AGi AI838 2TB Review – A Decent SSD From An Obscure Brand

Unboxing & Walkaround

First things first, there is no way of figuring out the model number of this SSD because there isn’t one printed on the box. The only spot where you can find the model number is the product tag located at the rear of the packaging, and in this case we have the AI838 SSD on hand, which is the company’s flagship model.

Unlike most SSDs on the market with graphene heatsinks, the AGi AI838 is fairly bare bones in this department, leaving components like DRAM and controllers exposed (while NAND flashes are hidden on both sides).

From here, we can tell the type of controller and DRAM used – it’s the Innogrit IG5236 controller and two Micron 8Gb (1GB) DDR4 functioning as DRAM for the SSD. Based on the controller’s specs, it claims a sequential read and write of 7,400MB/s and 6,400MB/s respectively (AGi says 6,700MB/s max write on its specs sheet, however). While the SSD maker didn’t specify random I/O performance, the controller’s datasheet indicates 1,000,000 IOPS read and 800,000 IOPS write – a fairly high figure, all things considered.

Interestingly, the SSD comes with an onboard LED indicator that blinks when data is accessed – just like laptops. As you can see, it’s barely visible through a small gap between itself and the huge VRM heatsink of the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero motherboard that we have as part of the test bench. There’s no way of turning this off, however.

Heatsink Installation

The heatsink is included in the box, but AGi opted to leave that choice to you depending on where you’re installing the drive. Installing the heatsink is as simple as it gets – just peel off the protective film, and align the SSD accordingly. Make sure the notch aligns with the tail end of the SSD, as this is where the screws are located. If you did a mistake, you can simply remove it and try again.

Specifications

AGi AI838 2TB

Full specifications available on the product page.

Capacity	1TB, 2TB (as tested), 4TB
Form Factor	M.2 2280, removable heatsink
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.4
Controller	Innogrit IG5236
NAND Type	3D TLC NAND
DRAM	2GB DDR4
Read/Write Speed (Rated)	7,400 MB/s (Read) 6,700 MB/s (Write)
IOPS	Unspecified
Write Endurance	1,500 TBW
Max Power Draw	Unspecified
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	2,000,000 hours
Warranty	3 years
Dimensions	80 x 22 x 3.5 mm (SSD) *Heatsink dimensions unspecified

Performance

CrystalDiskMark

With a high performance PCIe 4.0 controller paired with 2GB of DRAM, the AGi AI838 packs a punch right out of the gate. The performance figures are similar to that of ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB we previously reviewed, though that SSD edges out in random I/O while this SSD has better sequential throughput. That being said, it’s not quite on the level of PNY CS3140 when it comes to random performance.

AS SSD Benchmark

A small bit of oddity found here with the AI838 having significantly lower sequential write speed, while the random write is faster than that. This is merely an outlier based on other tests we did, so we’ll move on to the next one.

Anvil’s Storage Utilities

The performance recorded by Anvil’s Storage Utilities has reflected lower performance than the theoretical maximum of 7.4GB/s read and 6.4GB/s by quite some margin. That being said, comparing to the ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX, we see the AI838 lagging slightly behind on reads (both sequential and random), while the random write performance is close between the two.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Here in ATTO Disk Benchmark, we can see minor inconsistencies while increasing the block sizes, with an observed dip on 32MB that clocks the read speed at 5.96GB/s. Write performance has remained consistent, however.

Write Endurance (AIDA64)

A full drive fill courtesy of AIDA64’s linear write test shows it’ll take you nearly 52 minutes to fill a 2TB drive, with plenty of DRAM and SLC caching to keep the speed high up until 33% (that’s about 700GB). It then goes through a rollercoaster with many rise and falls on write speeds, with the lowest point at the tail end of the test dipping down to ~700MB/s on average before it climbs back up right before the end of the test.

Value

Getting one of the AGi AI838 will be difficult, to say the least. We managed to find just one listing on Shopee, and it costs RM830 – taking the pricing into this chart, we can see it’s on the high side of the 2TB SSD spectrum. (Note that PNY CS2142 uses a less conventional M.2 2230 form factor, which costs extra.) It’s still significantly cheaper than the PCIe 5.0 offering, like the MSI SPATIUM M570 HS 1TB.

Conclusion

Before we conclude this review, let’s have a quick look at what even AGi is – you most certainly have never heard of them, and neither do I until our recent visit at Computex in Taiwan earlier this month. Turns out AGi (Agile Gear International, officially) is a Taiwanese brand, and it is a relatively new entrant to this space. Despite that, they’ve already offered some leading-edge products such as a 2TB microSD card, plus a high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD like this one.

So, is the AI838 a good SSD? All things considered, it’s a decent entry for a newly established company, though it isn’t perfect. It’s worth noting that AGi only offers 3 years of warranty for the drive, which is lower than the industry standard of 5 years, even at the price of RM830. Should they improve on this front, this is a usable option – assuming you can find one here in Malaysia.

Thanks to Agile Gear International for providing the AI838 2TB SSD for this review.