Samsung 990 EVO Plus
Western Digital WD Black SN850X
What Buyers Say
Samsung 990 EVO Plus
The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB is highly praised for its exceptional speed, making it a transformative upgrade from SATA SSDs. Users report significantly faster boot times, game loads, and file transfers, with easy installation and reliable performance. While it lacks a heatsink and DRAM, most find these non-issues, especially with motherboard heatsinks and HMB technology. Overall, it's considered a top-tier value for high-end builds.
Pros
- Blazing fast read/write speeds
- Easy installation
- Reliable performance
- Good value for money
- Runs cool with motherboard heatsink
Cons
- No included heatsink
- No DRAM (uses HMB)
- Premium price
Western Digital WD Black SN850X
The WD Black SN850X is highly praised for its blazing speed, reliability, and value, often compared favorably to pricier alternatives like Samsung and Solidigm. Users report excellent performance in gaming (especially PS5) and general use, with a few concerns about potential issues mitigated by firmware updates. Overall, it's seen as a top-tier NVMe drive, especially when on sale.
Pros
- Blazing fast speeds
- Excellent value for money
- Reliable high-capacity storage
- Great for PS5
- Easy installation
Cons
- Potential firmware issues
- No heatsink included
- Pricey when not on sale
Scores
Specifications
| Samsung 990 EVO Plus | Western Digital WD Black SN850X | |
|---|---|---|
| Drive | ||
| Capacity | ||
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Protocol | NVMe | NVMe |
| PCIe Generation | 4 | 4 |
| External | ✗ | ✗ |
| Performance | ||
| Sequential Read (MB/s) | ||
| Sequential Write (MB/s) | ||
| Random Read (IOPS) | ||
| Random Write (IOPS) | ||
| Hardware | ||
| NAND | TLC | TLC |
| DRAM Cache | ✗ | ✓★ |
| Controller | Samsung in-house Controller | — |
| Reliability | ||
| Endurance (TBW) | ||
| MTBF (hours) | ||
| Warranty (years) | 5★ | 3 |
| Features | ||
| Heatsink | ✗ | ✓★ |
| Hardware Encryption | ✓★ | — |
Pros & Cons
Samsung 990 EVO Plus
- Strong random (96th percentile)96th %ile
- Strong social proof (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong capacity (93rd percentile)93rd %ile
- Strong endurance (86th percentile)86th %ile
Western Digital WD Black SN850X
- Strong social proof (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong random (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong user sentiment (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong feature (94th percentile)94th %ile
Verdict
Scores 99 overall, wins 3 of 6 usage categories and 6 of 18 specs.