Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X
Kingston KC3000
What Buyers Say
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
Kingston KC3000
Users are overwhelmingly positive about this Kingston KC3000 SSD, praising its blazing-fast speeds, especially for gaming and as a boot drive. Many note it outperforms or matches competitors like the Samsung 990 Pro and WD SN850X, often at a better price. A few mention minor setup quirks, like needing to download drivers on new Windows builds or dealing with sector size differences, but these are easily resolved and don't detract from overall satisfaction.
Pros
- Blazing fast speeds
- Great value for money
- Outperforms competitors
- Excellent for gaming
- Reliable performance
Cons
- Driver download needed on new Windows
- Sector size mismatch for cloning
- 4TB version pricey
Scores
Specifications
| Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X | Kingston KC3000 | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | — | Phison E18 |
| Reliability | ||
| Endurance (TBW) | ||
| MTBF (hours) | ||
| Warranty (years) | 3 | 5★ |
| Features | ||
| Heatsink | ✓ | ✓ |
Pros & Cons
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X
- Strong social proof (96th percentile)96th %ile
- Strong user sentiment (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong random (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong feature (94th percentile)94th %ile
Kingston KC3000
- Strong feature (94th percentile)94th %ile
- Strong random (93rd percentile)93rd %ile
- Strong endurance (90th percentile)90th %ile
- Strong speed (87th percentile)87th %ile
Verdict
Scores 99 overall, wins 6 of 6 usage categories and 5 of 17 specs.