The 2TB version that I didn’t test uses 512Gb BiCS4 96L TLC flash dies, where the 1TB we tested and the 500GB option both use 256GB dies, and all use a dual-plane layout for extra throughput. Games these days are hungry for capacity, with some requiring as much as 250GB each, and they are only going to get larger as time goes on. Take total control with the downloadable WD_BLACK Dashboard, allowing you to monitor the health of your drive and optimize performance using gaming mode to ensure you’re firing on all cylinders during intense gaming sessions.

The Western Digital WD Black SN850 Review: A Very Fast PCIe 4 The Western Digital WD Black SN850 Review: A Very Fast PCIe 4

This test uses a wide-ranging set of real-world traces from popular applications and common tasks to fully test the performance of the fastest modern drives.In contrast to BiCS3, BiCS4 flash is not only faster thanks to a string-based start bias control scheme and smart Vt -tracking for improved reads, but has the benefit of improved efficiency over its predecessor with a low-pre-charge sense-amplifier bus scheme and sips down just 1.

WD_BLACK SN850X 2TBM.2 2280 Game Drive PCIe Gen4 NVMe up to

The WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD 1TB and 2TB 2 drives have an optional heatsink version that not only looks awesome but also helps your rig maintain peak performance through the most intense gaming sessions.The 2TB WD Black SN850 delivers roughly 200K more max random read IOPS than any other high capacity SSD we've tested to date, including Optane.

SN850 - Tech Advisor WD Black SN850X review: A Better SN850 - Tech Advisor

Now after learning some very valuable lessons from the SN700 and its minor refresh SN750, WD is back with the WD Black SN850, the first real hardware upgrade to the Black product line in over two years. Additionally, we love the WD Dashboard because it gives you everything you could need along with easy access to WD's tailored version of Acronis imaging software. An elaborate design and testing process went into making the heatsink to make it as effective as possible, and it also provides a small recess for an RGB LED that flashes to indicate activity. M.2 NVMe drives don’t offer many aesthetic opportunities to designers since they fit into a tightly defined space, and once inside the computer, they’ve rarely seen again.This drive still lacks encryption, making it less appealing to those looking for high-performance workstation storage. If you got the cash, it is a great choice for gamers and enthusiasts looking for top-tier, quality storage. Although the SN850 came on top or is a bit faster by a few MB/s; I would consider that both of them have the same performance when it comes to 4K random workloads.