Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB: Flagship-Speed PCIe 4.0 with a Factory Heatsink (2026)

Name: Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB
Brand: Addlink
SKU: addlink-addgame-a93-2-tb
Rating: 3.6 (88 reviews)

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Raymond Chen

The Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB delivers the full 7,400 MB/s PCIe 4.0 ceiling from a DRAM-less Maxio MAP1602A controller and YMTC 232-layer TLC — with 1,500 TBW, a five-year warranty, and a bundled aluminium heatsink that most budget drives leave out.

Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB: Flagship-Speed PCIe 4.0 with a Factory Heatsink

Controller & Memory

The Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB runs a Maxio MAP1602A four-channel DRAM-less controller paired with YMTC 232-layer TLC NAND, leaning on Host Memory Buffer to borrow roughly 32 MB of system RAM for the flash translation layer instead of carrying discrete DRAM. The drive sits on a single-sided M.2 2280 PCB behind a PCIe 4.0 x4 link, slim enough for thin laptops and the PlayStation 5 expansion bay. Addlink ships the A93 with a low-profile aluminium heatsink in the box — an 8.75 mm crosscut-grid slab with a pre-applied silica thermal pad — a genuine value-add at this price tier where most DRAM-less drives ship bare.

The A93 spans 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB, and the 2 TB reviewed here shares the flagship speed ceiling with the 4 TB sibling: 7,400 MB/s sequential reads and 6,500 MB/s writes. The 1 TB entry model trails slightly at 7,200 MB/s and 6,100 MB/s because it packs fewer flash dies and gets less NAND parallelism across the controller's four channels. Random IOPS are controller-limited at 1,000,000 read and 820,000 write across all three capacities — the MAP1602A is the bottleneck, not the NAND. Endurance scales linearly at roughly 750 TBW per terabyte, so the 2 TB carries 1,500 TBW — double the 1 TB's 750 TBW and half the 4 TB's 3,000 TBW. All three share the same controller, the same YMTC NAND, the same HMB architecture, and the same five-year warranty. The 2 TB is the sweet spot: it gets the full speed ceiling and a generous SLC write cache without the premium the 4 TB commands.

Compatibility follows the standard PCIe 4.0 playbook. The drive works in any M.2 NVMe slot and is backward-compatible with PCIe 3.0, though throughput drops to roughly half the rated figure. In a PS5 it clears Sony's 5,500 MB/s read recommendation by a wide margin, and the bundled 8.75 mm heatsink fits under the console's 11.25 mm ceiling with room to spare. The single-sided PCB avoids clearance issues in thin laptops where a double-sided drive would foul the chassis. The closest rivals in the DRAM-less HMB 2 TB segment are the Team Group MP44, the WD Black SN770, and the Samsung 990 EVO — all chasing the same gamer-and-PS5 buyer. The A93's differentiators are the factory heatsink, the class-leading 1,500 TBW endurance, and YMTC 232-layer TLC at a time when several competitors have shifted to QLC at the entry level.

Storage Comparisons:

Top 2 TB SSDs Best PCIe 4.0 SSD Drive Best Deal of 1 TB SSDs NVME

AddGame A93 Performance & Benchmarks

On the 2 TB AddGame A93, Addlink rates sequential reads at 7,400 MB/s and writes at 6,500 MB/s over a PCIe 4.0 x4 link, with random performance rated up to 1,000,000 read IOPS and 820,000 write IOPS. Those are the full-speed figures the MAP1602A platform can deliver — the 2 TB and 4 TB both hit this ceiling, while the 1 TB sibling trails at 7,200 MB/s and 6,100 MB/s due to lower NAND parallelism. The Maxio MAP1602A controller is a known quantity in the budget PCIe 4.0 segment, built on TSMC 12 nm silicon with four NAND channels running at 2,400 MT/s, and has seen wide adoption across YMTC-based drives from multiple brands.

Performance comparison

Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB vs M.2 4.0 x 4 peers

Switch between sequential throughput and random IOPS to see how this drive stacks up against other M.2 4.0 x 4 SSDs in our database. The highlighted bar is the drive on this page — click any other bar to open that drive.

Patriot Viper PV593 1 TB: 14,500 MB/s read, 14,000 MB/s write
Patriot Viper PV593 2 TB: 14,500 MB/s read, 14,000 MB/s write
Patriot Viper PV593 4 TB: 14,500 MB/s read, 14,000 MB/s write
Patriot Viper PV573 2 TB: 14,000 MB/s read, 12,000 MB/s write
Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB (this drive): 7,400 MB/s read, 6,500 MB/s write

PCMag tested the 1 TB A93 and awarded the line an Editors' Choice; the 2 TB shares the same controller and NAND but gains a larger SLC write cache and higher peak throughput. The review unit hit rated sequential speeds in CrystalDiskMark, scored above average in PCMark 10 Storage traces simulating Windows boot, Adobe Photoshop launch, and game load sequences, and its 4K random write latency was second only to the WD Black SN850X — a drive with discrete DRAM at a meaningfully higher price. On the 2 TB, the larger SLC cache absorbs longer sustained writes before the drive settles to native YMTC TLC speed, making it better suited than the 1 TB for large file transfers, game library migrations, and content-capture workflows. For a boot-and-game drive the cache is large enough that typical desktop and gaming workloads rarely exhaust it. The bundled aluminium heatsink keeps the controller out of thermal trouble under sustained load, and independent testing confirms minimal throttling even during extended sequential writes.

Addlink AddGame A93 vs Competitors

See how the AddGame A93 stacks up against other M.2 4.0 x 4 drives in our database:

Compare with rival drives:

ADATA XPG Gammix S70 Blade 2 TB Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB Acer Predator GM7000 2 TB

Endurance, TBW & Warranty

Addlink covers the AddGame A93 2 TB with a five-year limited warranty, capped by whichever arrives first between the five-year term and the 1,500 TBW endurance rating. That TBW figure sits at the midpoint of a lineup that scales from 750 TBW at 1 TB to 3,000 TBW at 4 TB, holding a consistent 750 TBW per terabyte across all three capacities — a scaling pattern that tracks YMTC 232-layer TLC's rated cycle life and sits above average for the budget PCIe 4.0 segment. The WD Black SN770 2 TB carries 1,200 TBW, and the Team Group MP44 2 TB is rated at 1,300 TBW, making the A93 2 TB's 1,500 TBW the most generous in its immediate competitive set by a margin of 15 to 25 percent. At a typical consumer workload of roughly 20 GB of writes per day the drive would need more than 200 years to exhaust its write budget, so the five-year warranty term expires long before the NAND approaches its rated limit. Even a heavier 50 GB-per-day routine clears four decades. Addlink rates the drive at 1.5 million hours MTBF, but treat that figure as a population-reliability statistic describing expected failure rates across a large fleet rather than a lifespan promise for any individual unit. The warranty is serviced through the retailer or distributor; Addlink does not operate a direct end-user RMA portal in most regions.

Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB Specifications

Category	Value
Capacity [?]	2 TB
Interface [?]	M.2 4.0 x 4
Controller [?]	Maxio Tech MAP1602-C
Memory type [?]	YMTC 232-L TLC
DRAM [?]	HMB
Read speed (MB/s) [?]	7400
Write speed (MB/s) [?]	6500
Read IOPS [?]	1000000
Write IOPS [?]	820000
Endurance (TBW) [?]	1500
MTBF (million hours) [?]	1500000
Warranty (years) [?]	5

Verdict: Is the AddGame A93 Worth It in 2026?

The Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB earns its place as a budget PCIe 4.0 drive that delivers the full 7,400 MB/s speed ceiling without charging extra for the factory heatsink or skimping on endurance. The 1,500 TBW rating, five-year warranty, and bundled aluminium cooler make it a complete package for a desktop gaming build or a PS5 upgrade, and the single-sided PCB keeps it compatible with thin laptops. The 2 TB capacity sits in the product line's sweet spot: it gets the flagship speeds the 1 TB leaves on the table, a larger SLC cache that handles sustained writes more gracefully, and twice the endurance, for a moderate premium that buys genuine headroom rather than just a bigger number on the label. Look past the A93 if the workload demands discrete DRAM — the HMB design is not built for heavy workstation random-I/O duty, and the MAP1602A's four-channel architecture caps random throughput at the controller level regardless of capacity. The closest alternative is the Team Group MP44 2 TB, which posts identical peak speeds and the same HMB architecture but ships bare and carries 1,300 TBW against the A93's 1,500 TBW. The WD Black SN770 2 TB counters with stronger brand recognition and a longer review record, but its 5,150 MB/s read ceiling is meaningfully slower and it also lacks a factory heatsink. For a builder who wants a fast, cool-running 2 TB PCIe 4.0 drive at a budget price with nothing extra to buy, the A93 is the most complete option in its class.

+ Pros

7,400 MB/s sequential reads on PCIe 4.0
1,500 TBW endurance with 5-year warranty
Aluminium heatsink included in the box
Single-sided M.2 2280 fits thin laptops and PS5
YMTC 232-layer TLC at a budget price point
Larger SLC cache than the 1 TB sibling
PS5 compatible out of the box

- Cons

DRAM-less HMB design limits sustained random I/O
No AES 256-bit hardware encryption
No discrete DRAM for heavy workstation use
Smaller SLC cache than the 4 TB sibling

3.6 / 5 · 88 votes

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Video Review

Ultimate PS5 SSD Upgrade? Addlink A93 4TB Tested!

Frequently Asked Questions

It is, and the 2 TB hits the sweet spot for a gaming drive. The Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB delivers 7,400 MB/s sequential reads and 1,000,000 random read IOPS, well past the threshold where game load times stop scaling meaningfully with storage speed — the CPU and asset decompression become the bottleneck first. The DRAM-less HMB design is not a liability for gaming because titles issue large sequential reads, not sustained random writes. The 2 TB capacity holds a substantial game library, and the larger SLC cache over the 1 TB sibling means game installations and large patch writes complete faster before hitting native TLC speed. The included heatsink keeps temperatures in check during long sessions. At this price tier the A93 competes directly with the Team Group MP44 2 TB and wins on the bundled cooler and higher TBW.

Yes, and it is one of the cleaner PS5 upgrades in the budget tier. Sony requires an M.2 NVMe SSD recommending at least 5,500 MB/s sequential reads and fitting within 110 by 25 by 11.25 millimetres with a heatsink installed. The Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB clears the speed bar at 7,400 MB/s, and the bundled aluminium heatsink measures 8.75 mm tall — under the 11.25 mm ceiling — so the drive drops straight into the console expansion bay with no extra hardware. The single-sided PCB also aids clearance. The 2 TB capacity doubles the PS5's internal storage, which is the most practical upgrade from the stock 825 GB — the 1 TB is a marginal gain, and the 4 TB carries a steeper price premium. Sony does not maintain a publicly updated official compatibility list covering every drive model, but the A93 meets every published criterion.

No, the AddGame A93 is a DRAM-less design that relies on Host Memory Buffer technology instead. The Maxio MAP1602A controller borrows roughly 32 MB of system RAM to hold the flash translation layer mapping table, the same job a discrete DRAM chip would perform on a pricier drive. For consumer workloads — game loads, OS boots, application launches — HMB delivers near-DRAM responsiveness because these are predominantly sequential reads that do not stress the mapping table. The trade-off surfaces under heavy sustained random writes, where discrete DRAM would maintain more consistent latency. HMB is the norm at this price tier; the WD Black SN770, Team Group MP44, and Samsung 990 EVO all take the same DRAM-less HMB approach.

The Addlink AddGame A93 2 TB carries a 1,500 TBW endurance rating, the midpoint of a lineup that scales from 750 TBW at 1 TB to 3,000 TBW at 4 TB. At roughly 750 TBW per terabyte, the endurance tracks YMTC 232-layer TLC's rated cycle life and is above average for the budget PCIe 4.0 segment: the WD Black SN770 2 TB carries 1,200 TBW, and the Team Group MP44 2 TB is rated at 1,300 TBW. At 20 GB of writes per day the drive would take over 200 years to exhaust the rating, so the five-year warranty term expires long before the NAND wears out. The 1,500 TBW figure gives the 2 TB meaningful headroom for write-heavier use cases — game capture recording, large project exports, or serving as a scratch disk — that the 1 TB's 750 TBW rating would reach sooner.

It ships with one, which is one of the A93's genuine selling points. Addlink includes an aluminium heatsink in the box — an 8.75 mm crosscut-grid slab with a pre-applied silica thermal pad — that claims to reduce controller and NAND temperatures by over 20 percent under load. Most budget PCIe 4.0 drives arrive bare and expect the user to rely on the motherboard's built-in M.2 cover, which not every board includes. The bundled heatsink is thin enough for the PS5 expansion bay and for most laptops, though builders whose motherboard already includes a thick M.2 armour plate may need to remove the factory heatsink or use a different slot. For a desktop without integrated M.2 cooling, the A93's in-box heatsink is a genuine convenience.

The 2 TB AddGame A93 is faster, more durable, and more practical for sustained writes than the 1 TB sibling. Sequential speeds rise from 7,200 MB/s reads and 6,100 MB/s writes on the 1 TB to 7,400 MB/s and 6,500 MB/s on the 2 TB — a gain of roughly 3 to 6 percent from higher NAND parallelism. Endurance doubles from 750 TBW to 1,500 TBW. The larger SLC write cache on the 2 TB absorbs longer sustained writes before settling to native TLC speed, making it better suited for large file transfers and game library migrations. Random IOPS are identical across both capacities because they are controller-limited. The 2 TB commands a moderate price premium over the 1 TB, and for most buyers the extra headroom in speed, cache, and endurance justifies it.

The two occupy the same DRAM-less HMB PCIe 4.0 tier with nearly identical peak speeds — both the A93 2 TB and MP44 2 TB are rated at 7,400 MB/s reads and 6,500 MB/s writes. The A93 carries 1,500 TBW against the MP44's 1,300 TBW, a 15 percent endurance advantage. The A93's biggest practical differentiator is the bundled aluminium heatsink — the MP44 ships bare and expects the user to supply cooling. The MP44 counters with a slightly longer independent review record and broader retail availability in some regions. For a PS5 build or a desktop without an integrated M.2 armour plate, the A93 is the more complete package out of the box. For a motherboard that already includes a thick M.2 cover, the two are close enough that availability and price on the day should decide.