AIGO SM170 4 TB: The 7,200 TBW Capacity Flagship (2026)
The AIGO SM170 4 TB tops AIGO's DRAM-less line with 7,400 MB/s reads and a flagship 7,200 TBW endurance rating, the family's highest, on the SM2268XT and YMTC 232-layer TLC.
Controller & Memory
The AIGO SM170 4 TB runs the Silicon Motion SM2268XT four-channel DRAM-less controller in front of a YMTC 232-layer TLC flash array at 2,400 MT/s, borrowing system memory through Host Memory Buffer for the flash translation layer rather than carrying a discrete DRAM chip. It is rated at 7,400 MB/s sequential reads and 6,400 MB/s sequential writes over PCIe 4.0 x4, with up to 1,000,000 random read and write IOPS, and it carries a five-year warranty backed by a 7,200 TBW endurance rating on the 4 TB capacity. The SM2268XT belongs to the same wave of fast DRAM-less PCIe 4.0 controllers as Maxio's MAP1602, and AIGO's SM170 was among the first drives to pair it with YMTC's 232-layer NAND.
The SM170 ships in 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacities on the same controller, NAND, and HMB architecture. Sequential throughput holds at 7,400 MB/s reads across the line, and endurance scales at an unusually high 1,800 TBW per terabyte, 1,800 TBW on the 1 TB, 3,600 TBW on the 2 TB, and 7,200 TBW on the 4 TB reviewed here. That 7,200 TBW figure, confirmed by Tencent's coverage of the 4 TB model and matching the 7.2 PBW line rating in the johnnylucky database, is the headline spec of the flagship: it dwarfs the 1,200 to 1,300 TBW that mainstream 2 TB PCIe 4.0 drives carry, and it reflects the write-cycle headroom of the YMTC 232-layer TLC at scale. The 4 TB is the capacity to buy when the drive serves as a system's only storage, holding an operating system, a full application suite, a large media library, and a substantial game collection without compromise, while its larger SLC cache keeps sustained writes at peak speed through bigger transfers.
The binding caveat is availability. The SM170 has been distributed mainly through the Asian market, and TweakTown's review of the platform listed availability as a con alongside strong performance scores, which is why the product is flagged in some databases as temporarily only available in Asia. For buyers who can source it, the 4 TB competes with Maxio MAP1602 designs such as the Addlink S93 4 TB, the WD Black SN770, and the Team Group MP44, all DRAM-less HMB drives in a similar performance envelope. The SM170's edge is endurance: its 7,200 TBW rating and 1,800 TBW-per-terabyte scaling comfortably outclass the 600 TBW-per-terabyte norm of those rivals. The trade-off is buying convenience and warranty accessibility, since AIGO does not operate a global RMA portal comparable to the major Western brands.
Storage Comparisons:
SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia Performance & Benchmarks
AIGO rates the SM170 4 TB at 7,400 MB/s sequential reads and 6,400 MB/s sequential writes over PCIe 4.0 x4, with up to 1,000,000 random read and write IOPS. The SM2268XT is a four-channel DRAM-less controller that extracts flagship PCIe 4.0 throughput from high-speed YMTC 232-layer TLC at 2,400 MT/s without discrete DRAM, the same architectural approach as Maxio's MAP1602.
AIGO SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia 4 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
- AIGO SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia 4 TB (this drive): 7,400 MB/s read, 6,400 MB/s write
Independent characterisation comes from TweakTown's review of the 2 TB model, which shares the SM170's controller, firmware, NAND, and 7,400 MB/s rating, so its results transfer directly to the 4 TB. TweakTown measured 953,000 random read IOPS on an AMD test bench, the second-highest result the lab had recorded for a flash-based DRAM-less SSD, and 4,294 MB/s in a heavy mixed-transfer workload that set a new lab record for a DRAM-less drive. The review also recorded 4K QD1 random read at roughly 102 MB/s, a strong real-world signal for boot and application responsiveness, and a 3DMark Storage Gaming score around 4,200, respectable but the lowest of the top three DRAM-less controller platforms. The 4 TB's larger SLC cache, carved from a bigger NAND pool than the smaller capacities, extends the window of peak-speed sustained writes before performance settles to native TLC throughput, which helps with large game installs, video exports, and backup restores. As with every DRAM-less HMB design, sustained random write latency runs higher than on drives with discrete DRAM, but those drives occupy a higher price tier.
AIGO SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia vs Competitors
See how the SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia stacks up against other M.2 4.0 x 4 drives in our database:
Compare with rival drives:
Endurance, TBW & Warranty
AIGO covers the SM170 4 TB with a five-year limited warranty, terminated by whichever arrives first between the term and the 7,200 TBW endurance rating. That 7,200 TBW figure, confirmed by Tencent's coverage and matching the 7.2 PBW line rating in the johnnylucky database, is exceptional for the budget PCIe 4.0 segment and reflects the YMTC 232-layer TLC's write-cycle headroom at the 4 TB capacity. It scales at 1,800 TBW per terabyte across the line, well above the 600 TBW-per-terabyte norm of mainstream TLC drives, which means a 4 TB SM170 offers roughly six times the write budget of a 4 TB drive built to that older standard. At a typical consumer write load of 20 GB per day, the 7,200 TBW rating translates to roughly 986 years before the write budget is exhausted, so the five-year term expires long before the NAND approaches its rated limit. The headroom matters most when the 4 TB is used as a content-creation or scratch volume where daily writes reach hundreds of gigabytes, exactly the scenario where the flagship capacity and its outsized endurance earn their premium. The practical caveat is warranty accessibility: because the SM170 has been distributed primarily in Asia, buyers elsewhere should confirm retailer or distributor RMA support before purchase, since AIGO does not run a global end-user RMA portal. Within its home market, the five-year term and the 7,200 TBW rating together make a strong reliability proposition.
AIGO SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia 4 TB Specifications
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Capacity [?] | 4 TB |
| Interface [?] | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller [?] | Silicon Motion SM2268XT 4 Channel |
| Memory type [?] | YMTC 232-L TLC |
| DRAM [?] | HMB |
| Read speed (MB/s) [?] | 7400 |
| Write speed (MB/s) [?] | 6400 |
| Read IOPS [?] | 1000000 |
| Write IOPS [?] | 1000000 |
| Endurance (TBW) [?] | 7200 |
| MTBF (million hours) [?] | 1500000 |
| Warranty (years) [?] | 5 |
Verdict: Is the SM170 Temporarily Only Available in Asia Worth It in 2026?
The AIGO SM170 4 TB is the capacity flagship of AIGO's DRAM-less line and the model to choose when a single drive has to hold everything and survive heavy writes for years. It delivers the full 7,400 MB/s read ceiling of the SM2268XT platform, a verified 1,000,000 IOPS, and an exceptional 7,200 TBW endurance rating that dwarfs mainstream PCIe 4.0 rivals like the Addlink S93, WD Black SN770, and Team Group MP44, all of which sit closer to 600 TBW per terabyte than the SM170's 1,800. For buyers running sustained write workloads such as video production, game capture, or bulk media storage, the 4 TB's write budget is its defining advantage. The binding constraint is availability, since the SM170 has been largely confined to the Asian market and AIGO lacks a global RMA portal, so buyers elsewhere should source it only through a retailer that handles warranty returns. Where the SM170 4 TB is obtainable, it is one of the highest-endurance DRAM-less PCIe 4.0 values available at any capacity; where it is not, the Addlink S93 4 TB covers the same role on a widely distributed platform, at the cost of substantially lower endurance.
+ Pros
- 7,400 MB/s sequential reads, full SM2268XT platform ceiling
- 7,200 TBW endurance, exceptional for a budget DRAM-less drive
- 1,800 TBW per terabyte, triple the segment norm
- 1,000,000 random read IOPS, near the top of the DRAM-less class
- Five-year warranty on a flagship-capacity drive
- Cons
- Limited availability, primarily distributed in the Asian market
- DRAM-less HMB design raises sustained random write latency
- No global RMA portal outside its home region
- 4 TB carries a capacity price premium
- No direct English-language review of this specific capacity
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