Bright Lights, Fast Drive: Gigabyte Teases Aorus RGB AIC NVMe SSD

After announcing the add-in card (AIC) in January at the CES 2019 tech conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Gigabyte has this week started rolling out its Aorus RGB NVMe SSD, officially listing it on its website. The drive promises fast speeds, up to 3,480 MB/s and 3080 MB/s reads and writes, respectively and RGB flair in a full-size PCIe card form factor. Gigabyte will offer the SSD in 512 GB and 1 TB capacities.

The card uses the latest Phison PS5012-E12 NVMe 1.3 controller, along with Toshiba BiCs3 TLC NAND Flash. For increased speeds, the Aorus RGB AIC NVMe SSD includes DRAM cache of 512 MB and 1 GB for the 512 GB and 1 TB models, respectively. Both drive capacities will reach 3,480 MB/s sequential reads, with the 1 TB peaking at 3,080 MB /s writes and the 512 GB hitting 2,100 MB/s writes. IOPS for the 1 TB sit at 610K/530K, while the 512 GB model is able to reach 360K/510K. On paper, this is a high-performing drive by all accounts.

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Gigabyte Aorus RGB AIC NVMe SSD Specifications

This card isn’t all about the speed, though; its about the look too. The full-height, single-slot has a brushed aluminum shroud with the Aorus Eagle proudly etched in one corner. The SSD uses that shroud as a passive cooling system with thermal pads on the controller, NAND and DRAM chips. This makes contact with the aluminum shroud. The RGB LEDs on the card come from the backplate and run along the top edge of the device, putting out a diffused light. Gigabyte RGB Fusion software controls the LEDs.

Pricing was not revealed, but with the shrouds and RGB LED adornments, we suspect it won’t be as cheap as a simple M.2 module.

Image credit: Gigabyte