Some SSDs struggle to achieve SATA speeds... (cable.. host... firmware..)
can you share at least one example please ?
Well, while this is relatively uncommon with recent and decent SSDs, I would not be surprised by the above with not-so-decent SSDs, and I don't think the metric is appropriate anyway.
The point is, what alternative do you have?
You may not achieve "SATA speeds" (I'm assuming by that you mean the full theoretical throughput of SATA) with some SSDs, but you will achieve even lower with HDDs, even the fastest ones. So what's the point exactly?
And if you want fast, just use decent NVMe SSDs and they'll literally beat the crap out of any SATA-based solution.
Now if for any reason, you have to settle for cheaper gear, then sure. But again, even a cheap SSD will be much faster than your fastest HDD. If you have ever noticed otherwise, I'll be curious to see that.