New
Western Digital OEM Gamer 256GB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
The PCIe 4.0 x4 interface delivers 4,000 MB/s sequential reads and 470K random write IOPS, making this 256GB M.2 2280 drive a fast, budget-oriented storage option. It includes TCG OPAL 2.01 and TCG Pyrite 2.01 hardware encryption, a feature rarely found at this price point, though the 1-year seller warranty and lack of retail packaging are trade-offs. Best for budget-conscious builders upgrading an older system or adding a secondary boot drive where capacity below 256GB is acceptable.
Capacity 256GB
Form Factor M.2 2280
Interface PCIe 4.0 x4
Read Speed 4,000 MB/s
41 Overall Score
No current retailer price
Snapshot
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Strong affordability (86th percentile) 86th
- Strong random (84th percentile) 84th
- Strong social proof (68th percentile) 68th
Cons
- Below average capacity (18th percentile)
- Below average user sentiment (20th percentile)
- Below average feature (34th percentile)
- Below average endurance (34th percentile)
What owners think
How owner sentiment changed over time
ExclusiveBased on when customers actually wrote their reviews - so you can see whether early praise held up.
68/100Our AI sentiment read
The proof
Performance
Specifications
Full Specifications
Drive
| Capacity | 256 |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Protocol | NVMe |
| PCIe Generation | 4 |
| External | No |
Performance
| Sequential Read (MB/s) | 4000 |
| Sequential Write (MB/s) | 2000 |
| Random Read (IOPS) | 270000 |
| Random Write (IOPS) | 470000 |
Reliability
| Warranty (years) | 1 |
Features
| Hardware Encryption | Yes |
vs Competition
| Spec | Western Digital OEM Gamer | Samsung 9100 PRO | Kingston FURY Renegade G5 SFYR2S/4T0 | Micron T710 CT4000T710SSD5 | Crucial T500 | SanDisk WD_BLACK WDS800T2XHE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | 256GB | 4TB | 4TB | 4TB | 2TB | 8TB |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 5.0 x4 | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 |
| Seq Read | 4,000 MB/s | 14,800 MB/s | 14,800 MB/s | 14,500 MB/s | 7,400 MB/s | 7,200 MB/s |
| Nand Type | - | TLC | TLC | TLC | TLC | TLC |
| Dram Cache | - | true | true | false | true | true |
| Endurance | - | 2400 TBW | 4000 TBW | 2400 TBW | 1200 TBW | 4800 TBW |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
| Product | Speed | Random | Feature | Capacity | User Sentiment | Endurance | Social Proof | Affordability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Digital OEM Gamer | 61.5 | 84.3 | 33.6 | 17.6 | 20.1 | 33.7 | 68.2 | 85.9 |
| Samsung 9100 PRO Compare | 99.3 | 99.8 | 99.7 | 92.6 | 0 | 86.1 | 99.6 | 5.1 |
| Kingston FURY Renegade G5 SFYR2S/4T0 Compare | 99.5 | 99 | 91 | 92.6 | 0 | 93.6 | 87.2 | 6.3 |
| Micron T710 CT4000T710SSD5 Compare | 99.1 | 99.2 | 89.5 | 92.6 | 0 | 86.1 | 77.5 | 11.6 |
| Crucial T500 Compare | 94 | 96.9 | 99 | 78.5 | 78.8 | 83.1 | 95.4 | 19.7 |
| SanDisk WD_BLACK WDS800T2XHE Compare | 87.7 | 96.4 | 94 | 98.1 | 0 | 88.3 | 95.4 | 3.8 |
Usage Scores
- Overall40.5
- Budget75.4
- Gaming38
- Laptop43.9
- Console27.8
- Portable10.6
- Workstation43.5
A full written review is coming soon. The specs, scores, prices and charts above are always up to date.
