Despite the remarkable speed demonstrated by the WD Black SN8100 in benchmark tests, the 4-year-old Intel SSD remains the world's fastest drive.
SanDisk's new WD Black SN8100 SSD, leveraging PCIe Gen5 technology, is a high-performance storage solution designed for gamers and power users. This drive incorporates SanDisk's in-house 8-channel controller and BiCS 3D TLC NAND, delivering impressive speed and efficiency.
The SN8100 boasts read speeds of up to 14.5 GB/s and write speeds of up to 12.7 GB/s, placing it among the fastest Gen5 SSDs available. It offers four interface options: PCIe Gen5 x4, and capacities ranging from 1TB to 4TB.
Synthetic benchmarks, such as CrystalDiskMark and ATTO, suggest the SN8100 sets lab records for sequential throughput and random reads, reaching up to 2.3 million IOPS. In a comparison with Intel's now-defunct Optane P5800X, while the SN8100 offers superior sequential read speed, the P5800X still holds the title of the fastest SSD in real-world application due to its higher random read/write IOPS and low latency.
Although the SN8100 demonstrates power efficiency, consuming just 7 watts under load and requiring no active cooling, it does face limitations in real-world performance, ranking ninth overall in transfer tests compared to the Optane P5800X. However, the SN8100's impressive speed and lack of cooling needs make it a contender for the best SSD or best portable SSD for enthusiast builds.
Although Intel's Optane P5800X, based on Intel's 3D XPoint technology, is now four years old, it remains unmatched in real-world responsiveness and latency. Its sequential read speeds top out at 7.2 GB/s, slower than the SN8100, but its random read/write IOPS exceed 4.5 million, and latency frequently drops below 10 microseconds, demonstrating consistent, stable performance under heavy load.
The SN8100, a customized version of Silicon Motion's SM2508 controller, is further enhanced with proprietary technologies like nCache 4.0 and WD Black Gaming Mode. It fits into Sony's PlayStation 5's expansion slot, achieving read speeds of 6,550 MB/s in that setup. However, its premium price tag of $280 for the 2TB model places it in the premium category.
For those seeking additional storage solutions, consider checking out the best external hard drives, best portable SSDs, or best NAS devices available today.
The WD Black SN8100 SSD, with its PCIe Gen5 technology, is not only a high-performance storage solution for gamers and power users but also a contender for the best SSD or best portable SSD, given its impressive speed and data-and-cloud-computing capabilities. In addition, its gaming-focused features such as the WD Black Gaming Mode make it an attractive option for consoles like Sony's PlayStation 5.
