SSD manufacturers are emerging in the market with great frequency these days, giving mainstream competitors like Crucial, TeamGroup, and Samsung a run for their money by providing decent value and performance as well. Similarly, a newer vendor, 'GiGimundo,' which was previously active on retail platforms, approached us with one of their popular offerings, the GS5 PCIe Gen 4.0 storage drive, and here's an extensive review.
When I first looked up the company's name on Google, I saw that the manufacturer doesn't entirely specialize in storage products; rather, it has diversified into portable drives, USB hubs, and other accessories. It's safe to say that the GS5 is a relatively newer product for them, hence putting it to the test was a great thing to do. Interestingly, I couldn't find a product page for the GS5 SSD, apart from the Amazon listing and 'spoiler alert', but the manufacturer was kind enough to give a discount exclusively to our readers.
GiGimundo GS5 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD - Speeds Up To 7,450 MB/s & a Dedicated Heatsink
Over at the company's Amazon listing, there are 'on-paper' specifications of the SSD disclosed, so let's take a look at them. The GS5 SSD features a PCIe 4.0x4 interface, with an M.2 2280 SSD form factor, which means that not only is it suitable for modern-day gaming systems, but it can easily be equipped into consoles like the PlayStation 5, and this is one of the firm's selling points, as it is advertised at many places on the Amazon listing.
Apart from this, you are looking at sequential read speeds of 6500 MB/s, which are claimed to be "25% faster than basic Gen4 SSDs." For the 2 TB variant in particular, the speeds reach up to 7450 MB/s, which is impressive considering the PCIe interface is onboard. Of course, we'll put the speed claims to the test later on. For a rather budget-friendly option, the GS5 features an 'aluminium heatsink' onboard, which is compatible with PS5 duct banks, allowing for a more efficient heat dissipation.
Our review unit features 2 TB of storage onboard, but GiGimundo also offers a 1 TB storage capacity for users looking for a lower storage configuration. The SSD features 3D TLC NAND Flash, along with support for SLC cache and, more importantly, HMB and TRIM technologies, which make it ideal for gaming and professional workloads, as well as integration in consoles.
GiGimundo GS5 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD – Unboxing and Closer Look
Well, SSD packaging is fairly standard for most parts, and a similar case was with the GS5 2TB drive. The box itself featured the SSD + heatsink image, along with the speed branded explicitly as well, to showcase 'prowess'. The drive also comes with the 5-year warranty label, which was great to see.
Inside the box, the SSD is pre-equipped with an aluminium heatsink and wrapped in a plastic enclosure, which is pretty standard. One interesting thing was the inclusion of a screwdriver, which is pretty rare for storage drives in general.
Upon removing the heatsink from the drive itself, we saw the usual 'thermal padding' along with the 'beefiness' of the drive, which means that under stress workloads, temperatures would definitely be under control.
The manufacturer hadn't listed the more 'technical' bits of the drive, such as the onboard NAND controller, so we had to tear down the SSD to take a look inside. At first glance, we spotted the Maxio MAP1602A, a popular platform in DRAM-less PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs, which is usually integrated in budget-oriented drives. It features a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) and utilizes a 4-channel with ONFi 5.0 / Toggle 5.0 up to 2400 MT/s. More importantly, this controller offers Agile ECC 3, which provides advanced error correction and adaptive NAND processing.
The Maxio's controller was paired with YMTC's 3D TLC NAND Flash onboard, which means that the entire stack of technology comes from Chinese manufacturers, a clever way to keep the drive under budget. Let's check whether the components integrated onboard actually translate into effective performance.
GiGimundo GS5 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD - Performance & Benchmarks
First, we have the official performance statistics for these drives, as listed by their manufacturers. You can compare these stats with the rest of the drives I tested in the following chart:
Official SSD Stats (MB/s)
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark download is a Windows 10 utility software program that tests the performance of solid-state drives. With its help, you can determine the speed of all installed SSDs and address any issues that the tests may reveal. The free app performs three separate tests to provide you with conclusive evidence of your driver's general behavior while copying, reading, and writing data. The app determines the access time of an SSD, along with its speed and performance capabilities. We used the 10GB configuration setting to get a detailed overview.
AS-SSD Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark x64
CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software. It measures sequential read/write speed and random access with different configurations. For this specific test, we used a 64 MiB test file size, and the results are as follows.
Crystal Disk Mark
Conclusion - Decent Value For the SSD Performance
The GiGimundo GS5 2 TB Gen 4 drive is a great option for consumers seeking a budget-oriented solution with no compromise on performance. The drive features massive capacities, decent read/write speeds, and certainly doesn't deviate from what it advertises. More importantly, with a five-year warranty, you are also getting great after-sales services, which puts the GS5 drive in a great spot in terms of consumer trust.
The drive currently retails for $69.99 for the 1 TB version and $119.99 for the 2 TB version; however, the manufacturer has kindly provided a discount coupon specifically for our viewers. By using the discount code when purchasing from the official Amazon link, you receive a great 20% discount on both the 1 TB and 2 TB versions, which further enhances the value of the SSD. It's essential to note that this discount is valid until October 31, 2025, and it cannot be combined with other promotions.
- GiGimundo GS5 1TB – $69.99 → $55.99
- GiGimundo GS5 2TB – $119.99 → $95.99
Use code "XD3BHPHD" to get a 20% discount on the GiGiMundo GS5 Gen 4 SSD when buying from this link
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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