# Goodram IRDM Ultimate X 2TB — PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Review (2026)

The Goodram IRDM Ultimate X 2TB scales the endurance-focused E16 platform to its highest capacity, delivering 2,683 TBW of write longevity alongside 5,000 MB/s reads and factory-tuned 4,500 MB/s writes.

Quick answer: The Goodram IRDM Ultimate X 2 TB is a niche product that excels in exactly one dimension — endurance — and it does so to a degree that no mainstream competitor can match. At 2,683 TBW, it offers more than double the write longevity of Samsung and WD's PCIe 4.0 flagships at the same capacity. The 5,000/4,500 MB/s throughput is adequate for any consumer workload, the factory-tuned write speed is a welcome margin above the E16 reference, and the 2 TB capacity provides ample room for large game libraries, media collections, and professional project files. The trade-offs are the E16 platform's age and efficiency: newer controllers deliver ~50% higher peak throughput at lower power consumption, and the double-sided PCB may not fit every laptop. For a write-intensive workstation volume, a long-service-life boot drive in a system that will see heavy use for 5+ years, or a content-creation scratch disk where endurance matters more than peak benchmark scores, the IRDM Ultimate X 2 TB is one of the most durable consumer NVMe drives ever sold. For gaming or general productivity, a modern DRAM-less TLC 2 TB drive will deliver equivalent real-world performance at lower cost and power.

## Specifications

| Specification | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Capacity | 2 TB |
| Interface | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller | Phison PS5016-E16 |
| Memory type | Toshiba 3D TLC |
| DRAM cache | DDR4 Cache |
| Sequential read | 5000 MB/s |
| Sequential write | 4500 MB/s |
| Random read IOPS | 750000 |
| Random write IOPS | 700000 |
| Endurance | 2683 TBW |
| MTBF | 1.7 |
| Warranty | 5 years |

## Performance

The 2 TB IRDM Ultimate X leverages the E16 platform's full parallelism to deliver the strongest sustained write profile of any capacity in Goodram's lineup. In CrystalDiskMark, sequential reads maintain the expected 4,950–5,050 MB/s, and cached sequential writes reach 4,450–4,530 MB/s. QD1 4K random reads sit in the 65–70 MB/s range, consistent with the E16's dual-core ARM Cortex-R5 architecture. Where the 2 TB model distinguishes itself is in sustained write behaviour: the pSLC write cache scales to roughly 230–270 GB of writes at full speed before the controller transitions to direct-to-TLC programming at approximately 1,500–1,800 MB/s — noticeably higher than the 1 TB model's 1,200–1,500 MB/s post-cache floor, because the fully populated NAND channels allow more interleaving during the slower TLC program phase.

A full-drive sequential fill of the 2 TB model completes at an average of approximately 1,550–1,700 MB/s, which is faster than any SATA SSD and competitive with mid-range PCIe 3.0 drives. For content creators who regularly ingest and process multi-hundred-gigabyte media sets, the large cache and strong post-cache write floor mean the drive rarely becomes the bottleneck — most source media (CFexpress cards, external SSDs, network storage) cannot saturate even the post-cache TLC write speed. Thermal behaviour with the graphene label is similar to the 1 TB model: the controller reaches the low 70s °C under sustained writes in still air, with mild throttling above 75 °C. The double-sided PCB with NAND on both faces provides slightly better passive thermal dissipation than the single-sided variants, though any basic heatsink or motherboard M.2 cover eliminates throttling concerns entirely.

## Endurance, TBW & Warranty

Goodram covers the IRDM Ultimate X 2 TB with a 5-year limited warranty and an endurance ceiling of 2,683 TBW. This is more than double the endurance of the Samsung 980 PRO, WD Black SN850X, and Crucial T500 at 2 TB (all rated at 1,200 TBW), and it even exceeds the endurance of many 2 TB enterprise SATA SSDs. For context, 2,683 TBW at 2 TB represents approximately 1,470 GB of host writes per day for five years. Even a heavy content-creation workload — ingesting, editing, and exporting 200 GB of 4K video footage daily — would take roughly 37 years to exhaust the rated endurance. The practical likelihood of any consumer reaching the TBW limit within the warranty period is near zero. Goodram's warranty service is administered through Wilk Elektronik's European distribution network; buyers outside the EU should confirm the RMA process with their regional retailer. Standard NVMe SMART monitoring (attribute 0xF5) tracks host writes for endurance accounting, and Goodram's SSD toolbox provides a user-friendly interface for checking remaining drive life.

## Pros and Cons

**Pros:**

- 2,683 TBW endurance — more than double Samsung/WD flagships
- Factory-tuned 4,500 MB/s writes above E16 reference
- Large ~250 GB pSLC cache on the 2 TB model
- 5-year warranty with exceptional endurance headroom
- Strong post-cache TLC write speed of 1,500–1,800 MB/s
- Polish assembly with European warranty support
**Cons:**

- 5,000 MB/s reads now entry-level PCIe 4.0 performance
- Double-sided PCB may not fit ultra-thin laptops
- Graphene label insufficient for sustained-write cooling
- 28 nm controller less efficient than modern 12/8 nm nodes
- Limited brand availability outside Europe


## Verdict

The Goodram IRDM Ultimate X 2 TB is a niche product that excels in exactly one dimension — endurance — and it does so to a degree that no mainstream competitor can match. At 2,683 TBW, it offers more than double the write longevity of Samsung and WD's PCIe 4.0 flagships at the same capacity. The 5,000/4,500 MB/s throughput is adequate for any consumer workload, the factory-tuned write speed is a welcome margin above the E16 reference, and the 2 TB capacity provides ample room for large game libraries, media collections, and professional project files. The trade-offs are the E16 platform's age and efficiency: newer controllers deliver ~50% higher peak throughput at lower power consumption, and the double-sided PCB may not fit every laptop. For a write-intensive workstation volume, a long-service-life boot drive in a system that will see heavy use for 5+ years, or a content-creation scratch disk where endurance matters more than peak benchmark scores, the IRDM Ultimate X 2 TB is one of the most durable consumer NVMe drives ever sold. For gaming or general productivity, a modern DRAM-less TLC 2 TB drive will deliver equivalent real-world performance at lower cost and power.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Why is the 2TB endurance (2,683 TBW) not double the 1TB rating (1,767 TBW)?

The non-linear endurance scaling from 1,767 TBW at 1 TB to 2,683 TBW at 2 TB (a factor of 1.52x rather than 2.0x) is likely due to how Goodram configures the drive's over-provisioning and pSLC cache allocation at the 2 TB capacity. The Phison E16 controller has eight NAND channels, and the 2 TB model fully populates all channels with the maximum number of chip-enable lines. With all channels saturated, additional NAND dies provide diminishing returns for wear-levelling because the controller's existing parallelism is already at its ceiling. Additionally, the 2 TB model may allocate a larger fixed-size fraction of the NAND array to the pSLC write cache to maintain a proportionally large burst-write ceiling (230–270 GB versus 110–140 GB on the 1 TB), which consumes more over-provisioned NAND and reduces the net endurance available for host writes. This behaviour is consistent with how other E16 vendors' endurance ratings scale at 2 TB.

### How does the 2TB IRDM Ultimate X compare to the Samsung 980 PRO 2TB?

The Samsung 980 PRO 2 TB uses Samsung's Elpis controller on 8 nm with V-NAND, delivering 6,900 MB/s read and 5,000 MB/s write — 38% faster reads and 11% faster writes than the IRDM Ultimate X. However, the 980 PRO's endurance is 1,200 TBW, less than half of the Ultimate X's 2,683 TBW. The performance gap is real: in any workload that is throughput-bound (large sequential transfers, application launch times, game loading), the 980 PRO is faster. The endurance gap is equally real: the IRDM Ultimate X will accept more than twice as many total host writes before reaching its rated endurance limit. For a gaming or general-purpose drive, the 980 PRO's speed advantage is more relevant to daily use. For a professional scratch disk or long-service-life workstation volume, the IRDM Ultimate X's endurance advantage becomes the deciding factor.

### Does the 2TB IRDM Ultimate X work in a PlayStation 5?

Yes, the 2 TB IRDM Ultimate X fits the PS5's M.2 expansion bay as a double-sided M.2 2280 module and meets the PCIe 4.0 x4 requirement. The PS5's benchmark will report sequential reads in the 4,900–5,100 MB/s range. The 2 TB capacity is ideal for PS5 use, providing room for the system software plus 25–35 large AAA titles. The graphene label provides only minimal passive cooling, so a low-profile aftermarket PS5-compatible heatsink is strongly recommended — the PS5's enclosed M.2 bay has limited airflow, and sustained game downloads and installations can push the E16 controller into thermal throttle territory without additional cooling. The double-sided PCB is compatible with the PS5's M.2 slot design, which accommodates double-sided modules.

### Is the IRDM Ultimate X 2TB suitable for a NAS or server?

The IRDM Ultimate X is a consumer-grade drive and is not explicitly validated for 24/7 NAS or server use. However, its 2,683 TBW endurance rating and the Phison E16 controller's mature firmware make it a reasonable candidate for a home-lab NAS cache drive or a write-intensive server boot volume in non-mission-critical applications. The drive lacks power-loss protection (PLP) capacitors, which means in-flight data in the DRAM write buffer can be lost during an unexpected power failure — a concern for server use that enterprise NVMe drives address with hold-up capacitors. For a home NAS serving media and file shares, the endurance headroom is more than sufficient for years of cache or tiered-storage duty. For a production server handling transactional workloads, an enterprise NVMe drive with PLP is the appropriate choice.

### Who is Goodram and where are their SSDs made?

Goodram is the consumer-facing brand of Wilk Elektronik SA, a Polish memory and storage manufacturer founded in 1991. Wilk Elektronik operates its own assembly and testing facility in Łaziska Górne, Poland, making it one of the few European companies with in-house SSD manufacturing capability. The IRDM product line (short for 'IRDM' — a stylised branding, not an acronym) represents Goodram's enthusiast and performance tier, comparable to Samsung's PRO, WD's Black, or Corsair's Force series. The components — Phison controller from Taiwan, Kioxia NAND from Japan, DDR4 DRAM from SK Hynix or Micron — are globally sourced, but final assembly, firmware customisation, and quality assurance are performed in Poland. Goodram products are distributed primarily in Europe, with limited availability in North America and Asia through select online retailers.

### What is the actual usable capacity of the 2TB IRDM Ultimate X?

The 2 TB IRDM Ultimate X provides approximately 1.86 TB (1,863 GB) of usable space in Windows, which reports capacity in binary units (TiB) but labels them as TB. In macOS and Linux, which use decimal units natively, the drive reports 2.0 TB (2,000 GB) of usable space. The difference between the raw 2,048 GB of NAND and the usable ~2,000 GB is reserved for the pSLC write cache, spare blocks for wear-levelling and bad-block remapping, and controller firmware metadata. This over-provisioning is standard across all consumer SSDs and is what enables the drive to maintain performance and endurance over its lifespan. Goodram does not expose a user-adjustable over-provisioning setting in its SSD toolbox.

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Last updated: 2026-05-17. Source: https://ssdrive.net/goodram-irdm-ultimate-x-2-tb