The First Gen 5 SSD: Gigabyte Aorus 10000
Introduction
Introducing the Gigabyte Aorus 10000, the first Gen 5 SSD to hit the market! As the name suggests, it’s expected to be the first SSD to come close to the 10,000 megabytes per second barrier, which is about 50% faster than what current Gen 4 SSDs can do. But, as some may remember, when the first Gen 4 SSDs came out, they sounded amazing on paper, but the first generation of drives wasn’t that good at all. It took quite a while until we got proper high-performing drives that we love and use today. That’s why I am very curious to see how this very first Gen 5 Drive will perform, especially when it comes to some real-world tests.
Check our review article on Kingston NV2 SSD HERE!
Technical Overview of First Gen 5 SSD
Technically speaking, the Aorus 10000 seems very impressive. It uses Phison’s New e26 Gen 5 SSD controller, which will probably be the standard controller you will find in pretty much every other Gen 5 SSD that will come out in the next few months. It also uses Micron’s latest 232 layer 3D TLC NAND, and, of course, they added DRAM cache as well. The one terabyte model gets 2 gigabytes of DRAM cache, which is twice as much as you would usually find on a high-end Gen 4 drive. The two terabyte model comes with a four gigabyte cache. There is no information about any four terabyte drives just yet, but we really do hope they will come out eventually.
Other than that, the specs are pretty basic. They have a sequential read and write performance claim, and you get a five-year-long warranty with total bytes written of 700 terabytes for the one terabyte model and 1400 terabytes for the two terabyte model, which is above average. Realistically, you’re more likely to run out of that five-year-long warranty way before you write 1400 terabytes to a single Drive.
The specs claim that the drive uses less than 10 watts under load, which is about double of what most Gen 4 drives will pull, but not so much that one would need some obnoxious cooling solutions with active fans. Nevertheless, Gigabyte bundled this drive with a massive heatsink. One might think it is because it will get massively hot, but that is not the case. They just reuse their most high-end Gen 4 SSD heatsink that still has a little Gen 4 sticker on the side of it.
But don’t worry, retail models will say Gen 5. This is just an early review sample. Keep in mind that this oversized heatsink might be too big for some motherboards. For example, it didn’t fit on the Gen 5 slot of my Asus Z790 hero board. If that happens, one can just remove the heatsink and use the one that their motherboard comes with. Any Gen 5 slot has decent heatsinks nowadays, so it shouldn’t be a problem at all. Power consumption is also quite interesting.
Sequential Read and Write Numbers
Let’s talk performance. And this time around, we’re actually going to start with sequential read-and-write numbers. These numbers are not that relevant from a practice perspective.
One of the main selling points of Gen 5 SSDs is their ability to break through the 7,000 megabytes per second barrier of the Gen 4 slot in sequential read speeds. The Gigabyte Aorus Gen 5 SSD, for example, averages around 9,750 megabytes per second with some peaks of over 10,000 – that’s about 50 times faster than anything last-gen in sequential reads. Its output is definitely a lot higher, but since the theoretical limit of Gen 5 SSDs is twice as high as Gen 4, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
Let’s take a look at some more realistic results. Starting with the PC Mark 10 quick test, this is a great benchmark for anyone who wants to add a second SSD to their system. It replicates all those little light things we do with our PCs every single day, such as looking at photos, opening documents, and more. The Gigabyte Aorus Gen 5 SSD does great here with an average result of 900 megabytes per second – that’s over 20 times faster than the Samsung 990 Pro and about 50 to 80 times faster than most Gen 4 drives.
Moving on to the full PC Mark 10 Suite, which is a test that replicates a more intense, more serious, and more consistent use of your drive – this is a very useful benchmark to look at if you’re looking for a new main drive, or for anyone that needs to run some applications that can be heavy on the SSD like editing videos, for example. Once again, the Aorus Gen 5 SSD performs really well with an average result of 909 megabytes per second. That’s 30% faster than the Samsung 990 Pro, 42% faster than the Western Digital SN850X, and about 46% faster than the Kingston KC3000. If we look at the average latency as well, it’s once again a lot quicker than anything Gen 4.
Finally, the PC Mark consistency test is really interesting for most people out there. It’s great to see how a drive behaves under an extreme multi-hour workload that just stresses it to its very limits. Here, the Aorus Gen 5 SSD gets beaten by the Samsung 990 Pro, which just handles this extreme workload much better than other drives. However, it is also beaten by the MP600 Pro LPX from Corsair.
The Aorus 10000 is a top-tier SSD drive that’s being touted as one of the fastest drives out there. But, despite its impressive hardware, it seems to be struggling in certain areas. The drive might benefit from some firmware optimization to help it handle extreme scenarios better.
Prices of Above Mentioned Hardware:
SSDs:
Samsung 990 Pro SSD: Amazon
Kingston KC3000 SSD: Amazon
Western Digital SN850X: Amazon
LPX MP600 Pro: Amazon
Motherboard:
Gaming Performance
When it comes to gaming, the Aorus 10000 isn’t quite reaching its full potential. In the 3DMark storage test, it came in second place, which isn’t necessarily a bad result, but it’s not the clear win that was expected based on previous results. Other high-end Gen 4 drives like the KC 3000 and the 990 Pro are also performing similarly. If we focus on loading times, installation times, and update times, which are the most important gaming results, the Aorus 10000 scores 91 out of the fastest drive tested, which is the WD Black SN850X.
Thermals of First Gen 5 SSD
The temperature of the drive is another area of concern. With the ability to transfer 10 gigabytes in a single second, it’s important to keep the drive cool. The Aorus 10000 includes a massive heatsink that does a great job of keeping the temperature down. With just a bit of airflow, it kept the SSD under 50 degrees Celsius during the entire consistency test, which is way cooler than it actually needs to be. If there is a little bit of airflow running by the drive, it will be completely fine on the regular motherboard heatsink or even a reasonable third-party heatsink that one can get on Amazon.
Pricing and Final Thoughts on First Gen 5 SSD
All in all, the Aorus 10000 performs better than expected for a first-gen 5 drive. When Gen 4 drives were released, they were only faster than the Gen 3 drives in sequential performance, while running way too hot. It took quite a while for Gen 4 drives to start making sense. This Gen 5 drive is already showing significant improvements in regular use cases. While it might need some firmware optimization to handle extreme scenarios better, it’s a solid option for gaming and regular use.
Keeping your cool is a great start when considering the latest technology updates. The good news is that Gen 5 integration is well underway. However, before rushing to buy the latest SSD drive, there are some important things to consider.
One of the key concerns is that the firmware of the latest Aura Drive may not be completely optimized just yet. While it shows potential in some benchmarks, it barely showed any game gains in others. It is wise to wait and see how this technology develops, rather than buying something this early and then waiting for it to improve. It’s important to note that other Gen 5 drives are coming out as well. Waiting to see what the competition has to offer is always a good idea.
Moreover, not all systems support a Gen 5 SSE to begin with, and many that do, especially on the Intel side, will reduce the bandwidth available for your GPU. New AM5 e-boards for AMD CPUs are the only ones that have that sort of capability, but it will still be a while until Gen 5 SSDs become more of a standard like Gen 4S are today.
Finally, pricing is another important factor to consider. It is not yet clear how much these drives will cost, but the first listing seen for a two-terabyte model was $340 in the US. That’s more than the 990 Pro, which is already heavily overpriced, and about twice the price of a good high-end Gen 4 SSD. In the Netherlands, the MSRP is set at 419 Euros, but the prices in actual shops will likely end up being a bit lower.
In conclusion, while the latest technology updates are exciting, it’s important to consider all factors before rushing out to buy the latest SSD drive. Waiting to see how the technology develops and what the competition has to offer is always wise. Moreover, it’s important to consider whether your system supports Gen 5 SSE, and how much these drives will cost. Keeping all these factors in mind will help you make a more informed decision when considering the latest technology updates.
The latest generation of solid-state drives (SSDs), or Gen 5, has recently hit the market, promising incredible speeds of up to 10 gigabytes per second. While this is undoubtedly an exciting development in SSD technology, it may not be worth the investment just yet.
One of the first Gen 5 drives to be released is the Aura Drive, which has shown potential in some benchmarks but is not yet fully optimized. It’s best to wait and see how the technology develops before making a purchase. Additionally, other Gen 5 drives will soon be hitting the market, so it’s wise to compare and consider the competition before making a decision.
It’s important to note that not all systems support a Gen 5 SSE, and many that do will reduce the bandwidth available for your GPU, especially on the Intel side. New AM5 e-boards for AMD CPUs are currently the only ones that support Gen 5 completely.
While the Gen 5 technology is exciting, it may not be the best investment for most people just yet. It’s important to wait for the technology to fully optimize and compare prices and options before making a decision.
