Mushkin Gamma 2TB Review — High-Capacity PCIe 4.0 Flagship
The Mushkin Gamma 2TB is the high-capacity variant of Mushkin's flagship PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, packing the Phison E18 controller, 2 GB of DRAM, and 1,400 TBW endurance into a double-sided M.2 2280 drive.
The Mushkin Gamma 2TB builds on the same Phison E18 reference platform as its 1TB sibling, pairing the Phison PS5018-E18 controller with Micron's 96-layer 3D TLC NAND and 2 GB of SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM cache. At 2TB, the drive hits the full potential of the E18 platform: 7,175 MB/s sequential reads and 6,800 MB/s writes — the latter significantly faster than the 1TB model's 5,600 MB/s, thanks to having more NAND dies operating in parallel.
The Gamma line comes in 1TB and 2TB capacities, both in the standard M.2 2280 form factor. The PCB is double-sided, meaning NAND packages are mounted on both sides of the board. This may cause clearance issues in thin laptops or devices restricted to single-sided M.2 drives.
The 2 TB capacity is where this drive becomes genuinely compelling. It holds a full Windows installation, a large application suite, and 20+ modern games with room to spare. The 1,400 TBW endurance rating — double the 1TB model's 700 TBW — means write-heavy workloads like video editing, database operations, and VM storage won't stress the drive.
Mushkin's Enhanced Data Protection Suite (MEDS) bundles 4th-generation LDPC error correction, end-to-end data path protection, dynamic SLC caching, thermal monitoring, and AES 128/256-bit hardware encryption.
The Gamma 2TB competes directly with the Corsair MP600 Pro 2TB (essentially identical hardware), the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB, the WD Black SN850X 2TB, and the Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB.
✅ Storage Comparisons:
🚀 Performance and benchmarks
The Mushkin Gamma 2TB is rated at up to 7,175 MB/s sequential reads and 6,800 MB/s sequential writes, with 640,000 IOPS random reads and 630,000 IOPS random writes. These are near the maximum numbers any PCIe 4.0 x4 drive can achieve — only a handful of drives push the read speed higher, and the 6,800 MB/s write speed is among the fastest in the generation.
Mushkin Gamma 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.
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,650 MB/s write
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 2 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 6,850 MB/s write
- Asgard AN4 512 GB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,500 MB/s write
- Asgard AN4 1 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,500 MB/s write
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB (this drive): 7,175 MB/s read, 6,800 MB/s write
The 2TB capacity's advantage over the 1TB model is most visible in write performance. Where the 1TB tops out at 5,600 MB/s writes, the 2TB hits 6,800 MB/s — a 21 percent improvement that comes from having more NAND channels active in parallel. For sustained workloads, this means faster file copies, quicker video renders, and shorter export times in content-creation applications.
In TweakTown's independent lab testing of the Gamma 2TB, the drive delivered strong results across the benchmark suite, with particularly impressive sequential write scores and competitive gaming load times. The 2 GB DDR4 DRAM cache keeps the flash translation layer mapping table on-die, delivering consistent random 4K performance that DRAM-less drives can't match under mixed workloads.
The SLC cache on the 2TB model is dynamic and scales with free capacity. On a 2 TB drive with substantial free space, the pseudo-SLC buffer can exceed 400 GB — enough that most users will never exhaust it in normal use. Once the cache fills, sustained direct-TLC write speeds on the Phison E18 platform typically range from 1,500 to 2,000 MB/s, which is still fast enough for demanding workflows.
Thermally, the Gamma 2TB runs warm under sustained loads. The Phison E18 is a power-hungry controller, and the drive's 70°C thermal throttling threshold can be reached during extended write operations without adequate cooling. A motherboard M.2 heatsink or third-party thermal solution is recommended for desktop installations.
🖥️ Endurance and warranty
Mushkin covers the Gamma 2TB with a 5-year limited warranty and a 1,400 TBW endurance rating — double the 1TB model's 700 TBW. At 1,400 TBW, you could write roughly 766 GB per day across the five-year warranty period before reaching the rated limit. For a typical desktop workload of 20–50 GB per day, the 2TB model would take 76 to 192 years to reach 1,400 TBW, making endurance a complete non-issue for any consumer use case. Even a professional video editor writing 200 GB daily would take 19 years to reach the TBW limit. The 5-year warranty matches the industry standard for flagship drives from Samsung, Western Digital, and Corsair. Mushkin rates the drive at 1.6 million hours MTBF. As a retail brand, Mushkin handles warranty claims directly, making the RMA process straightforward compared to OEM-only drives that route through system manufacturers.
📊 Specs
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Capacity [?] | 2 TB |
| Interface [?] | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller [?] | Phison PS5018 E18 |
| Memory type [?] | Micron 3D TLC |
| DRAM [?] | SK Hynix 2GB DDR4 |
| Read speed (MB/s) [?] | 7175 |
| Write speed (MB/s) [?] | 6800 |
| Read IOPS [?] | 640000 |
| Write IOPS [?] | 630000 |
| Endurance (TBW) [?] | 1400 |
| MTBF (million hours) [?] | 1.6 |
| Warranty (years) [?] | 5 |
Conclusion
The Mushkin Gamma 2TB is a flagship PCIe 4.0 SSD that delivers on every metric that matters: near-maximum read speeds, class-leading write speeds, generous DRAM cache, and industry-standard endurance and warranty. The 2TB capacity makes it suitable for power users, content creators, and gamers with large libraries. The 6,800 MB/s write speed puts it ahead of the 1TB model and on par with the best PCIe 4.0 drives available. The double-sided PCB and lack of an included heatsink are the only compromises. If your system has adequate M.2 clearance and cooling, the Gamma 2TB is a compelling alternative to the more expensive Samsung 980 Pro and WD Black SN850X.
+ Pros
- 7,175 MB/s reads, 6,800 MB/s writes — near PCIe 4.0 maximum
- 2 GB SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM cache
- 5-year warranty with 1,400 TBW endurance
- 2TB capacity for large game libraries and media
- AES 256-bit hardware encryption
- Strong sustained write performance
- Cons
- Double-sided PCB may not fit thin laptops
- No included heatsink — runs warm under sustained load
- Phison E18 platform is aging vs newer controllers
- Premium price for 2TB capacity
🛒 Buy this or similar SSD Storage:
✨ Video Review
2TB Mushkin GAMMA SSD Quick Look -- Samsung 980 Pro Performance?
