 7, 2019 - link

    With what Intel charges for network controllers, it’s astonishing Realtek is in business when you consider how superior an Intel NIC is while being a few dollars more. And wireless is a whole different story. I’d put Realtek at the absolute bottom of the list. Atheros/Qualcomm, Intel, Agere, Lucent, Broadcom, all have better reliability, support (which is shocking when you consider how vastly used Realtek products are) and generally - performance, than competing Realtek solutions.

    I think where Realtek scores is availability. Their volume shows commitment to OEM’s that require dependable shipping schedules. This can be as important is BOM pricing, and when you look at the numbers, it seems (and I’m speculating) Realtek designs products for volume production more than anything else. The incredibly low pin count and a 2 channel controller back this up. We are talking about possibly the most basic SATA SSD controller in production and that means they will be able to make a shitload of them really fast really cheap.

    And unfortunately OEMs will bite because they know 90% of the people buying this crap don’t care about the inner margin performance of an SSD. Most people buy on price, reliability and warranty.

    This shitty SSD May have all 3 bases covered considering the quality binning of Micron NAND.
  • close - Saturday, December 7, 2019 - link

    "a few dollars more" adds up when buying by the truckload. With millions of devices that have a network chipset that's quite some money.
  • jabber - Sunday, December 8, 2019 - link

    Yeah amazing how many people don't realise how shaving just 50 cents off a product that will sell hundreds of thousands to millions will save a company a fortune and help with profit.

    A good example is to watch the documentary "Building a Faster Horse" on how Ford designed and built the 2016 iirc Ford Mustang. Every single part and component was scrutinised to see if it could be either removed/simplified or made cheaper.

    That's why Realtek exists still. Their parts are 50c cheaper than Intels.
  • Manch - Monday, December 9, 2019 - link

    Ford been making the Mustang cheaper and cheaper while charging more and more. Started with the Getrag MT-82 grenade and got worse with the crap IRS, corner cutting everywhere. Add on top of it a horrid design (Looks like a 2 door Focus) and they wonder why they're losing customers.
  • hanselltc - Saturday, December 7, 2019 - link

    Killer

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