Considering it and its predecessor both employ the very same SanDisk 8-channel controller with the only difference being 256Gbit BiCS 4 vs. 512Gbit BiCS 5, we find this result to be powerful evidence that 512Gbit BiCS 5 flash is indeed faster than 256Gbit BiCS 4, but slightly slower than 176L hynix. PCM10 Storage Tests This is a fairly noticeable increase compared to the 2020 SN850 model’s 7GB/s read and 5.3GB/s write in sequential and 1 million IOPS in 4K random performance. The SN850 also only offers up to 2TB in capacity, so the 4TB model is a nice addition to match the ever-growing game installation sizes. Of particular note is the Game Mode 2.0 feature that's new with the SN850X. The original Gaming Mode could be turned on or off within the Dashboard, but Game Mode 2.0 has an additional Auto setting to detect game launches. You can also manually enter game folder locations so the software knows where to watch. Insane speeds up to 7,300 MB/s 1 deliver top-tier performance with ridiculously short load times for the elite gaming experience you’ve been waiting for.

Game Mode 2.0 also features an advanced “read look ahead” algorithm, which predicts and pre-emptively caches what is next in the game. WD indicates that this is done by allowing the SN850X’s controller to detect incoming low queue depth, sequential workloads, claiming that it will help speed up in-game loading of scenes, levels and other areas. While we didn’t play around with the Game Mode app too much, these results indicate that results may vary depending on the application. Conclusion Today’s A-list titles can take up 200GB or more of storage. A range of capacities from 1TB to 4TB means you get to keep more games at the ready and get into the action fast. A new suite of features comes with the SN850X including Predictive Loading, Overhead Balancing and Adaptive Thermal Management 5.Starting with SQL average latency, the SN850X posted 3ms, which placed it in the upper part of the consumer NVMe SSD leaderboard.

DirectStorage sure sounds as that there will be some improvement, albeit assuming you aren't running GPU at full load already, as DirectStorage apparently works mainly at the premise of taking some workload from the CPU and giving it to the GPU, such as to decompress files that get loaded in when walking to a new area in an open-world game. And for current-gen gaming, even slower NVMe SSDs sure are plenty fast.Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch. The SN850X is specced with PCIe Gen4 performance, quoting up to 7.3GB/s read and 6.6GB/s write in sequential transfer speeds for the 2TB and 4TB model. In random 4K performance, the higher-capacity models are expected to reach up to 1.2 million IOPS read and 1.2 million IOPS write.

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. This test uses SQL Server 2014 running on Windows Server 2012 R2 guest VMs and is stressed by Quest’s Benchmark Factory for Databases. StorageReview’s Microsoft SQL Server OLTP testing protocol employs the current draft of the Transaction Processing Performance Council’s Benchmark C (TPC-C), an online transaction-processing benchmark that simulates the activities found in complex application environments. To those that doubt the veracity of our assertion that BiCS 4 performs better than Micron B47R or Samsung V-NAND, we can and have demonstrated this on multiple occasions. Whenever everything is equivalent except the flash (same controller, same DRAM), good ole 96 Layer BiCS 4 arrayed SSDs easily outperform 176 Layer B47R arrayed SSDs. A good example is the M10P vs. S70 Blade or FX900 Pro. B47R is more prolific but has never outperformed BiCS, period - end of story. Half the layers, older and still the better performer; that's just how superior BiCS architecture has proven to be. And we don't even need to get into how much better BiCS 4 is than V-NAND because even B47R arrayed SSDs easily outperform Samsung's V-NAND arrayed 980 Pro.

WD Management Dashboard

The 1TB and 2TB drives have an optional version with RGB lighting plus heatsink to help maintain peak performance through the most intense gaming sessions. (Please choose the heatsink model for this) The SN850X had weak random write performance, though it did display an improvement over its predecessor with a peak of 187K IOPS at a latency of 678.7µs (vs. 173K IOPS and 733.9µs for the SN850). In our SQL Server application test aimed at developers or homelab users, the SN850X showed a solid 3ms in latency, placing it near the top of the leaderboard of the other tested drives. While it wasn’t leaps and bounds better than its predecessor (the SN850), it did show noticeable improvements over a drive that is still considered a great-performance drive at almost 2 years old.