# Gigabyte Aorus 7000S 2TB NVMe SSD — Full Review (2026)

The Gigabyte Aorus 7000S 2TB is the full-fat variant of Gigabyte's Phison E18 lineup, delivering 6,850 MB/s writes and 1,400 TBW endurance behind a nanocarbon-coated heatsink designed for throttle-free operation.

Quick answer: The Gigabyte Aorus 7000S 2TB is one of the more complete PCIe 4.0 SSD packages at this capacity: a well-designed heatsink, strong endurance, and competitive performance across synthetic and real-world benchmarks. Builders who want a drive that works out of the box without sourcing a separate heatsink will appreciate the design. The double-sided PCB rules out some slim laptop slots, and the SLC cache recovery time is slower than some E18 competitors. For a PS5 upgrade, the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB or Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB are worth considering as alternatives that offer similar performance with different thermal and software trade-offs.

## Specifications

| Specification | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Capacity | 2 TB |
| Interface | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller | Phison E18 |
| Memory type | Micron TLC |
| DRAM cache | 1GB or 2GB DDR4 |
| Sequential read | 7000 MB/s |
| Sequential write | 6850 MB/s |
| Random read IOPS | 650000 |
| Random write IOPS | 700000 |
| Endurance | 1400 TBW |
| MTBF | 1.6 |
| Warranty | 5 years |

## Performance

At 2TB, the Aorus 7000S hits its full stride: 7,000 MB/s sequential read and 6,850 MB/s sequential write as rated by Gigabyte. Independent testing from Tom's Hardware and Legit Reviews confirms the drive meets or slightly exceeds these numbers in CrystalDiskMark on a fresh drive. The 650,000 random read IOPS and 700,000 random write IOPS represent the full E18 platform capability unlocked by the higher NAND die count.

Sustained write behavior follows the standard Phison E18 pattern: a large SLC cache delivers peak write speed for several hundred gigabytes, after which writes settle to around 1,800 MB/s on a drive that is 50 percent full. Tom's Hardware noted the cache recovery can be slow, which means back-to-back large file transfers may see reduced speeds on the second pass. For gaming, OS use, and typical content creation, this is unlikely to matter — the cache is generous enough for most real-world workloads. Gaming benchmarks from TweakTown showed the Aorus 7000S 2TB setting lab records on their Intel test platform, outperforming other E18 drives in game load times.

## Endurance, TBW & Warranty

The 2TB model carries a 1,400 TBW endurance rating — double the 1TB's 700 TBW — backed by a 5-year limited warranty. Writing 767 GB every single day for five years would exhaust the rated endurance, a workload that virtually no consumer approaches. Even heavy content creators writing 200 GB daily would take nearly 20 years to reach the limit. The MTBF is rated at 1.6 million hours. Gigabyte's SSD Toolbox provides S.M.A.R.T. health data and secure erase, but lacks the cloning and migration tools that competitors like Samsung (Magician) and Sabrent bundle with their drives.

## Pros and Cons

**Pros:**

- 7,000 MB/s read, 6,850 MB/s write
- 1,400 TBW endurance with 5-year warranty
- Effective nanocarbon heatsink included
- 650K random read IOPS
- AES-256 hardware encryption
- Strong gaming performance per independent reviews
**Cons:**

- Double-sided PCB limits laptop compatibility
- SLC cache slow to recover after heavy writes
- SSD Toolbox lacks cloning and migration tools
- Heatsink adds height incompatible with some motherboards


## Verdict

The Gigabyte Aorus 7000S 2TB is one of the more complete PCIe 4.0 SSD packages at this capacity: a well-designed heatsink, strong endurance, and competitive performance across synthetic and real-world benchmarks. Builders who want a drive that works out of the box without sourcing a separate heatsink will appreciate the design. The double-sided PCB rules out some slim laptop slots, and the SLC cache recovery time is slower than some E18 competitors. For a PS5 upgrade, the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB or Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB are worth considering as alternatives that offer similar performance with different thermal and software trade-offs.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is the Gigabyte Aorus 7000S 2TB good for gaming?

Yes. Independent reviewers at TweakTown found the Aorus 7000S 2TB to be the top-performing Gen4 SSD for gaming on their Intel test platform, outperforming other Phison E18 drives in game load benchmarks. With 7,000 MB/s reads and 650K random read IOPS, it has more bandwidth than any current game requires. The included heatsink keeps temperatures low during extended sessions, preventing thermal throttling that affects some bare-drive Gen4 SSDs.

### Is the Aorus 7000S 2TB compatible with the PS5?

The bare drive meets Sony's speed requirement (5,500 MB/s+ read recommended), but the included heatsink makes it too tall for the PS5 M.2 slot. Users need to remove the factory heatsink and install a PS5-compatible low-profile heatsink. The 2TB model is double-sided, which fits the PS5's M.2 slot but may limit clearance with some aftermarket coolers. Sony does not list this specific model on its official compatibility page.

### Does the Aorus 7000S 2TB have a DRAM cache?

Yes. The 2TB model includes 2 GB of SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM split across two packages, one on each side of the PCB. This is a full DRAM buffer for the flash translation layer, not a DRAM-less HMB design. The DRAM ensures consistent random performance and avoids the latency overhead of borrowing system memory.

### What is the TBW endurance of the Aorus 7000S 2TB?

The Aorus 7000S 2TB is rated for 1,400 TBW (terabytes written), backed by a 5-year warranty. At 50 GB of writes per day — a heavy consumer workload — the drive would last roughly 77 years before reaching its rated endurance. Even at 200 GB per day, common for professional video editors, it would take over 19 years.

### How does the 2TB compare to the 1TB Aorus 7000S?

The 2TB writes faster (6,850 vs 5,500 MB/s), reads random data faster (650K vs 350K IOPS), and has double the endurance (1,400 vs 700 TBW). It also has 2 GB of DRAM versus 1 GB on the 1TB. However, the 2TB is double-sided with components on both PCB faces, which may limit compatibility with some thin laptops. The 1TB is single-sided, making it the better choice for laptop and PS5 upgrades where PCB thickness matters.

### Is the Aorus 7000S good for video editing?

For most video editing workflows, yes. The 6,850 MB/s write speed handles 4K and 8K preview files comfortably within the SLC cache. Once the cache fills — after several hundred gigabytes of sustained writes — speed drops to around 1,800 MB/s, which still exceeds the bandwidth needs of most editing codecs. Editors who regularly move terabytes of footage per session may want a drive with faster post-cache sustained writes or a larger SLC cache.

---

Last updated: 2026-05-17. Source: https://ssdrive.net/gigabyte-aorus-7000s-2-tb