SanDisk WD Black SN8100 Review (WD_BLACK SN8100 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 2280 Game Drive)
Summary: The SanDisk WD Black SN8100 is an amazing piece of storage and if you have the right hardware, your system will fly with fast read and write times!
5
Digital speed demon
“I feel the need, the need for speed!”
– Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise)
Top Gun (1986)
This month, Impulse Gamer was given the opportunity to check out one of the fastest consumer drives available with the SanDisk WD_BLACK SN8100 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 2280 Game Drive that aims for the moon but delivers the stars when it comes to speed. Supporting the new PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe 2.0 platform, the WD Black SN8100 is currently available in three different sizes (1TB, 2TB or 4TB) that all boasts an interstellar sequential read of up to 14,900 MB/s and a write of up to 11,000 MB/s that is basically a digital speed demon. As to a game drive, the SN8100 targets the PC gamer and not the PS5 or PS5 Pro gamer as you would not experience the speed benefits on a console.
Utilising a Silicon Motion SM2508 controller, DDR4 for metadata caching and Kioxia 218-Layer BiCS8 Flash Memory, this SSD is like the F1 of NVMe. The nCache 4.0 of this SSD plays a major role in peak and sustained write performance. The controller is powered by a 6nm, quad-core ARM Cortex R8 that with its advanced architecture, supports 8 NAND channels of up to 3,600 MT/s, including 2.5M IOPS for both random reads and writes. It’s also been designed for improved power efficiency, uses less than 3.5W under load and PS4 idle state drops below 2mW without the need for aggressive thermal cooling.
With improved data integrity and exceptional data security with TCG Opal 2.02 thanks to Hardware-based encryption, the SanDisk WD Black SN8100 delivers the latest technology for users. In terms of pricing the SN8100 starts at $329AUD (1TB), $499AUD (2TB) and $899 (4TB) (including a 5-year warranty) and although it is on the expensive side of storage, it comes with a wealth of features, including the latest technology and to quote an overused cliché, it is indeed a gamer changer and comes with a peace of mind 5-year warranty.
According to SanDisk, the Total Bytes Written (TBW) rating for the SN8100 is 600TBW (1TB), 1200TBW (2TB) and 2400 (4TB) that ensures its data longevity for many years. And before we jump into the review, it should also be noted that SanDisk are planning to release an 8TB model later this year.
Promo Gallery
… And kudos to the PR for putting together this awesome promo pack!
Supporting your purchase is a free download of Acronis True Image that is a comprehensive back up suite that allows you to backup your data through full system imaging, file backups and disk cloning. Additionally there is an accompanying app called the SanDisk SSD Dashboard that has been designed to help you monitor and maintain peak performance of your drive, including checking for firmware updates.
Unboxing Gallery
Our test system included the following components and just a word of warning that you do need a motherboard with PCIe 5.0 support.
System Specifications
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
- Motherboard: ASRock Z890 Taichi OCF
- Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5-8000/8400 (2×24GB)
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
- PSU: ASUS ROG Thor 1200W Platinum II
And to install – you obviously need to open your case and insert the SSD into the M.2 slot on the motherboard and use one of these bad boys to keep it securely fit…
Once installed into the motherboard and detected by BIOS, we proceeded to install Windows 11 Pro in order to begin our benchmarking and after a few reboots later, I must admit that our system was fast. Even loading Microsoft Edge or running a large spreadsheet loaded like a flash, including photo manipulation via Adobe Photoshop.
Benchmarks
PCMark10 is a comprehensive benchmarking tool developed by UL Solutions that measures the overall performance of a Windows PC using real-world tasks and applications, including a comprehensive storage test. The SanDisk WD SN8100 scored exceptionally high at 8113 that puts it way ahead of its competitors.
Following PCMark10 and also from UL Solutions is 3DMark that is dubbed the gamers benchmark. 3DMark has a specialised Storage Benchmark that evaluates the real-world gaming performance of your storage device by simulating gaming tasks such as installing files, loading games, saving and recording gameplay. More importantly it supports the latest generation of SSDs and also has a DirectStorage test for Microsoft Windows game-loading acceleration. The overall score of the SN8100 was 8403 that ensures the SN8100 keeps the crown of speed.
CrystalDiskMark is a popular benchmarking tool that measures the performance of your storage with tests including both sequential and random read/write speeds, giving you a clear picture of how fast your drive can handle different types of data access. For the CrystalDiskMark 6.0 Sequential test, the read score was 14,910 (Q32T1) and write 13,998 (Q32T1).
Final Thoughts?
Undeniably, the SanDisk WD_BLACK SN8100 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 2280 Game Drive is made for speed and its performance cannot be faulted. It’s exceptionally fast for both read and write access, including a gamut of different file sizes and functionality. From a gaming perspective, your worlds will be loaded considerably faster to match your latest gaming rig. Further, PC enthusiasts, content creators and those needing storage performance will immediately experience the benefits. And what about its competitors? The competitors of the SanDisk WD Black SN8100 include the Crucial T705 and the Samsung 9100 Pro, however the SN8100 is the clear victor and if you are building the latest gaming rig, this SSD is a must for both gamers and PC enthusiasts.
Highly Recommended!
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