WD Black SN850 1 TB SSD

[W1zzard]

The WD Black SN850 is the fastest SSD we ever tested thanks to support for the fast PCI-Express 4.0 interface. In our extensive real-life testing it beats the Samsung 980 Pro, the Phison E18-based Corsair MP600 Pro, and even the MLC-based Samsung 970 Pro.

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[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

I never thought to see WD (sandisk) beat Samsung SSDs in performance but here we are

 

[xorbe]

ADATA is the winner at 87% perf and 211% value.

 

[Anymal]

The fastest sdd, not!

https://tpucdn.com/review/western-digital-wd-black-sn850-1-tb-ssd/images/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider.png

ADATA is the winner at 87% perf and 211% value.

A2000 is even better.

 

[Kirsebaer]

Why the use of old chipset drivers and BIOS?

 

[Searing]

This is my favorite SSD. I've bought many and it runs really well and I haven't had the overheating problems I've had with other high end models.

 

[57op]

is this SSD TCG Opal 2.0 compliant?

 

[jonup]

is this SSD TCG Opal 2.0 compliant?

Probably not. Only the CL (Commercial) models usually support TCG Opal 2.0. There is no SN850 commercial counterpart yet. Probably sooner rather than later though.

 

[altermere]

The fastest sdd, not!

https://tpucdn.com/review/western-digital-wd-black-sn850-1-tb-ssd/images/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider.png

A2000 is even better.

isn't this an old game that's still bottlenecked by the CPU asset unpacking speed? the conclusion right now is that you won't get any meaningful loading boost from an expensive SSD, the games are still made for spinny drives in old consoles and their atrocious CPUs.

 

[Palladium]

I never thought to see WD (sandisk) beat Samsung SSDs in performance but here we are

The SN850 1TB is priced the same as a 970 Evo from where I at, and the 970/980 Pro is even more expensive.

 

[Selaya]

Why the use of old chipset drivers and BIOS?

Benchmark consistency. Every time you change anything about your bench rig, you'll have to rebench all your comparison hardware (SSDs) in that case as identical performance behavior cannot be guaranteed between different versions of software.

 

[monkeyboy46800]

Why test this SSD on an out of date bios and old Agesa code?

Apart from that, pretty good review

My SN850 is DOA, RMA in progress due to low write speeds: WD SN850 Slower than expected performance | TechPowerUp Forums

Benchmark consistency. Every time you change anything about your bench rig, you'll have to rebench all your comparison hardware (SSDs) in that case as identical performance behavior cannot be guaranteed between different versions of software.

Or these drives are bugged on newer agesa code and chipset, that's my conspiracy theory

 

[Makaveli]

Drive is fast but man does she run hot.

Any chance you get the version with a heatsink in for testing?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Why test this SSD on an out of date bios and old Agesa code?

Apart from that, pretty good review

My SN850 is DOA, RMA in progress due to low write speeds: WD SN850 Slower than expected performance | TechPowerUp Forums


Or these drives are bugged on newer agesa code and chipset, that's my conspiracy theory

First of all, you're clearly not a reviewer, nor even capable of providing necessary information when asking questions, so in your thread, we have to ask you questions to try to solve your problem. Benchmarking systems stay the same, for a very long time, or you end up having to start over from scratch, as all parameters are no longer the same and this means you have to re-test everything if you don't want to start from a clean sheet.

Secondly, DOA doesn't mean what you think. It means Dead on Arrival, i.e. it never worked. Your drive clearly worked, you just found one of the odd glitches that happens with SSDs at times. I also informed you I had a similar problem, but I can't remember exactly what solved it, as it was a couple of years ago. It's not a faulty drive.

And you're drawing conclusions based on your one drive experience, which makes it a flawed conclusion.

You clearly don't know much about hardware when you admit you don't even know how to format a drive with different sector sizes. If you're going to bash @W1zzard for how he reviews things, then you better be at his level or better at what he's doing.

 

[jixgtt]

Why does the SLC cache flush as soon as the drive stops writing?

 

[W1zzard]

Why does the SLC cache flush as soon as the drive stops writing?

It flushes all the time, in background. If you take write load off the drive for a second, that’s 1 second of idle time in which it can flush the cache at multiple gb/s, freeing up tons of slc capacity each second.

does that make sense?

Why test this SSD on an out of date bios and old Agesa code?

I change hardware and software like once per year for the ssd rig. Obviously i don’twant to mix old and new data and then make comparisons.

there’s nothing to be gained from upgrading bios drivers or software at this time, so why invalidate all my data and spend a month full time doing nothing but retesting current drives for new comparison data? You are free to come visit and help me with benchmarking.

 

[Space Lynx]

You are free to come visit and help me with benchmarking.

Just let me know when you have your spare couch ready for me.

 

[low]

Lets say we change the test system to intel 5,2ghz, DDR4-4000 Cl17 and PCI-E 3.0. The gaming benchmarks are somehow limited, maybe cpu+memory.

 

[monkeyboy46800]

ystem to intel 5,2ghz, DDR4-4000 Cl17 and PCI-E 3.0. Th

It flushes all the time, in background. If you take write load off the drive for a second, that’s 1 second of idle time in which it can flush the cache at multiple gb/s, freeing up tons of slc capacity each second.

does that make sense?


I change hardware and software like once per year for the ssd rig. Obviously i don’twant to mix old and new data and then make comparisons.

there’s nothing to be gained from upgrading bios drivers or software at this time, so why invalidate all my data and spend a month full time doing nothing but retesting current drives for new comparison data? You are free to come visit and help me with benchmarking.

Hi Wizzard,
I agree their is nothing to be gained, but what is interesting for your viewers is if there is something to be lost when using newer hardware code.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Always got the black series on hdd's too bad intel/ asus hasn't gone pci-e 4 yet.
You can always assume an m.2 needs a heatsink

 

[monkeyboy46800]

Full Specs:

root@PartedMagic:~# nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0n1 -H | more
NVME Identify Controller:
vid       : 0x15b7
ssvid     : 0x15b7
sn        :
mn        : WDS100T1X0E-00AFY0                   
fr        : 611110WD
rab       : 4
ieee      : 001b44
cmic      : 0
  [3:3] : 0    ANA not supported
  [2:2] : 0    PCI
  [1:1] : 0    Single Controller
  [0:0] : 0    Single Port

mdts      : 7
cntlid    : 0x2020
ver       : 0x10400
rtd3r     : 0x7a120
rtd3e     : 0xf4240
oaes      : 0x200
[27:27] : 0    Zone Descriptor Changed Notices Not Supported
[14:14] : 0    Endurance Group Event Aggregate Log Page Change Notice Not Supported
[13:13] : 0    LBA Status Information Notices Not Supported
[12:12] : 0    Predictable Latency Event Aggregate Log Change Notices Not Supported
[11:11] : 0    Asymmetric Namespace Access Change Notices Not Supported
  [9:9] : 0x1    Firmware Activation Notices Supported
  [8:8] : 0    Namespace Attribute Changed Event Not Supported

ctratt    : 0x2
  [9:9] : 0    UUID List Not Supported
  [7:7] : 0    Namespace Granularity Not Supported
  [5:5] : 0    Predictable Latency Mode Not Supported
  [4:4] : 0    Endurance Groups Not Supported
  [3:3] : 0    Read Recovery Levels Not Supported
  [2:2] : 0    NVM Sets Not Supported
  [1:1] : 0x1    Non-Operational Power State Permissive Supported
  [0:0] : 0    128-bit Host Identifier Not Supported

rrls      : 0
cntrltype : 1
  [7:2] : 0    Reserved
  [1:0] : 0x1    I/O Controller
fguid     :
crdt1     : 0
crdt2     : 0
crdt3     : 0
oacs      : 0x17
  [9:9] : 0    Get LBA Status Capability Not Supported
  [8:8] : 0    Doorbell Buffer Config Not Supported
  [7:7] : 0    Virtualization Management Not Supported
  [6:6] : 0    NVMe-MI Send and Receive Not Supported
  [5:5] : 0    Directives Not Supported
  [4:4] : 0x1    Device Self-test Supported
  [3:3] : 0    NS Management and Attachment Not Supported
  [2:2] : 0x1    FW Commit and Download Supported
  [1:1] : 0x1    Format NVM Supported
  [0:0] : 0x1    Security Send and Receive Supported

acl       : 4
aerl      : 7
frmw      : 0x14
  [4:4] : 0x1    Firmware Activate Without Reset Supported
  [3:1] : 0x2    Number of Firmware Slots
  [0:0] : 0    Firmware Slot 1 Read/Write

lpa       : 0x1e
  [4:4] : 0x1    Persistent Event log Supported
  [3:3] : 0x1    Telemetry host/controller initiated log page Supported
  [2:2] : 0x1    Extended data for Get Log Page Supported
  [1:1] : 0x1    Command Effects Log Page Supported
  [0:0] : 0    SMART/Health Log Page per NS Not Supported

elpe      : 255
npss      : 0
avscc     : 0x1
  [0:0] : 0x1    Admin Vendor Specific Commands uses NVMe Format

apsta     : 0
  [0:0] : 0    Autonomous Power State Transitions Not Supported

wctemp    : 357
cctemp    : 361
mtfa      : 50
hmpre     : 0
hmmin     : 0
tnvmcap   : 1000204886016
unvmcap   : 0
rpmbs     : 0
[31:24]: 0    Access Size
[23:16]: 0    Total Size
  [5:3] : 0    Authentication Method
  [2:0] : 0    Number of RPMB Units

edstt     : 102
dsto      : 1
fwug      : 1
kas       : 0
hctma     : 0x1
  [0:0] : 0x1    Host Controlled Thermal Management Supported

mntmt     : 273
mxtmt     : 357
sanicap   : 0x60000002
  [31:30] : 0x1    Media is not additionally modified after sanitize operation completes successfully
  [29:29] : 0x1    No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Not Supported
    [2:2] : 0    Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
    [1:1] : 0x1    Block Erase Sanitize Operation Supported
    [0:0] : 0    Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported

hmminds   : 0
hmmaxd    : 0
nsetidmax : 0
endgidmax : 0
anatt     : 0
anacap    : 0
  [7:7] : 0    Non-zero group ID Not Supported
  [6:6] : 0    Group ID does not change
  [4:4] : 0    ANA Change state Not Supported
  [3:3] : 0    ANA Persistent Loss state Not Supported
  [2:2] : 0    ANA Inaccessible state Not Supported
  [1:1] : 0    ANA Non-optimized state Not Supported
  [0:0] : 0    ANA Optimized state Not Supported

anagrpmax : 0
nanagrpid : 0
pels      : 1
sqes      : 0x66
  [7:4] : 0x6    Max SQ Entry Size (64)
  [3:0] : 0x6    Min SQ Entry Size (64)

cqes      : 0x44
  [7:4] : 0x4    Max CQ Entry Size (16)
  [3:0] : 0x4    Min CQ Entry Size (16)

maxcmd    : 0
nn        : 1
oncs      : 0x5f
  [8:8] : 0    Copy Not Supported
  [7:7] : 0    Verify Not Supported
  [6:6] : 0x1    Timestamp Supported
  [5:5] : 0    Reservations Not Supported
  [4:4] : 0x1    Save and Select Supported
  [3:3] : 0x1    Write Zeroes Supported
  [2:2] : 0x1    Data Set Management Supported
  [1:1] : 0x1    Write Uncorrectable Supported
  [0:0] : 0x1    Compare Supported

fuses     : 0
  [0:0] : 0    Fused Compare and Write Not Supported

fna       : 0
  [2:2] : 0    Crypto Erase Not Supported as part of Secure Erase
  [1:1] : 0    Crypto Erase Applies to Single Namespace(s)
  [0:0] : 0    Format Applies to Single Namespace(s)

vwc       : 0x7
  [2:1] : 0x3    The Flush command supports NSID set to FFFFFFFFh
  [0:0] : 0x1    Volatile Write Cache Present

awun      : 0
awupf     : 0
icsvscc     : 1
  [0:0] : 0x1    NVM Vendor Specific Commands uses NVMe Format

nwpc      : 0
  [2:2] : 0    Permanent Write Protect Not Supported
  [1:1] : 0    Write Protect Until Power Supply Not Supported
  [0:0] : 0    No Write Protect and Write Protect Namespace Not Supported

acwu      : 0
ocfs      : 0
sgls      : 0
[1:0]  : 0    Scatter-Gather Lists Not Supported

mnan      : 0
subnqn    : nqn.2018-01.com.wdc:nguid:E8238FA6BF53-0001-001B448B49D849B0
ioccsz    : 0
iorcsz    : 0
icdoff    : 0
ctrattr   : 0
  [0:0] : 0    Dynamic Controller Model

msdbd     : 0
ps    0 : mp:9.00W operational enlat:0 exlat:0 rrt:0 rrl:0
          rwt:0 rwl:0 idle_power:0.6300W active_power:9.00W

 

[jixgtt]

It flushes all the time, in background. If you take write load off the drive for a second, that’s 1 second of idle time in which it can flush the cache at multiple gb/s, freeing up tons of slc capacity each second.

does that make sense?

I can guess that there is some fixed, internal rate for flushing the cache.

Of course, when you momentarily stop the write activity, the SLC cache will free up capacity immediately, so full write rates are available as soon as you give the drive a moment to settle down.

Newer TLC drives use part of their capacity in SLC mode for increased performance.

I read the article as flushing 277GB instantly. I thought that might be possible if those cells were toggled to TLC and others switched to SLC. I wasn't sure what exactly was meant.

My question is answered.

 

[Anymal]

How much would true all SLC 500gb ssd pcie5 next gen cost?

 

[TheLostSwede]

How much would true all SLC 500gb ssd pcie5 next gen cost?

All the chicken paprikash in Sokovia.

 

[W1zzard]

How much would true all SLC 500gb ssd pcie5 next gen cost?

3 times the Price of tlc