Gigabyte Enters PCIe M.2 SSD Race With Up to 512GB Capacity

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

Gigabyte is entering the M.2 SSD market with three drives of varying capacities--128GB, 256GB, and 512GB--that promise to outperform their SATA counterparts. The 128GB and 256GB capacity drives are currently available; the 512GB capacity drive is expected to start shipping soon.

The aptly named Gigabyte M.2 PCIe SSDs offer all the usual benefits: improved performance in a smaller package that doesn't require separate power and transmission cables. In its announcement today, Gigabyte claimed its SSDs rise above competitive models because they "must undergo and clear extreme temperature and pressure stress tests to ensure their quality and durability." It didn't offer any specifics, though, and most products are stress-tested.

But the company is willing to put its money where its mouth is. The Gigabyte M.2 PCIe SSD is covered by a three-year or 100TB written (TBW) warranty and boasts a 1.5 million hour Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rating. Unless you're in the habit of constantly saving, deleting and re-saving a couple dozen gigabytes of data every day (or messing with the space-time continuum), you should be good for those three years.

Performance-wise, the 128GB model offers speeds of up to 1,100MB/s sequential read, 500MB/s sequential write, 90,000 random read IOPS and 100,000 random write IOPS. For the 256GB model, those numbers increase to 1,200MB/s sequential write, 800MB/s sequential read, 80,000 random read IOPS and 150,000 random write IOPS. Specs for the 512GB model are currently unknown. All three capacities use the 2280 form factor.

The Gigabyte M.2 PCIe SSD clearly demonstrates the company's growing interest in the M.2 storage market. For example, in July, it announced several riser cards that offer extra slots for M.2 PCIe SSDs, so people don't have to break the bank for a motherboard with multiple slots. Between its motherboards, new line of UD Pro SATA  SSDs, M.2 riser cards and now these SSDs, Gigabyte has created its own portfolio of products for the storage-minded.

Gigabyte didn't share pricing information for its M.2 PCIe SSDs, but you can learn more about the 128GB drive and 256GB drive on the company's site.

Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • vern72
    Wow! Those read/write times are really poor! Maybe next time, Gigabyte.
    Reply
  • fardieme2017
    ITs still acceptable though. If the price is really cheap!!
    Reply
  • Marlin Schwanke
    21331920 said:
    Wow! Those read/write times are really poor! Maybe next time, Gigabyte.

    Seems like these are really PCIe X2 cards. Some laptops have only X2 slots. If these are cheap enough then might be a good choice.

    Overall, I think it’s best to leave flash storage to the people that developed the tech rather than have someone come along with something slapped together saying me too.
    Reply
  • milkod2001
    Gigabyte doesn't make PCIe M.2 SSDs. They are just rebrands with Gigabyte sticker. The only reason to go with it if it is dirty cheap, otherwise Samsung would be better option.
    Reply
  • jaber2
    Samsung? if I didn't see Gigabyte on this card I would have thought it was Samsung
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    i guess the speed takes a hit to compensate for all the LED's that will end up on it
    Reply