Gigabyte launches AORUS XTREME Gen4 SSD add-in card with up to 32 TB capacity and 28 GB/s read speeds

NVMe SSDs are clearly the fastest form of data storage available for the masses right now, but motherboards do not usually support more than two such devices, so capacity is somewhat limited when compared to conventional HDDs that can now pack more than 16 TB in one unit. To circumvent this limitation, companies like Gigabyte are presenting add-in cards (AIC) that resemble full-fledged graphics cards. The newest NVMe SSD AIC solution from Gigabyte comes in the form of the AORUS XTREME Gen4 with up to 32 TB capacities and ultra-fast read/write speeds.

This AIC solution can accommodate up to eight 4 TB second gen PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs powered by the Phison PS5018-E18 controller mounted in RAID configurations. NVMe SSDs this fast could get quite hot, so Gigabyte is also providing a large aluminum heatsink that is cooled by a dual-fan shroud. The storage solution also comes with a Storage Manager app that allows users to configure the RAID array with a single click and monitor temperatures through 10 sensors.

From the CrystalDiskMark snapshot provided with the press release, we can see that the RAID configuration for the maximum capacity can yield 28 GB/s sequential read speeds and more than 26 GB/s sequential writes. These results are around 4 times faster than those recorded by top single NVMe SSD solutions like the AORUS Gen4 7000s. Random read/write speeds especially in the Q1T1 tests are still quite slow.

No word on exact pricing and availability, though. Since the AORUS Gen4 7000s 2 TB SSD is currently available for ~$400, we can expect the new AORUS XTREME Gen4 to be at least a couple of thousands more expensive.

Buy the GIGABYTE AORUS Gen4 7000s 2 TB SSD on Amazon