Pre-orders for the WD Black SN850X M.2 NVMe Gen 4 8TB variant have already started. The drive with the model number WDS800T2X0E without the heatsink (which is required for the PlayStation 5) can be ordered for $849, and the WDS800T2XHE variant with it costs $50 more. Western Digital is one of the few major manufacturers to offer this kind of volume and performance.
The 8TB WD Black SN850X is quite fast compared to other larger SSDs. It supports sequential read performance of 7.2GB/s, which is slightly less than the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB variants of the same lineup, which are rated at 7.3GB/s. Sequential write speed is 6.6 GB/s, and random write speed is — 1.2 million IOPS. IOPS. These parameters are more than enough for gaming.
The drive combines Western Digital’s proprietary controller with KIOXIA’s 3D TLC NAND flash memory. It is not known if it uses the same 112-layer BiCS5 memory as the 4TB variant.The write endurance of the 8TB variant is estimated at 4800 TB*W. Western Digital backs these drives with a 5-year warranty.
Currently, the WD Black SN850X is slightly cheaper than other 8TB PCIe 4.0 drives. Corsair’s MP600 PRO XT SSD currently costs about $950, and Sabrent’s Rocket 4 Plus costs $1200. Teamgroup offers an 8TB MP44 drive for less, which costs $825. All of these SSDs have read speeds of 7 GB/s or more.
Sources: TechSpot, TechPowerUp