There was a time not too long ago when you would have to go with a mechanical hard drive to get higher capacities and that came at the cost of read and write speeds. With SSDs becoming the new norm, especially for gaming PCs, the demand for high speed and high capacity has never been higher. That’s where theWD_BLACK SN850X 4TBinternal NVMe SSDcomes in, as it offers massive storage capacity with NVMe PCIe 4.0 read and write speeds that far exceed SATA-based drivers.
WD_BLACK SN850X: Specifications and Features
The SN850X NVMe SSD from WD is a standard M.2 2280 size drive that comes with the option of a heatsink. This form factor makes it compatible with many devices, including theASUS ROG Ally X. This heatsink-less model (WDS400T2X0E) comes with 4TB of storage and a PCIe 4.0 interface with TLC 3D NAND. It is capable of hitting sequential read speeds of up to 7300MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 6600MB/s. It is a high-performance internal SSD that, especially at this discounted price, is an excellent upgrade.
WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X M.2 SSD
The WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X is an M.2 SSD that can deliver read speeds of up to 7300 MB/s and write speeds of up to 6600 MB/s. It comes without a heatsink, and it is compatible with all M.2 2230 slots. It uses TLC 3D NAND flash for storage and the PCIe 4.0 standard for connectivity. WD has added a Game Mode 2.0 feature that automatically detects a game and optimizes itself for the best performance.
It should be noted that the heatsink-less model of the WD_BLACK SN850X will need a heatsink to be installed in order to be used inside a PS5. Or, you can get the slightly more expensive model with a pre-installed heatsink.
Granted, it is not the fastest drive on the market, or one with the most storage capacity. you may find both PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 drives that can reach much higher transfer speeds and even drives that go up to 8TB. But those are a lot more expensive and the real-world difference in games is not as significant.
The WD_BLACK SN850X is rated for2400 TBWor Terabytes Written and a Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) of1.75 million hours, so it is plenty durable. Plus, in case you do face any issues, WD offers a 5-year limited warranty.
Being a gaming focused NVMe drive, it has a Game Mode 2.0 feature that is enabled through the WD_BLACK Dashboard software. This feature automatically detects a game and enables predictive loading and adaptive thermal management to further optimize the gaming experience. Furthermore, the WD_BLACK SN850X has official support for Microsoft DirectStorage technology as well.
WD_BLACK SN850X: Price and Availability
The WD_BLACK SN850X 4TB islisted on Newegg for $260, which is a 62% discount from its listed price of $700. While that is not the typical price for this SSD, it sits somewhere in the $330 to $400 range. At $260, it is still the cheapest option for this level of performance.Samsung’s 990 PRO 4TBoffers similar performance but costs $300, while theCrucial P3 Plus 4TBis both cheaper and slower.
For $10 more, you can get theversion with the heatsink, which is compatible with the PS5. It has the same speeds, but with an added heatsink, keeping it cool under load. This drive is also discounted, but not as heavily as the one without the heatsink.
