Sandisk WD_Black SN8100 2TB Gen 5 SSD Review

1. Introduction2. WD_Black SN8100 2TB3. Testing Methodology4. CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO Disk Benchmark6. AS SSD7. 128KB Sequential Performance8. 4K Random Read v QD Performance9. 4K Random Write v QD Performance10. 4K 70/30 Mixed Performance11. 4K Random Performance QD1-QD812. Throughput13. PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark14. 3DMark Storage Benchmark 15. Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker Official Benchmark16. Temperatures17. Real Life File Testing18. Closing Thoughts19. View All Pages

The drive arrives in a smallish box with a clear image of the drive on the front. The drive's capacity is displayed in the top right-hand corner of the box, while the right hand bottom right-hand corner of the box is used to highlight the drive's interface type and the Sequential read performance figure.

The rear of the box has a small clear plastic panel through which part of the drive is visible, sitting in its protective plastic enclosure. To the right of this panel is another image of the drive, while to the left of it is the Sequential read figure again. All this information is displayed in English and French. Also on the back of the box is an icon displaying the fact that it is supported with a 5-year warranty.

 

The WD_Black SN8100 is a single-sided design, so all components are on one side of the PCB.

Alongside the Sandisk-branded controller, there are two 1TB BiCS8 218-layer TLC 3D NAND packages and a 2GB DRAM IC. The controller is a Silicon Motion SM2508 eight-channel chip used by several recently released fast Gen 5 drives, although this one is different from the norm as it's Sandisk tuned with the company's hand firmly on the firmware and feature set.  The controller uses a 6nm process together with a proprietary built-in smart clock-gating mechanism, which intelligently and automatically powers down unused blocks, allowing the SM2508 to be very efficient when it comes to power consumption, the 2TB WD_Black SN8100 power consumption figures are quoted as 6.5W for average active reads and 7.0W for active writes, with a PS4 sleep rating of 5mW.

SanDisk's SSD management utility goes under the name of SSD Dashboard. With it, you can monitor drive status and performance, update firmware and monitor temperatures. It also includes a Gaming Mode which, when turned on (requires a system reboot) turns on the Adaptive Thermal Management and Predictive Loading for faster speeds when gaming. There’s no cloning tool integrated into the utility, but you can download Acronis True Image for Sandisk from their website.

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