Anacomda i4-X Fiery Serpent 2 TB: The Reviewed Capacity of the E18 Line (2026)
The Anacomda i4-X Fiery Serpent 2 TB is the capacity NiKKTech called a very good Gen4 model, delivering the full 7,000 MB/s on Phison's E18, Kioxia TLC, and a 2 GB DRAM cache.
Controller & Memory
The Anacomda i4-X Fiery Serpent 2 TB runs Phison's PS5018-E18, a tri-core NVMe 1.4 controller built on three 32-bit ARM Cortex R5 CPUs with a fourth-generation LDPC engine and end-to-end data protection. Anacomda pairs the E18 with Kioxia 112-layer BiCS5 3D TLC NAND and a discrete 2 GB DDR4L-3200 DRAM chip from SK Hynix that holds the full flash translation layer mapping table on-drive, the architecture that marks a genuine flagship over the DRAM-less HMB designs that fill the budget tier. The drive ships with an aluminium heat spreader backed by a graphite thermal pad, a real advantage over bare rivals and a feature that makes it PS5-ready out of the box.
The 2 TB is the sweet spot of the i4-X line because it is the smallest capacity that reaches the E18 platform's full 7,000 MB/s sequential read and write ceiling. The 1 TB model writes at only 5,000 MB/s because it populates fewer NAND dies, while the 2 TB and the 4 TB both hit 7,000 MB/s in both directions. Endurance scales with capacity across the line, 700 TBW on the 1 TB, 1,550 TBW on the 2 TB reviewed here, and 2,800 TBW on the 4 TB, all backed by Anacomda's five-year warranty and the 1.6 million hour MTBF rating that NiKKTech's review confirmed for the entire line.
NiKKTech's review praised the 2 TB model as a very good Gen4 drive, highlighting the dynamic-range SLC cache, the SmartECC RAID-style error correction, and the LDPC engine as the E18's core reliability features, all of which the review found delivered consistent performance under sustained load. The discrete DRAM cache is the i4-X's defining advantage over DRAM-less competitors: it keeps random I/O latency steady under heavy mixed workloads where HMB designs eventually pull system memory away from the mapping table. The i4-X targets enthusiast gaming builds, PS5 upgrades, and content creation, competing with other E18 drives such as the Seagate FireCuda 530 and the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus and with the broader Gen4 flagship set including the Samsung 980 Pro and WD Black SN850X. Anacomda's value angle is the bundled heatsink, the Kioxia TLC, and the five-year warranty at a price below the brand-name E18 drives, with a thinner Western retail presence as the trade-off.
Storage Comparisons:
i4-X Firery Serpent Performance & Benchmarks
Anacomda rates the i4-X Fiery Serpent 2 TB at the full 7,000 MB/s sequential reads and 7,000 MB/s sequential writes over PCIe 4.0 x4, the platform ceiling that the 2 TB reaches by populating enough NAND dies to saturate the E18's eight channels. Random I/O is rated at roughly 1,000,000 read and write IOPS, the E18 platform's established ceiling. NiKKTech's review of this exact 2 TB capacity confirmed the headline speeds and characterised the drive as a very good Gen4 model.
ANACOMDA i4-X Firery Serpent 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
- ANACOMDA i4-X Firery Serpent 2 TB (this drive): 7,000 MB/s read, 7,000 MB/s write
The E18's discrete 2 GB DDR4L-3200 DRAM cache is the performance differentiator versus the DRAM-less competition. Holding the complete flash translation layer on-drive keeps random I/O latency consistent under sustained mixed workloads, large file transfers, and DirectStorage game loading, exactly the scenarios where DRAM-less HMB designs eventually slow as the host-memory buffer comes under pressure. NiKKTech highlighted the dynamic-range SLC cache, which absorbs bursts of writes at peak speed before flushing to native TLC, and the SmartECC plus fourth-generation LDPC error correction that protects data integrity at the BiCS5 TLC's higher bit densities. The trade-off versus a DRAM-less drive is higher power draw and heat, which is why Anacomda fits the aluminium heatsink, and why the 2 TB belongs in a slot with adequate airflow or board-level cooling. For gaming, content creation, and any sustained-write workload, the E18's consistency is the reason to pay over a DRAM-less alternative.
ANACOMDA i4-X Firery Serpent vs Competitors
See how the i4-X Firery Serpent stacks up against other M.2 4.0 x 4 drives in our database:
Compare with rival drives:
Endurance, TBW & Warranty
Anacomda covers the i4-X Fiery Serpent line with a five-year limited warranty, terminated at whichever arrives first between the term and the drive's TBW endurance rating. The 2 TB carries a 1,550 TBW rating, per TechPowerUp's line data, which sits in the same band as other E18 drives at this capacity and is competitive with the Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB at 1,200 TBW and the WD Black SN850X 2 TB at 1,200 TBW. At a typical consumer write load of 20 GB per day, the 1,550 TBW rating translates to roughly 212 years before the write budget is exhausted, so the five-year term expires long before the NAND approaches its rated limit. The endurance headroom matters most for buyers running sustained write workloads such as video editing, game capture, or compiling large projects, where the 2 TB's roughly 2.2x write budget over the 1 TB is a genuine practical advantage. NiKKTech's review confirmed Anacomda's 1.6 million hour MTBF rating across the i4-X line, a fleet-reliability statistic describing expected failure rates across a large population of drives rather than a lifespan promise for any individual unit. Anacomda's European market presence means warranty and RMA support is generally more accessible there than for Asia-focused brands.
ANACOMDA i4-X Firery Serpent 2 TB Specifications
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Capacity [?] | 2 TB |
| Interface [?] | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller [?] | Phison PS5018 E18 8 Channel |
| Memory type [?] | Kioxia 112-L TLC |
| DRAM [?] | Yes |
| Read speed (MB/s) [?] | 7000 |
| Write speed (MB/s) [?] | 7000 |
| Read IOPS [?] | 1000000 |
| Write IOPS [?] | 1000000 |
| Endurance (TBW) [?] | 1550 |
| MTBF (million hours) [?] | 2000000 |
| Warranty (years) [?] | 5 |
Verdict: Is the i4-X Firery Serpent Worth It in 2026?
The Anacomda i4-X Fiery Serpent 2 TB is the capacity to buy from this line because it is the smallest that reaches the E18 platform's full 7,000 MB/s in both directions, and it is the model NiKKTech reviewed directly and praised as a very good Gen4 drive. It pairs the E18 and its discrete 2 GB DRAM cache with Kioxia BiCS5 TLC for consistent sustained-write behaviour that DRAM-less rivals cannot match, it carries a competitive 1,550 TBW endurance rating, and it ships with the aluminium heatsink that brand-name E18 drives like the Seagate FireCuda 530 and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus make buyers source separately. For a gaming build, a PS5 upgrade, or a content-creation workstation where the E18's real-world consistency and the included heatsink matter, the 2 TB is a strong value against those pricier alternatives. Buyers who need only a boot drive can save with the 1 TB and accept 5,000 MB/s writes, and buyers who need maximum capacity and endurance can step up to the 4 TB or the announced 8 TB flagship. The main caveat is Anacomda's thinner Western retail and review footprint compared with Samsung or WD, which is worth weighing against the price advantage.
+ Pros
- Full 7,000 MB/s reads and writes, the E18 platform ceiling
- Discrete 2 GB DDR4L DRAM cache for consistent sustained I/O
- Kioxia 112-layer BiCS5 TLC NAND
- Aluminium heatsink with graphite pad included
- 1,550 TBW endurance, competitive with brand-name E18 drives
- Five-year warranty and 1.6 million hour MTBF
- Cons
- Higher power draw and heat than DRAM-less alternatives
- Heatsink requires M.2 slot clearance
- Smaller Western retail and review footprint than Samsung or WD
- Exact IOPS not published by the manufacturer
- Pricier than DRAM-less Gen4 drives with similar peak reads
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