Gigabyte aims for 12GB/s with new PCI Express 5.0 SSD

AMD will soon unveil the upgraded Ryzen 7000 series and AM5 platform, which means the company will join Intel when it comes to PCI Express 5.0 support. The theoretical ceiling for M.2 drives has been pushed from 8 to 16 GB/s, and before the processor launches in the fall from both Intel and AMD, manufacturers are taking turns offering SSDs that take advantage of PCI Express 5.0.

Last week, Samsung’s 990 Pro was spotted in a database, while Corsair officially unveiled the MP700. Gigabyte has now joined the Aorus Gen 5 10000 model, which comes with 3D TLC memory, LPDDR4 cache and Phison’s PS50526-E26 control circuit. Phison previously demonstrated the circuit at read and write speeds of 12 and 10 GB/s respectively, something that Gigabyte also specifies.

Speeds are well below the theoretical upper limit, but at the same time higher than the MP700 from Corsair, which are set at 10 and 9.5 Gb / s, respectively. Future PCI Express 5.0 storage devices will boost speeds, but the new Gigabyte variant suggests that the first-generation bar is in line with the hardware Zadak and Apacer unveiled earlier this year.

The Aorus Gen 5 10000 was launched with 1 and 4 TB of storage, respectively, and comes with a removable copper heatsink. At the time of writing, pricing and availability are shrouded in mystery. The products will likely hit store shelves sometime in September, when the Ryzen 7000 and Core 13000 will be on hand.

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