Gigabyte Aorus 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD — Review (2026)

Name: Gigabyte Aorus 2 TB
Brand: Gigabyte
SKU: gigabyte-aorus-2-tb
Rating: 4.2 (67 reviews)

Posted on May 17, 2026 by Raymond Chen

The Gigabyte Aorus 2TB was among the first PCIe 4.0 SSDs to ship, packing Phison's E16 controller and Toshiba 64L TLC behind a finned aluminum heatsink with 3,600 TBW endurance.

Gigabyte Aorus 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD — Review

Controller & Memory

The Aorus 2TB is the flagship capacity of Gigabyte's first-generation PCIe 4.0 lineup, launched alongside AMD's X570 chipset in mid-2019. It shares the Phison PS5016-E16 controller with the rest of the Aorus family — a dual-core Arm Cortex-R5 running at 733 MHz with two auxiliary co-processors for NAND management. At 2TB, the drive carries 2 GB of SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM (split across both PCB sides) and Toshiba BiCS3 64-layer 3D TLC NAND with 16 dies across eight packages.

Gigabyte rates the 2TB at the same 5,000 MB/s sequential read and 4,000 MB/s sequential write as the 1TB, because the E16 controller tops out at roughly 5 GB/s regardless of capacity. Random performance holds at 750,000 read and 700,000 write IOPS. The included heatsink is tall and finned — effective for cooling, but it blocks some motherboard M.2 heatsinks and will not fit in laptops or the PS5 without removal.

Competitors from the same launch window include the Corsair Force MP600 2TB, Sabrent Rocket 4.0 2TB, and Patriot Viper VP4100 2TB — all E16 drives with near-identical performance. Newer PCIe 4.0 drives on the Phison E18 or Samsung Elpis controllers deliver meaningfully higher speeds at similar or lower prices.

Storage Comparisons:

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

Aorus Performance & Benchmarks

The Aorus 2TB delivers 5,000 MB/s sequential read and 4,000 MB/s sequential write — the E16 controller's ceiling. Reviews from Lab501, Vortez, and The PC Enthusiast confirm these figures in CrystalDiskMark on a fresh, empty drive. The drive behaves identically to other E16-based 2TB drives in real-world testing, which is expected since the platform is a reference design with minor firmware tweaks.

Performance comparison

Gigabyte Aorus 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
Gigabyte Aorus 2 TB (this drive): 5,000 MB/s read, 4,000 MB/s write

Sustained writes follow the familiar Phison pattern: peak speed within the SLC cache (roughly one-third of usable capacity), then a drop to approximately 1,500 MB/s for TLC writes. The large 2TB capacity means a generous SLC cache of roughly 660 GB, which is more than enough for consumer and prosumer workloads. Random 4K performance at low queue depths is comparable to other E16 drives and meaningfully faster than any PCIe 3.0 drive, but trails the E18 generation by 30 to 40 percent in peak random IOPS.

Gigabyte Aorus vs Competitors

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

Compare with rival drives:

ADATA XPG Gammix S50 2 TB Addlink S90 2 TB Apacer AS2280Q4 2 TB

Endurance, TBW & Warranty

The 2TB model carries a 3,600 TBW endurance rating — double the 1TB's 1,800 TBW and five times the newer Aorus 7000S 2TB's 1,400 TBW. This high endurance reflects the BiCS3 64-layer TLC, which is rated for more program-erase cycles than the faster 96-layer flash used in E18 drives. The warranty is 5 years, limited by whichever comes first: the warranty period or the TBW rating. At 100 GB of daily writes — a heavy content-creator workload — the 3,600 TBW rating translates to roughly 99 years. The MTBF is 1.7 million hours.

Gigabyte Aorus 2 TB Specifications

Category	Value
Capacity [?]	2 TB
Interface [?]	M.2 4.0 x 4
Controller [?]	Phison PS5016-E16
Memory type [?]	Toshiba 3D TLC
DRAM [?]	SK Hynix 2GB DDR4
Read speed (MB/s) [?]	5000
Write speed (MB/s) [?]	4000
Read IOPS [?]	750000
Write IOPS [?]	700000
Endurance (TBW) [?]	3600
MTBF (million hours) [?]	1.7
Warranty (years) [?]	5

Verdict: Is the Aorus Worth It in 2026?

The Gigabyte Aorus 2TB was an excellent first-generation PCIe 4.0 drive with class-leading endurance, but it has been surpassed by newer, faster, and cheaper Gen4 alternatives. The 3,600 TBW endurance rating remains a standout spec that even modern drives struggle to match. For existing owners, the drive still performs well and will outlast the system it is installed in. New buyers should consider the Aorus 7000S 2TB, Samsung 980 Pro 2TB, or Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB for meaningfully higher throughput at competitive prices.

+ Pros

5,000 MB/s sequential read on PCIe 4.0
3,600 TBW endurance is class-leading
Bundled heatsink prevents thermal throttling
AES-256 hardware encryption
5-year warranty

- Cons

E16 generation surpassed by E18 and newer
4,000 MB/s write speed is slow for Gen4
Tall heatsink incompatible with some motherboards
Double-sided PCB limits laptop use

4.2 / 5 · 67 votes

Buy this or similar SSD Storage:

Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB

-57% $165
List Price: $379.99

Buy on Amazon

INLAND Performance Plus 1 TB

$79.99

Buy on Amazon

Silicon Power 512GB NVMe SSD

$42.97

Buy on Amazon

Video Review

PCIe Gen 4 SSDs - Aorus 2TB Gen4 M.2 Review

Frequently Asked Questions

The Aorus 2TB delivers 5,000 MB/s reads and 4,000 MB/s writes on PCIe 4.0, which is more than enough for game loading. In real-world game benchmarks, it performs identically to other Phison E16 drives like the Corsair MP600. The difference between this and newer Gen4 drives in game load times is typically within one to two seconds — not perceptible for most players. The included heatsink keeps temperatures in check during long sessions.

The Aorus 2TB is rated for 3,600 TBW (terabytes written), backed by a 5-year warranty. This is one of the highest endurance ratings among consumer SSDs, exceeding even the newer Aorus 7000S 2TB (1,400 TBW). At 100 GB of writes per day — a heavy professional workload — the drive would take roughly 99 years to exhaust its rated endurance. For typical consumer use at 20 GB/day, it would take over 490 years.

The bare drive (with heatsink removed) delivers 5,000 MB/s reads, which is slightly below Sony's recommended 5,500 MB/s but above the practical minimum. The drive is M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe, meeting the interface requirement. The 2TB model is double-sided, which may limit clearance with some aftermarket PS5 heatsinks. Sony does not officially list this model, but it meets the published spec requirements.

Yes. The 2TB model includes 2 GB of SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM split across two packages on each side of the PCB. This serves as the flash translation layer mapping cache, ensuring consistent random performance. The drive is a full DRAM design, not DRAM-less.

The Aorus 7000S uses the newer Phison E18 controller and Micron 96L TLC, delivering 7,000 MB/s reads and 6,850 MB/s writes — significantly faster than the original Aorus's 5,000/4,000 MB/s. Random IOPS are also higher on the 7000S. However, the original Aorus has substantially higher endurance: 3,600 TBW vs 1,400 TBW. For new purchases, the 7000S is the better drive in every performance metric. For endurance-focused workloads, the original Aorus still holds an advantage.

For new purchases, no. Newer PCIe 4.0 drives on the E18 or Elpis controllers offer 7,000 MB/s+ speeds at similar or lower prices. The Aorus 7000S, Samsung 980 Pro, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus are all better choices. However, existing Aorus owners have no reason to replace it — the 3,600 TBW endurance rating means the drive will outlast virtually any system, and 5,000 MB/s reads remain faster than any PCIe 3.0 alternative.