The SSD Review The Worlds Dedicated SSD Education and Review Resource | 
The SSD Review uses PCMark 8’s Storage test suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. With 10 traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games, it covers some of the most popular light to heavy workloads. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 8 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices. After an initial break-in cycle and three rounds of the testing, we are given a file score and bandwidth amount. The higher the score/bandwidth, the better the drive performs.
1TB CAPACITY
2TB CAPACITY
We found it rather unusual that neither capacity of the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus placed near the top in this benchmark, however it is an older benchmark that has recently been put to rest and will see no further updates.
REAL WORLD FILE TRANSFER COMPARISON
For our Real World File Transfer Comparison of the world’s top M.2 NVMe SSDs, we have included several of the top Gen 4 SSDs tested to date, to include the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, WD Black SN850, Samsung 980 Pro, Corsair MP600, Seagate FireCuda 520, Sabrent Rocket, XPG Gammix, the Silicon Power US70 and the Sabrent Rocket Q series. This test is conducted through the transfer of data from one spot on the test drive to another to give us the truest of transfer speed results for that device.
Although this chart is a fairly simple test of moving different types of data from one part of the SSD to another, it traditionally has been very accurate in depicting the best of the best, as well as any that lag just a bit too far behind. The WD Black, Samsung 980 Pro and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus are the top three on the block right now, which actually differs from traditional result where Samsung seemed to always prevail.
REVIEW ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
As Gen 4 SSDs mature, we get a first hand seat in seeing technological advance at its best. To think, it took 10 years to get to data transfer speeds as high as 3.5GB/s with PCIe 3.0, and now it has been just over a year to see the industry double that with PCIe 4.0. That is quite the feat and many simply overlook that this advance is exactly why we have instant everything in our world today. Even then we might expect to see Samsung or Western Digital at the top of their game…but Sabrent? There isn’t anyone in the industry that could argue that Sabrent has paved their own path in a very short span of time with what appears to be a clear road ahead.
Let’s look a little closer though. The single factor with Gen 4 SSDs that has been of concern since the first release has been heat. Data transfer this fast creates a very warm storage medium and we wanted to test that with the new Rocket 4 Plus. We want to know if we can, not only run this SSD without a heatsink always covering it up, but also, whether 7GB/s Gen 4 performance is foreseeable in an ultrabook in the near future. We do know that it has yet to be a consideration before this review as Gen 4 SSDs just get too hot. Well, our Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus did very well.
To start, all of our testing has been done without a heatsink on both Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSDs tested. That is a first. In order to do that, however, we had to monitor temps very carefully. What you see above is the absolute hottest we could get this SSD in our testing and that is definitely a good thing. Better yet, our test system has been running the Sabrent Rocket 4TB Q4 for some time and averages around 36°C so we elected to migrate the system onto the new Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus and have been running it for three days now. Temperatures are significantly lower while the system is in use and at rest…and with no heatsink to cool the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus. Would we have a problem seeing this in a ultrabook? Not at all. Would we recommend you run it as we tested? Well… that’s not our place now is it.
Last but not least, read and write performance of the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is the highest of any SSD yet at 7GB/s read 6.8GB/s write with IOPS as high as 800K. It has a 5-year warranty when registered within 90 days and the 1TB and 2TB versions are available now with 500GB and 4TB on the landscape. Pricewise, well it is a TLC SSD made for those that need higher grade storage and those that need this performance. If you are deciding on this or the other top two consider this though. The Samsung 980 Pro is only being seen in 1TB capacities, so if you are looking for the best 2TB SSD at the cheapest price, Sabrent beats out the WD Black by $50. Now, if you are considering the 1TB capacity, once again the Sabrent Rocket 4 Ultra comes in as the best price, beating out the Samsung and WD Black by $30. Editor’s Choice!
Check out Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Pricing at Amazon. (Link)
Ha, thanks auto fill.
It would be nice to see sustained tests for SSDs to see how fast it is once the cache runs out and then how fast it is once it has to actually write to TLC. I have an older pci3 Sabrent than goes from 1,000MBs to 80MBs after 50GB. Makes copying video footage unusably slow.
@Gavin, and that’s why if you are using a desk top work station Intel’s Optane drives are the best way to go, they don’t suffer from those issues.
I agree with Gavin Greenwalt that the twoost important SSD test is temperature and sustain transfer speed when the cache is full and depends on raw speed.
Please consider this for future review.
Why this one is fastest than the WD SN850 ? That test copying files was embarrassing the SN850 destroyed all of them
yeah i also don’t get it, i prefer the WD SN850 for that copying result, and everything else also just as fast