Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
What Buyers Say
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
Users are overwhelmingly positive about this Samsung 970 EVO M.2 SSD, praising its speed, reliability, and ease of installation. Many note it's a significant upgrade from SATA SSDs or HDDs, with fast boot and load times. Some mention the price premium but consider it worth it for the performance. A few users note that benchmarks may not always match advertised speeds unless using Samsung Magician, and that heat is generally not an issue for typical use.
Pros
- Fast boot and load times
- Reliable performance
- Easy installation
- Significant upgrade from HDD/SATA SSD
- Worth the price for performance
Cons
- Price premium
- Benchmarks may not match advertised speeds
- Heat concerns for heavy I/O tasks
- Compatibility issues with some laptops
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
All seven verified reviews are overwhelmingly positive, praising the WD_BLACK SN8100 as the fastest Gen5 NVMe SSD with no issues. Users highlight its sustained speeds, strong performance on PCIe 5.0 motherboards, and good value at the time of purchase. One reviewer notes it outlasts other drives in cache performance, and Q&A confirms M.2 2280 form factor with up to 14,900 MBps read speed.
Pros
- Fastest Gen5 NVMe SSD
- No issues of any kind
- Super fast on PCIe 5.0
- Strong sustained speeds
- Good price at time of purchase
Cons
- Expensive (implied by 'if you can afford it')
Scores
Specifications
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus | Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Drive | ||
| Capacity | ||
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x4 | PCIe 5.0 x4 |
| Protocol | NVMe | NVMe |
| PCIe Generation | 3 | 5★ |
| External | ✗ | ✗ |
| Performance | ||
| Sequential Read (MB/s) | ||
| Sequential Write (MB/s) | ||
| Random Read (IOPS) | ||
| Random Write (IOPS) | ||
| Hardware | ||
| NAND | TLC | TLC |
| DRAM Cache | ✓ | ✓ |
| Controller | Samsung Phoenix | — |
| Reliability | ||
| Endurance (TBW) | ||
| MTBF (hours) | ||
| Warranty (years) | 5★ | 3 |
| Features | ||
| Heatsink | ✗ | ✓★ |
| Hardware Encryption | ✓ | ✓ |
Pros & Cons
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
- Strong social proof (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong user sentiment (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong feature (94th percentile)94th %ile
- Strong random (87th percentile)87th %ile
- Below average capacity (27th percentile)
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
- Strong feature (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong user sentiment (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong random (99th percentile)99th %ile
- Strong speed (98th percentile)98th %ile
Pricing
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280 offers 1.2x better value for money
Verdict
Scores 95 overall, wins 6 of 6 usage categories and 9 of 18 specs.
