Western Digital has quietly launched an Eight TB model of its high-end SN850X SSD, doubling the highest capability of the well-regarded drive household. The new drive gives efficiency on par with different members of the vary, however with twice as a lot capability because the earlier top-end mannequin – and with a large worth premium to go along with its newfound capability.
Western Digital launched its WD_Black SN850X SSDs in the summertime of 2022, releasing single-sided 1 TB and a pair of TB fashions, together with a double-sided Four TB mannequin. But now virtually two years down the road, the corporate has seen it match to introduce the even larger capability Eight TB mannequin to function their flagship PCIe 4.Zero SSD, and hold with the occasions of NAND costs and SSD capability calls for.
Like the opposite SN850X fashions, WD is utilizing their in-house, 4-channel controller for the brand new Eight TB mannequin, which sports activities a PCIe 4.Zero x4 interface. And being that this can be a high-end SSD, the controller is paired with DRAM (DDR4) for web page index caching, although WD does not disclose how a lot DRAM is on any given mannequin. On the NAND entrance, WD is seemingly nonetheless utilizing their BiCS 5 112L NAND right here, which implies we’re 4x 2 TB NAND chips, every with 16 1Tbit TLC dies on-board, twice as many dies as have been used on the NAND chips for the Four TB mannequin.
The peak learn pace of the brand new 8TB mannequin is 7,200 MB/sec, which is definitely a smidge under the efficiency the Four TB and a pair of TB fashions as a result of overhead from the extra NAND dies. Meanwhile peak sequential write speeds stay at 6,600 MB/sec, whereas 4K random write efficiency maxes out at 1200Ok IOPS for each reads and writes. It goes with out saying that this can be a step under the efficiency of the market flagship PCIe 5.Zero SSDs accessible right now, however it’ll be a bit longer till anybody else moreover Phison is delivery a PCIe 5.Zero controller – by no means thoughts the truth that these drives aren’t accessible in Eight TB capacities.
The Eight TB SN850X additionally retains the identical drive endurance development as the remainder of the SN850X household. In this case, double the NAND brings double the endurance of the Four TB mannequin, for an general endurance of 4800 terabytes written (TBW). Or when it comes to drive writes per day, this is similar 0.33 score as the opposite SN850X drives.
| WD_Back SN850X SSD Specifications | ||||
| Capacity | Eight TB | Four TB | 2 TB | 1 TB |
| Controller | WD In-House: 4 Channel, DRAM (DDR4) | |||
| NAND Flash | WD BiCS 5 TLC | |||
| Form-Factor, Interface | Double-Sided M.2-2280 PCIe 4.Zero x4, NVMe |
Single-Sided M.2-2280 PCIe 4.Zero x4, NVMe |
||
| Sequential Read | 7200 MB/s | 7300 MB/s | 7300 MB/s | 7300 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 6600 MB/s | 6600 MB/s | 6600 MB/s | 6300 MB/s |
| Random Read IOPS | 1200Ok | 1200Ok | 1200Ok | 800Ok |
| Random Write IOPS | 1200Ok | 1100Ok | 1100Ok | 1100Ok |
| SLC Caching | Yes | |||
| TCG Opal Encryption | 2.01 | |||
| Warranty | 5 Years | |||
| Write Endurance | 4800 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
2400 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
1200 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
600 TBW 0.33 DWPD |
| MSRP (No Heatsink) | $850 | $260 | $140 | $85 |
Western Digital’s WD_Black SN850X is accessible each with and with out aluminum heatsink. The model with out a heatsink aimed toward laptops and BYOC setups prices $849.99, whereas a model with an aluminum warmth spreader comes at $899.99. In each instances the Eight TB drive carries a big worth premium over the prevailing Four TB mannequin, which is available for $259.99.
This type of worth premium is sadly typical for Eight TB drives, and can seemingly stay so till each provide and demand for the high-capacity drives picks as much as deliver costs down. Still, with rival drives reminiscent of Corsair’s MP600 Pro XT Eight TB and Sabrent’s Rocket 4 Plus Eight TB going for $965.99 and $1,199.90 respectively, the introduction of the 8…
