Review WD Black SN850X 8TB SSD review: The no-compromise 8TB champion

[Admin]

WD updated its Black SN850X SSD with the addition of an 8TB capacity model, sure to please seekers of extra storage space. Performance remains good with no real compromises, aside from the lingeringly high price point.

WD Black SN850X 8TB SSD review: The no-compromise 8TB champion : Read more

 

[cyrusfox]

The pricing is reasonable, especially since it matches the budget "inland" 8TB drives.

That's certainly a high premium, considering the 4TB SN850X costs $302, but it's not too outrageous given the cost of other 8TB M.2 drives. The 8TB Inland Performance Plus and Inland Gaming Performance Plus, the latter coming with a heatsink, currently run $859.99 and $889.99 by way of comparison.

This drive is ideal for those who need excellent support, speed, and 8TB in a compact form factor. It’s likely to attract business and enterprise buyers more than consumers. I have a 4TB Intel SATA drive that works great, but it’s hard to justify spending this much on 8TB unless you need constant access to that much data. For most people, setting up a similar NAS with spinning disks on a home network would be a more cost-effective solution. It ultimately depends on individual needs and use cases.

Glad to see one of the big makers (1st party) release a consumer facing large capacity drive in m.2 form factor.

 

[Notton]

On the comparison chart, is the 2TB w/ heatsink supposed to be cheaper than the one w/o?
$153.69 / $139.99
Or is the heatsink version on some kind of sale?

 

[Maxxify]

On the comparison chart, is the 2TB w/ heatsink supposed to be cheaper than the one w/o?
$153.69 / $139.99
Or is the heatsink version on some kind of sale?

Volatile pricing. Sometimes that does happen. Right now heatsink one is $149.99 on Newegg, without heatsink is $144.99 (w/promo).

 

[TeamRed2024]

The pricing is reasonable, especially since it matches the budget "inland" 8TB drives.

This drive is ideal for those who need excellent support, speed, and 8TB in a compact form factor.

I'm thinking the price is a bit strange... $800 for an 8TB m.2?

I just paid $300 each for 4x 4TB 990 Pros. $1200 for 16 TB m.2 SSDs... or $3200 for 32 TB?

Glad I have 85% of my m.2 SSD space remaining... makes the extra $2000 for the above totally not worth it.

 

[emike09]

About time! It is expensive, yes, but I love seeing bigger NVMe drives. I could replace my 4x 2TB drives with this single drive. Unfortunately, I've already footed the bill for 4x2TB NVMe (non-RAID) drives and spent more on those than this single drive. If you need large, fast storage, this is fantastic.

 

[thestryker]

I'm glad that higher capacity is starting to be available for those who need it and can't use U.2 drives. Hopefully as higher capacity NAND makes it way onto the market the pricing will start making its way down.

It’s likely to attract business and enterprise buyers more than consumers.

I wouldn't be sure of this as they don't tend to need that much storage on anything where physical size would matter. Enterprise has been well over 8TB per drive for at least 5 years so it wouldn't really apply from a capacity standpoint.

 

[Maxxify]

I wouldn't be sure of this as they don't tend to need that much storage on anything where physical size would matter. Enterprise has been well over 8TB per drive for at least 5 years so it wouldn't really apply from a capacity standpoint.

Agreed. WD has or will have the 8TB SN850P available for the PS5 and this would work there, too. Some people want that much space and the PS5 has only one slot. Limited slots in some laptops and HTPCs, too. Desktop systems are starting to get a serious number of M.2 slots but this still a good workspace drive, and you might want to use CPU lanes for something like this which reduces total slot count. I'd think the cache is way too big for serious enterprise use (among other things) but this could work for an AFA NAS for maximum density from M.2. WD did a good job here of making this attractive even at this price but you're still gonna have to pay out of pocket for 8TB due to relatively low demand and the cost of failures/RMAs.

 

[cyrusfox]

I'm thinking the price is a bit strange... $800 for an 8TB m.2?

I just paid $300 each for 4x 4TB 990 Pros. $1200 for 16 TB m.2 SSDs... or $3200 for 32 TB?

Glad I have 85% of my m.2 SSD space remaining... makes the extra $2000 for the above totally not worth it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Just to clarify, are you referring to u.2 drives? It sounds like you’re comparing multiple m.2 drives, which have a different use case than a single high-capacity m.2 drive. Currently, there aren’t any 16TB m.2 drives on the market—most are still capped at 8TB.

If a 16TB m.2 drive were released, it could influence pricing across the board, but I still think it would be priced significantly higher, likely starting around $1800-$2000. The market can be unpredictable, especially with NAND pricing fluctuations. It sounds like you're in a good position with your current storage, though!

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Last November I purchased a 4TB NVME Gen 4 on Amazon for $179 ($44 per 1TB) and that went into my PS5. It has been rock solid with great speeds. No way would I drop $800 on an 8TB stick.

 

[TeamRed2024]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Just to clarify, are you referring to u.2 drives? It sounds like you’re comparing multiple m.2 drives, which have a different use case than a single high-capacity m.2 drive. Currently, there aren’t any 16TB m.2 drives on the market—most are still capped at 8TB.

No... I was referring to my desktop build. When I said I just paid $300 each for 4x 4TB 990 Pros I was talking about $1200 for 16 TB m.2 SSDs... ($300 4TB x 4) or $3200 for 32 TB which is $800 for 8TB x 4.

Point being... doesn't seem like a very good value. For me I've moved on from the days of 1 and 2TB drives since 4TB drives are much more affordable. I don't see the value in 8TB m.2 drives at the moment. I do have a couple 8TB 870 drives for mass media storage... but they are 2.5" and I got them at an amazing price.

Last November I purchased a 4TB NVME Gen 4 on Amazon for $179 ($44 per 1TB) and that went into my PS5. It has been rock solid with great speeds. No way would I drop $800 on an 8TB stick.

Same here.

 

[phxrider]

Seems expensive, even for the 2x4TB option. I've becomes a fan of the Maxio controller drives like the Silicon Power US75 / Teamgroup MP44. I have a couple of US75s in systems, and a 990 Pro in my "main" system, and I can't tell a damn bit of difference in real usage. The 990 benches a little faster, but you can't perceive it as a human user. The 4TB US75 is $215, and I bet you can't tell a difference between that and the WD.

 

[USAFRet]

Point being... doesn't seem like a very good value.

Price per GB goes down over time.

5 years ago, how much was an 8TB NVMe drive?

10 years ago, SATA III SSD?

5 years from now, 8TB NVMe will be reasonable.

 

[TeamRed2024]

Price per GB goes down over time.

Yep. I remember being happy with 1TB m.2 drives back in 2017. Now 4TB is such a great deal I couldn't say no. 8TB will be in 5 years as you said.

Now excuse me while I go tune in to a 1980's Computer Chronicles video... back when 10MB drives were a few thousand bucks. I love taking random trips down memory lane.