Western Digital has made a significant splash in the storage market with its latest PCIe 5.0 SSD offering. The WD Black SN8100 has quickly established itself as the fastest consumer SSD available today, setting new benchmarks for performance across multiple testing metrics and earning enthusiastic praise from tech reviewers.
Breakthrough Performance
The WD Black SN8100 delivers exceptional performance that significantly outpaces its competitors. With sequential read speeds reaching up to 14,900 MB/s and write speeds of 14,000 MB/s, it surpasses Samsung's 9100 Pro, which offers 14,700 MB/s read and 13,400 MB/s write speeds. What truly sets this drive apart, however, is its random 4K performance—an area where many high-speed SSDs typically falter. In testing, the SN8100 achieved 119 MB/s on random 4K reads and 349 MB/s on writes, making it 31% faster than the nearest competitor in read operations. This exceptional random 4K performance is particularly crucial for gamers, as it directly correlates with how quickly games can load assets, files, scenes, and textures.
Performance Comparison
| SSD Model | Sequential Read | Sequential Write | Random 4K Read | Random 4K Write |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WD Black SN8100 | 14,710 MB/s | 13,926 MB/s | 119 MB/s | 349 MB/s |
| Samsung 9100 Pro | 14,700 MB/s | 13,400 MB/s | ~91 MB/s (31% slower) | Not specified |
Technical Specifications
At the heart of the WD Black SN8100 is the proprietary Sandisk SMI2508 controller, designed internally by Sandisk (which was recently separated from Western Digital). This full-fat 8-channel controller is paired with Sandisk's 218-layer BiCS8 TLC 3D CBA NAND, marking a departure from WD's traditional partnership with Kioxia for NAND flash. The drive also incorporates 1GB of DRAM cache per TB of storage on a single-sided platform, making it compatible with virtually any device supporting the 2280 form factor. Western Digital claims the SN8100 offers over 100% improved power efficiency compared to its previous PCIe Gen4 drives, with temperatures during benchmark testing reaching a manageable 74 degrees Celsius.
Pricing and Availability
The WD Black SN8100 is competitively priced, with the 2TB non-heatsink variant retailing for USD$280 in the US and £227 in the UK. This translates to approximately USD$0.14 per GB and £0.11 per GB, respectively, positioning it favorably against older first-generation PCIe 5.0 solutions like Crucial's T700 and Corsair's MP700 Elite. Currently, the drive is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, with both heatsink and non-heatsink options. A 4TB model has been announced for release later this month. The SN8100 comes with Western Digital's standard 5-year warranty and offers an endurance rating of 1,200 TBW (Terabytes Written).
WD Black SN8100 Key Specifications
- Capacity: 1TB and 2TB (4TB coming later in May 2025)
- Interface: PCIe 5.0 x4
- Controller: Sandisk SMI2508
- NAND Flash: Sandisk 218-Layer BiCS8 TLC 3D CBA NAND
- Performance:
- Sequential Read: 14,900 MB/s
- Sequential Write: 14,000 MB/s
- Random 4K Read: 119 MB/s
- Random 4K Write: 349 MB/s
- Endurance: 1,200 TBW
- Warranty: 5 years
- Price: USD$280 (2TB), approximately USD$0.14 per GB
Market Position
The WD Black SN8100 arrives at a time when the PCIe 5.0 SSD market has seen numerous launches with mixed results. Samsung's 9100 Pro struggled with mediocre random 4K performance, Biwin's Black Opal X570 underdelivered on temperature management, and Corsair's MP700 Elite, while efficient, lacked the top-tier speeds expected from a flagship product. By keeping development in-house and meticulously fine-tuning each component, Western Digital has created what reviewers are calling almost the perfect drive for gaming, rendering, and professional workloads.
Future Outlook
The exceptional performance of the WD Black SN8100 sets a new standard for PCIe 5.0 storage solutions and puts pressure on competitors like Phison, which has been a dominant force in the high-performance SSD controller market. As Western Digital continues to leverage its partnership with Sandisk following their corporate separation, we may see further innovations in the storage space. The SN8100 represents not just an incremental improvement but a significant leap forward in consumer SSD technology, potentially influencing the direction of future storage developments across the industry.