WD Black SN7100 2 TB

[Chris34]

Proper drive with afaik DRAM Cache.

Kingston KC3000 2 TB Specs

2 TB, TLC, PCIe 4.0 x4, M.2 2280

www.techpowerup.com

Of course, always buy the initial batches of a nvme drive close to the initial review of that nvme drive. Before the manufacturer makes it worse or changes components for the nvme drive.

edit: WD = Sandisk, is questionable, like SAMSUNG in regards of firmware quality for past drives over the years

edit: only WD drive I would buy is the 850X - assuming they did not made the components worse.

You're comparing this newly released drive to a drive that launched at $400. I quote the review you linked "The 2 TB Kingston KC3000 is currently listed online for $450."

WD doesn't pull old Sandisk, or Kingston, or ADATA Shenanigan like changing core components and calling it the same drive.

From that KC3000 Specs page you linked:

Multiple hardware versions found.
Performance could vary due to unannounced flash/controller changes.

Hardware Versions:	Kioxia BiCS5 HDR 1Tb 4 TB Kioxia BiCS5 HDR 512Gb 1 TB 2 TB Micron B47R 512 GB 1 TB 2 TB 4 TB

 

[notanin]

Is it a new drive? Yes it is. Is that special? No it is not.

Sure, it’s just an SSD after all — though it’s the fastest among PCIe 4.0 drives in terms of relative performance.
I’m not sure why you mentioned the KC3000. It has certainly aged well and is still quite strong, but many drives have already overtaken it.
If a some specific metric is more important to you than relative performance, then sure, your top choice could be different.

I came to the conclusion to not buy any DRAM less drives again.

In this thread I’ve also learned that DRAM can be important if the drive is purchased to be used as an external one, attached via a USB enclosure. Otherwise...

 

[starfals]

2TB... 2025... i just cannot anymore. If they dont serious with the SSD drives, i wont be buying anything anymore.
All the 4TB drives here are out of stock too, so idk. I wont buy a SATA SSD from Samsung, thats for sure. Thats soo 2016. Btw, i do have 1 already, 4TB too.

 

[529th]

How often does HMB become corrupt when someone is overclocking memory and tightening primary and secondary timings?

 

[eldon_magi]

Another review that tested both drives showed SN7100 losing in a few areas to 850X, particularly when SLC cache was exhausted where 850X was almost twice as fast as 7100.

Considering the fact that with price reductions 850X is now LESS expensive than 7100 is, its existence is kind of a problem for 7100, or at least doesn't make the choice immediately obvious. That reviewe said they'd use 7100 in applications where power draw was very important like laptops or portable gaming systems, but for desktop use they would pick 850X over 7100.

Hi, could you provide a link to that review please?

 

[Clawedge]

There is so much crying and moaning about hmb, yet no one gives a crap about a controller above boiling point of water

 

[DaveBSC]

Hi, could you provide a link to that review please?

Sure. Here's their conclusion that I referenced.

"I do not completely believe the SN7100 achieved parity with other top-end Gen 4 drives, but it got pretty close considering it lacks a DRAM cache. Considering that it undercuts the pricing of most of those other drives, and does so while remaining dramatically cooler under load, I consider the SN7100 to be a mostly successful experiment, though I do think it somewhat blurs the line between WD’s Black and Blue drive lines.

Right now, the biggest impediment to the SN7100 is actually the current aggressive pricing on the SN850X. Given the power and thermal performance, the SN7100 would be my pick for a laptop or small-form-factor device, where this cool running and power-sipping drive would be appreciated. If was building a high-end desktop, though, the SN850X would get my dollars."

WD Black SN7100 2TB NVMe SSD Review

In our WD Black SN7100 2TB review, we see if this PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD deserves to be called a "Black" series drive

www.servethehome.com

 

[metroman789]

5 stars seems a bit high of rating. PC world gave it 4.5 and even that I think is too high. A solid 4 maybe? seems fair.

"Realworld performance" seems fantastic but It just has too many disadvantages, and competition is too fierce to give it anything better.

High writes stress it bad, loses a lot of performance when it stressed like that. Like wise Thermal are good til you stress the drive with large files.

A lot comes from it being a Dram-less drive but then you look at the Map 1602 drives and they don't bog anywhere near as much. Only advantage SN7100 has over those is a 2% gains in exchange you bog down terribly in some heavy work loads doesn't seem worth it to me.

It's hard to point a specific use case this drive be good for. I see some say Laptops might be good but it seems to heat bad when pushed with heavy work loads and ASPM support seems questionable, controller under reporting temps also not a plus.

Just don't really see a specific use case where this drive would be the best choice over many others great choices. It's price isn't even that attractive. idk....

 

[Dragokar]

So they divided the HDD and SSD stuff, but still sell the WD Black SN7100 under the WD label? Did I misread the statement?

Thanks for the review!

 

[fb020997]

It’s clearly noticeable on my sata SSDs (2,5”), but on such blazing fast drives…

Can confirm. Sata dramless drives become extremely slow after a couple of years (Kingston A400s and other clones of them), if used as main OS drives. Cloning those drives to dram-equipped ones (MX500s until dried up supplies, or 870 Evos) restores their PC’s usability.

 

[Assimilator]

I suspect that the drive really ignores fSync

That would be an immediate fail for me.

 

[javorenator]

Not really impressed, in most of the tests if is inferior to kc3000 for example, which is quite old model, but the price is the same.

 

[Nathaaab]

How often does HMB become corrupt when someone is overclocking memory and tightening primary and secondary timings?

Also wondering about this, as that would be a nice advantage of DRAM equipped SSDs.

 

[Chrispy_]

Did you test the SN5000? Apparently it has the same Polaris 3 controller and Western Digital just limits it for different products.
My new laptops SN5000S is a strange OEM only middle variant.

SN5000: 5500/5000MB/s
SN5000S: 6000/5400MB/s
SN7100: 7250/6900MB/s

SN5000 is QLC garbage, avoid it unless it's significantly (like, 20%) cheaper than TLC drives that have none of QLCs many drawbacks.

 

[Super XP]

I ended up getting the Lexar NQ790 M.2 2TB with 7000mb/s read and 6000mb/s write for a great price.
I'm pretty happy with it so far.

 

[trikats]

Interesting, this seems like a direct competitor to the Samsung 990 Evo Plus.
Both Gen4 DRAM-less for the same price.

 

[thevoiceofreason]

There is so much crying and moaning about hmb, yet no one gives a crap about a controller above boiling point of water

It's a good thing the controller is not made out of water then!

 

[W1zzard]

I ended up getting the Lexar NQ790 M.2 2TB with 7000mb/s read and 6000mb/s write for a great price.
I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Despite QLC, good choice if you got it for a good price.

This should be the same drive: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/orico-o7000-2-tb/

 

[Clawedge]

It's a good thing the controller is not made out of water then!

Comedy genius! Wow!

 

[lepudruk]

Despite QLC, good choice if you got it for a good price.

This should be the same drive: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/orico-o7000-2-tb/

BTW: any chance you guys will review new Micron 4600? There are like two reviews in total and by some miracle twist both fail to mention a thing about thermals.

 

[W1zzard]

BTW: any chance you guys will review new Micron 4600? There are like two reviews in total and by some miracle twist both fail to mention a thing about thermals.

Not sure if Micron is interested, let me check

 

[lepudruk]

Not sure if Micron is interested, let me check

Push them! I belive in you @W1zzard

 

[mechtech]

I think so


Yeah, this fell through the cracks, not sure if it's worth buying one just to have it in the comparisons. OTOH it would be there for quite a while, probably several years

Maybe WD could give you a review sample https://www.newegg.ca/western-digital-8tb-black/p/N82E16820250270
for testing?

 

[blinnbanir]

Less IOPs than the Nv2 which is how old? Hard pass. Give me compelling prices for 2TB for maintaining the price that is already there.

 

[Wirko]

Less IOPs than the Nv2 which is how old? Hard pass. Give me compelling prices for 2TB for maintaining the price that is already there.

Granted, that's for writing, which reaches about 4x as many IOPS as reading anyway (because it goes to the cache first).