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AGI is probably not a brand you’ve heard of, but they make many memory products that are often sold at a discount. We reviewed the AI818 SSD two years ago with something less than enthusiasm, but we’re happy to say that AGI seems to have taken our critique to heart with the AI858. A budget, high-end drive is a bit of a contradiction, but in this atmosphere of skyrocketing memory prices, every dollar matters. If you can save a few bucks and still get a fast drive, you should, and that’s the segment the AI858 is targeting, but this time with hardware that’s actually good.
AGI AI858 Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally Product 1TB 2TB 4TB Pricing $253.99 $512.99 N/A Form Factor M.2 2280 M.2 2280 M.2 2280 Interface / Protocol PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 Controller SMI SM2508 SMI SM2508 SMI SM2508 DRAM Samsung LPDDR4 Samsung LPDDR4 Samsung LPDDR4 Flash Memory Micron 232-Layer TLC Micron 232-Layer TLC Micron 232-Layer TLC Sequential Read 14,000 MB/s 14,000 MB/s 14,000 MB/s Sequential Write 10,000 MB/s 13,000 MB/s 13,000 MB/s Random Read N/A N/A N/A Random Write N/A N/A N/A Endurance 750TBW 1,500TBW 3,000TBW Part Number AGI1T0G00AI858-CB AGI2T0G00AI858-CB AGI4T0G00AI858-CB Warranty 5-Year 5-Year 5-Year
Today's best AGI AI858 2TB SSD deals $512.99 View
If you’re ever upset that a drive only comes in one or two capacities, then the TeamGroup G70 Pro might be for you. Not only does it come in both heatsinked and non-heatsinked versions, but it’s also available at 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and even 8TB. At the time of review, we could only find 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, with pricing pretty close between the two types – go for the heatsink, if you can. We’re giving the lower prices at $197.99, $326.99, and $505.99. If you’re shooting for DRAM, these prices aren’t too bad, but we’d lean towards the Seagate FireCuda 530R instead at 1TB. The G70 Pro is more competitive at 2TB and 4TB against comparable drives.
The drive is capable of reaching up to 7,400 / 6,600 MB/s for sequential reads. AGI does not list the random read and write IOPS specifications, but we know this controller and flash combination tends to reach at least 700K and can reach 1,000K or more. This is comparable to other drives in this class. We wouldn’t recommend the drive at 512GB as it can’t reach peak performance. Ideally, you would go for 2TB or 4TB for the best results. The drive is backed by a five-year, 740TB of data writes per TB of capacity warranty, which is above average but not exceptional.
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AGI AI858 Software and Accessories
AGI offers no downloads aside from the spec sheet. For checking drive health information, we recommend CrystalDiskInfo . CrystalDiskMark , its sibling, is good for benchmarking your drive to make sure everything is working well. For backups and disk imaging/cloning, we recommend MultiDrive for Windows and either Clonezilla or Rescuezilla for other operating systems or for booting.
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