Of particular note is the Game Mode 2.0 feature that's new with the SN850X. The original Gaming Mode could be turned on or off within the Dashboard, but Game Mode 2.0 has an additional Auto setting to detect game launches. You can also manually enter game folder locations so the software knows where to watch. They all include some form of PCIE "cooling", that I agree is not ideal. Particularly on the VI, that tiny little slab of Aluminium they give you that is not finned in any way, barely does anything. But on all 3 of those ASUS boards they do at least all come ready with Thermal Pads. Western Digital doesn't give us detailed performance specifications the way Samsung does, but the basic specifications make it clear that this drive is aimed at the very top: sequential reads up to 7GB/s are pushing the limits of the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface that is still catching on in the consumer market, and random reads at 1M IOPS from a single M.2 drive were just a dream a year ago. Overall, these peak performance specs line up pretty well with the Samsung 980 PRO: Samsung quotes higher random write performance, and WD quotes slightly faster sequential writes. I own the Crosshair VI, VII, and VIII, I actively use all 3 every day. The VIII is on my Test Bench In an Open Air Setup with a 5900x, the VII is in my Main System running a 5900x (support came way sooner then most of us expected, I was able to get my hands on a Beta Bios with support for 5000 cpus less than a week after launch, which is the only reason I havent moved the VIII over to my main Rig yet, there is still more testing to be done in a controlled environment, and PCIE4 is crucial to my current testing), and the VI is in my Homebrew Automation/VDI/Game Streaming Server, running a 3950x.

On the PCIe 4.0 side, the Phison E18controlleris in a number of drives on the market as it was the first PCIe 4.0 NVMe controller to break cover in consumer-focused storage drives with better than PCIe 3.0 speed but not really testing the limits of PCIe 4.0 - plus it is known to be a toasty implementation. Due to a level of system maturity, to date we haven't tested an E18 drive, but our first Phison E18 SSD sample arrived yesterday. We're currently testing through it, especially with the latest firmware which fixes a few issues.That means that this review won't be able to declare an outright winner for the consumer SSD performance crown, but that's not a big deal. Just like when high-end SSDs were all bumping up against the limits of PCIe 3.0, small differences in benchmark scores between today's high-end PCIe 4.0 drives will not be noticeable during any normal real-world usage. These drives are already overkill for most purposes, and which one is technically the fastest is mostly a matter of bragging rights.Also on the market is the novel ADATA XPG Gammix S70 SSD with newcomer Innogrit's high-end SSD controller, which we have in hand but have not yet tested with the latest firmware. The write endurance itself, though, is to be commended. My 1TB review unit is rated for 600TB, but 2TB models scale all the way up to 1200TB write endurance, which is on par with the bleeding edge of Gen 4.0 models. Performance Also of interest are two of the most premium SSDs from the PCIe 3.0 era: the 1.5TB Intel Optane SSD 905P and the Samsung 970 PRO. The 970 PRO was the last high-end consumer drive to use MLC NAND, which gave it a significant advantage on heavy, long-running storage workloads as compared with TLC SSDs that use SLC caching to provide improved peak performance. The 970 PRO is old enough that newer, faster TLC NAND is catching up even in tests where MLC used to be a major advantage—and of course the latest and greatest TLC drives with PCIe 4.0 have far higher peak performance. Intel Optane SSD 905PThe WD Elements external HDD comes in a variety of sizes from 1TB to 5TB and is an extremely affordable storage solution. It is compatible with PC, Mac, PS4, and Xbox and has both USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports. It measures a diminutive 4.35 inches long and 3.23 inches wide and won't take up much room on your desk, TV stand, or travel bag. DirectStorage sure sounds as that there will be some improvement, albeit assuming you aren't running GPU at full load already, as DirectStorage apparently works mainly at the premise of taking some workload from the CPU and giving it to the GPU, such as to decompress files that get loaded in when walking to a new area in an open-world game. And for current-gen gaming, even slower NVMe SSDs sure are plenty fast. Velocidades insanas de até 7.300 MB/s 1 fornecem desempenho de alto nível com tempos de carga ridiculamente curtos para a experiência de jogadas de elite que você tem esperado. This Western Digital SSD is offered in 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB memory cuts . Each of these has a 5 year warranty and a minimum life of 300, 600 and 1200 TBW. Higher capacity models, therefore, are better suited to more arduous tasks, such as using design software or video editing. Suitable for any PC

WD's NAND technology still lags behind its competitors, with its 112-Layer BiCS5 flash competing against 176-Layer flash from Micron and SK hynix. However, this has advantages, as WD's mature flash can be carefully and reliably binned. BiCS5 also has 1Tb dies available for higher-capacity SSDs. The truth about NVMe SSDs is, you actually want the Flash to be hot, it actually prolongs its life to run at the higher operating temps, so its not actually the flash that is throttling you. It is ONLY the Controller on an SSD that needs to perform under a specific operating temperature. The Temperature at which it starts to throttle varies from drive to drive, but it is safe and neccesary for long term heavy storage workloads to adequately cool the controller, and under 75c is a common controller temp to shoot for to avoid throttling. And again, while I agree that something like an aftermarket EK Finned M.2 Heatsink would definitely give you lower operating Temperatures under full load, it does turn out that even the crappy slab of aluminum on the Crosshair VI hero is enough to keep most NVMe Controllers under throttle territory. The SN850’s peak performance matches the specs at 7.1 / 5.3 GBps of read/write throughput, and the drive serves up stellar performance in random workloads, too. At a queue depth (QD) of 1, the SN850 is almost as fast as the 980 Pro during the random read workload, and it even outperforms the 980 Pro by a large margin as the workload intensifies. Sustained Write Performance and Cache Recovery The SN850X is competitive with other high-end PCIe 4.0 drives in sequential workloads, but it can’t quite match the SK hynix Platinum P41 in random IOPS. Pricing is a bit stiff, particularly at 4TB. The SN850X will have to impress to justify its MSRP. Game Mode 2.0, Software and Accessories WD improved performance in sequential read workloads, with a maximum of 7.3GBps from 7.0GBps, and sequential writes improved from up to 5.3GBps to 6.6GBps. Performance in random workloads has also improved significantly, up from a maximum of 1M / 720,000 read and write, respectively, to 1.2M / 1.1M.With up to 2TB 1 capacity, your PlayStation®5 console has the additional space to store up to 50 games 3 so you still have room for the next big title. The most important competitors for the SN850 are other PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs. We have results for both the Samsung 980 PRO and the Silicon Power US70 based on the older Phison E16 controller. Our 980 PRO results are using newer firmware than our initial review of that drive, and we've added results for the 2TB model alongside our 1TB results. Western Digital SN850 Engineered and built with Western Digital 3D NAND to give you the reliability and endurance needed to sustain pro-level performance. The PCIe 4 drives do get even hotter than 3.0 drives, and these controllers really do throttle hard if you do not keep them under around 75c durint those longer storage workloads, but I know for a fact, that sinked properly, the Asus C8H Included M.2 Heat "sink" is enough to keep the temperature below throttle territory, assuming you have a room ambient that does not exceed 30c, a Case Temperature that does not exceed 45c, and decent airflow in the case that travels over the anemic "heatsinks", provided you sink just the contoller to the Heatsink on top, and the entire bottom sinked to the mobo, which is how I do my testing on this very topic. (My company provides the systems/maintenance for specialized fields so its my job to test our build outs for the clients use case, and a big part of that is making sure that the hardware can operate withing spec in their operating environments, so storage cooling is a component in this, which how I became to learn so much on this topic, although there is obviously still so much more to learn!) All-in-one heatsink SSD design makes installation and setup worry-free through the PS5™ console’s 4 M.2 expansion slot.