WD Black SN850X SSD review – a reliable gaming solid-state drive

• The WD Black SN850X internal SSD has been launched by Western Digital.
• The WD Black SN850X is available in three capacities – 1TB, 2TB and 4TB.
• Here is my review of the WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD with heatsink.

Western Digital is one of the most popular companies when it comes to storage solutions, be it hard disks or solid-state drives (SSDs). The company recently launched the WD Black SN850X internal SSD in India.

For those unaware, the WD Black series is the company’s gaming-oriented SSD lineup, which offers faster speeds and performance compared to the WD Blue series. The WD Black SN850X is the updated version of the company’s WD SN850 SSD.

I have been using the WD Black SN850X 2TB version for a few weeks now and here is my review of the latest gaming SSD from Western Digital.

WD Black SN850X price in India

The WD Black is available in three storage capacities, with and without heatsink. The SSD is priced starting at ₹8,789 and goes up to ₹36,329.


The WD Black SN850X SSD is available from the Western Digital online store, authorised online retailers and offline retailers across the country. It comes with a 5-year limited warranty.

In the box

• WD Black SN850X SSD with heatsink
  
• Documentation
  

WD Black SN850X specifications


Pros and cons

Pros

• Impressive performance
  
• Heatsink keeps the temperature down
  

Cons

• Expensive
  

Design

Starting with the design, the WD Black SN850X is available with or without the heatsink for the 1TB and 2TB variants, while the 4TB variant is only available without a heatsink.

As expected, the heat sink adds up a considerable amount of size and weight to the SSD. While the 2TB SSD without the heatsink measures 80mm x 22mm x 2.38mm and weighs 7.5 grams, the heatsink variant measures 80mm x 23.4mm x 8.8mm and weighs 24 grams.

I tested the 2TB variant with a heatsink, which is quite bulky and the circuit board has been encased in metal. The heatsink comes with holes on the sides, allowing air to circulate between them and thereby increasing the surface area. This offers improved cooling, which comes in handy during gaming.

Software and performance

The WD Black SN850X can be updated and optimised with the company’s Dashboard management software that can be downloaded from its website. In addition to displaying the SSD’s information and health, the tool also offers an option to update the firmware and control the SSD.

Western Digital has also offered the Game Mode 2.0 with the SN850X. This offers adaptive thermal management, predictive loading and overhead balancing. The application is easy to use and while there is not much to meddle with, it’s good to have the application.

Coming to performance, the WD Black SN850X SSD comes with a NAND upgrade, which enables higher sequential-read speeds and an increased sequential-write speed.

The SSD’s TLC flash memory chips have been upgraded to 112-layer chips, an upgrade from the SN850’s 96-layer TLC chips. The sequential-read speed has been upgraded from 7,000MB/s to 7,300MB/s and the sequential-write speed has been upgraded from 5,300MB/s to 6,300MB/s.

During my testing, it offered a sequential read speed of 7363.74 MB/s and a sequential-write speed of 6690.06 MB/s on the CrystalDiskMark.

Thermal management has also received a boost with the SN850X and during extensive gaming, the SSD hovers around 53-55 degrees, which is good.

Verdict

The WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD is an excellent option for those looking for a premium gaming SSD. You can pick between the heatsink and non-heatsink version depending on your motherboard. At the same time, this is an expensive product, which may be too expensive for some. If you are willing to splurge a bit, you will not go wrong with the SN850X.

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