Gigabyte Aorus Gen5 10000

The Aorus Gen5 10000 is a PCI-Express 5.0-compatible M.2 SSD from Gigabyte. As its name implies, the Gen5 10000 is able to reach sequential transfer rates of up to 10,000 MB/s using the Phison PS5026-E26 controller along with 232-layer Micron NAND running at 1600 MT/s.

Specifications

The first generation of PCIe Gen5-capable SSDs mostly uses the same key hardware components, which include the Phison PS5026-E26 controller and 1,600 MT/s TLC NAND from Micron. This is also true for Gigabyte’s Aorus Gen5 10000 as well as the Corsair MP700 and other Gen5 SSDs.

Unsurprisingly, the resulting performance is therefore largely similar across the board, with the 2 TB model of the Gen5 10000 being able to reach 10,000 MB/s sequential read speeds. In the first half of 2023, only the Crucial T700 is able to break the 10,000 MB/s barrier by utilizing faster Micron NAND that (most likely) runs at 2,000 MT/s.

Nevertheless, the Aorus Gen5 is still one of the speediest M.2 drives on the market in 2023 – particularly the largest 2 TB model, which offers sequential read/write speeds of 10,000 MB/s and 9,500 MB/s, respectively. Like the competitors, the 1 TB model comes in slightly behind at 9,500 MB/s and 8,500 MB/s read/write.

Unfortunately, Gigabyte has not published the drives’ maximum random IOPS specifications, but these numbers should align with the competitors as they use similar parts. That should mean around 1.5M IOPS, which is faster than most high-end Gen4 SSDs (although the Samsung 990 PRO is a notable exception).

Another detail that the first-generation Gen5 SSDs have in common is that they use a sizeable chunk of DRAM to deliver their advertised performance levels. The 1TB Aorus Gen5 10000 is equipped with 2 GB of LPDDR4 DRAM and the 2TB model ships with 4 GB.

Active power consumption (read/write) with the 1TB Aorus Gen5 is less than 10 W on both counts, according to Gigabyte. The 2 TB variant is a bit more demanding, with active power consumption rated at <10.5W (read) and <11W (write).

This power draw is quite significant compared to PCIe 4.0 SSDs, which are far more frugal in general. As of mid-2023, it is a weakness shared by all Gen5 SSDs including the Aorus model and it necessitates some form of cooling solution to avoid performance throttling.

Some manufacturers have resorted to fans to solve the cooling issue, but Gigabyte has opted to include a heatsink with the Gen5 10000. The sizeable heatsink should be more effective than motherboard heat spreaders, but you may want to check the dimensions to make sure it fits in your build.

MSRPs for the two Gigabyte Aorus Gen5 10000 SSDs have not been disclosed at the time of writing, but early listings indicate that the 2TB model sells for about $290. This is largely in line with the competitors and, on average, significantly more costly compared to some of the fastest Gen4 SSD.

The drives’ endurance ratings are also in line with the competition at 700/1,400 TBW for the 1 TB and 2 TB capacities, respectively.

Reviews

StorageReview

… if you know you want this, then go nuts, even better if you have a slot where you can fit in their beast of a heatsink. Just know that later this year, you’ll probably be eagerly anticipating the Aorus 14000 once this platform matures.

Overclock3D

… When you have peak write speeds up around the 9.3 GB/s mark you realise how blazingly fast the newest Aorus M.2 is, and how perfect it would be for those of you who do content creation …