WD_BLACK SN850 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe Gaming SSD with Heatsink - Works with PlayStation 5 up to 7000 MB/s read speed

Product Information

The performance offered by this solid state drive is of absolute importance and translates into extremely fast loading times even when starting the heaviest games or applications. 3D TLC NAND memories and hybrid SLC cache also ensure high reliability. Performing even under stress Store and play more titles on a drive that’s officially tested and certified for your PS5™ console 4, so you can keep gaming without worrying about compatibility issues.

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 Take advantage of irrational PCIe® Gen4 NVMe™ speeds up to 7000MB/s 2 read and 5300MB/s 2 write (1TB model) for a responsive and seamless gaming experience.

In This Article

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!) 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. The SN850's Gaming Mode worked by disabling lower power states, ensuring the drive would be more responsive. Game Mode 2.0 works differently with a three-pronged approach: predictive loading, adaptive thermal management, and overhead balancing. Predictive loading is an algorithm designed to detect upcoming low queue depth, sequential workloads - particularly the read workloads prevalent in many games. Adaptive thermal management works to improve average and sustained throughput via smoother throttling. Finally, overhead balancing seeks to improve read latency while gaming through I/O prioritization.

While Samsung’s TurboWrite offers awesome sustained performance over the 980 Pro due to its more conservative capacity, it only ensures a 6GB static cache at the 1TB and 2TB capacities. In contrast, the SN850’s cache is larger and scales with drive capacity. In contrast, WD infuses its drive with 12GB of static SLC cache for the 1TB model, and doubles that to 24GB for the 2TB model.

Our HDD Picks

The 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. Engineered and built with Western Digital 3D NAND to give you the reliability and endurance needed to sustain pro-level performance. 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 The benefits of an internal SSD drive are the same as the external: They’re fast, they use less power, have no moving parts, and they’re whisper-quiet. The downsides are the same: For those benefits, you’ll be paying a lot more per TB of storage. That said, prices on internal SSDs seem to be more accessible than the external devices, so adding a terabyte or two is more achievable for a little extra effort. I bought a 2TB SN850 for my new build, and I opted for the heatsink model, thinking that for the little extra money, it's worth it. The mobo I ended up buying has three M.2 slots with a one-piece cover that includes heatsinks and an active fan. I thought, great! The heatsink will be a spare, but alas...

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. To test thermal management, we set the room to 23C and left the SSD without airflow in an open-air test bench. With ASPM disabled and the Windows power profile set to High Performance, the controller’s idle temperature was warm at roughly 55C on the surface (44C via S.M.A.R.T data), while the NAND was 10C-12C cooler when measured with an IR thermometer. All-in-one heatsink SSD design makes installation and setup worry-free through the PS5™ console’s 4 M.2 expansion slot. 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.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. Designed with an M.2 2280 slim, light, and compact form factor to easily slide into your gaming rig. 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 I've searched around and looked for articles and videos, but haven't found anyone that has done it yet. Any info or guidance for me?