Gigabyte Aorus RGB 512GB SSD Review

Rating: 8.0.

Aorus, Gigabyte's premium sub-brand, offers a full range of products from laptops to gaming peripherals – including a range of SSDs in AIC, 2.5″ SATA and NVMe M.2 formats. The NVMe M.2 Aorus RGB 512GB drive uses the tried and tested combination of 3D TLC NAND and a Phison controller with, as the name suggests, added bling in the shape of RGB lighting in the drives heatsink.

There are just two models in Gigabytes Aorus RGB M.2 range, a 256GB drive and the flagship 512GB drive we are reviewing here. The Aorus RGB uses a combination of Toshiba BiCS3 3D 64-layer TLC NAND and a Phison E12 controller.

The PS5012-E12 is Phison’s second generation PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe controller. Built on a TSMC 28nm process, the 8-channel controller has been designed to work with TLC and QLC NAND technologies with support for Phison’s SmartECC and the latest LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) error correction as well as AES256, TCG OPAL and TCG Pyrite hardware encryption support. With 8 NAND channels and 32 NAND chip enable lines, the maximum amount of NAND the controller can support is 8TB.

Sequential performance figures for the 512GB drive are quoted as up to 3,480 MB/s for reads and up to 2,000 MB/s for writes. The 256MB drive is rated at up to 3,100MB/s reads and 1,050MB/s writes.

Random performance is quoted as up to 360,000 IOPS for reads and up to 440,000 IOPS for writes for the 512GB drive. The 256GB drive is rated at 180,000 IOPS reads and writes at 240,000 IOPS.

Endurance is quoted at 800TBW and the drive is backed by a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities:  512GB.
NAND Components: Toshiba BiCS3 3D 64-layer TLC.
NAND Controller: Phison PS5012-E12.
Cache: 512MB SK Hynix DDR4.
Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3.
Form Factor: M.2 2280.
Dimensions: 22 x 80 x 10mm.
Drive Weight: 28g.

Firmware Version: ECFM12.1

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