Sandisk WD Black SN8100 Review (vs. Crucial T705): A Top-Notch NVMe SSD

When announcing the WD Black SN8100 on May 13, Sandisk claimed the drive to be the “world’s fastest” NVMe SSD. I thought it was marketing as usual.

As it turned out, Sandisk didn’t lie. The internal drive indeed proved to be the fastest in my testing, as you’ll see in the performance section below.

Here’s the bottom line: If you’re on the market for a top-notch NVMe SSD that doesn’t heat up to the point that’d cause concerns, the WD Black SN8100 is an excellent investment. For now, it’s the fastest consumer-grade NVMe SSD you can get. So, get one today!

Currently, the WD Black SN8100 has 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities in standard (naked) design. Sandisk says the 8TB capacity and the low-profile anodized aluminum heatsink versions (for all capacities) with an integrated RGB LED will be available later in the year.

Dong’s note: I first published this post on May 13 as a preview when Sandisk unveiled the WD Black SN8100 and updated it to an in-depth review after thorough hands-on testing.

Sandisk WD Black SN8100: A seriously fast NVMe SSD that’s not burning up

The WD Black SN8100 is the latest in the WD Black family, designed for gamers and advanced users. However, the SSD has a couple of firsts.

It’s the first drive from the company that features the PCIe Gen 5 standard. All previous WD Black SSDs use the PCIe Gen 4. Most importantly, it’s also the first SSD since Sandisk was split off from Western Digital as a separate company a couple of months ago. It’s a pure Sandisk drive despite having “WD” in the model name.

Unlike other storage vendors, Sandisk didn’t rush into the Gen 5 NVMe space. In hindsight, that was a smart move considering the first patch of Gen 5 SSDs, such as Micron’s Crucial T700 or T705, proved to be extremely hot in operation.

The WD Back SN8100 produced much lower heat in my testing. I used the standard (naked) version, and it was much cooler than the heatsink version of the T705, which is the former drive to hold the “fastest” title, I used as a reference.

The WD Black SN8100 is also available in a heatsink version, which is available later this year.

The table below shows the hardware specs of the two.

Sandisk WD Black SN8100 vs. Crucial T705: Hardware specifications

	Sandisk WD Black SN8100	Micron Crucial T705
Capacities	1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB	1TB, 2TB, 4TB
Heatsink Version	Yes
Interface	PCIe 5.0 x4  NVMe 2.0 (compatible with PCIe 4.0/3.0)
Design	M.2 (2280)
Controller	undisclosed	Phison PS5026-E26
NAND Flash Memory	Sandisk TLC 3D CBA NAND	Micron B58R 232L 3D TLC NAND (2400 MT/s)
Security	TCL Opal 2.02	AES-256 encryption, TCG Opal 2.01
Sequential Read (up to)	14,900MB/s	1TB: 13600 MB/s 2TB: 14500 MB/s 4TB: 14100 MB/s
Sequential Write (up to)	14,000MB/s	1TB: 10200 MB/s 2TB: 12700 MB/s 4TB: 12600 MB/s
Random Read (IOPS)	2300K	1TB: 1400K 2TB: 1550K 4TB: 1500K
Random Write (IOPS)	2300K	1TB: 1750K 2TB: 1800K 4TB: 1800K
Endurance  (Terabyte Written)	600 TBW for each 1TB
Software	Sandisk Dashboard	Crucial Storage Executive
Max Power Draw	7 watts	11 watts
Operating Temperature	0°C to 85°C	undisclosed
Release Date	May 13, 2025	March 12, 2024
U.S. Suggested Price (at launch)	1TB: $179.99, 2TB: $279.99 4TB: $549.99 (Buy now!)	1TB: $240 or $260 (heatsink) 2TB: $400 or $440 (heatsink) or $484 (white heatsink) 4TB: $714 or $730 (heatsink) (Buy now!)
Warranty	5 years

A frill-free SSD

While both the Sandisk WD Black SN8100 and Crucial T70 are high-performance SSDs, the former is explicitly designed for those caring only about performance and not much else.

Like previous WD Black drives, such as the SN850X, the SN8100 is a frill-free SSD. It has no meaningful user-accessible features. However, if you get the heatsink version (to come later in the year), there’s supposedly a RGB LED to match a gaming rig with a transparent case.

The new drive shares the same Sandisk Dashboard application, formerly “WD Dashboard”, with the previous WD Black drive. The app comes with a few handy tools for users to monitor the drive’s condition, including its heat level.

During my trial, the drive never became hotter than 85°C (185°F), which is well within its rated operation temperature, which is much less hot than even the heatsink version of the Crucial T705.

And that brings us to the most crucial aspect of the WD Black SN8100: the performance.

Sandisk WD Black SN8100: A top-notch performer

I tested the drive’s 2TB capacity for almost a week, with both PCIe Gen 4 and PCIe Gen 5, and was impressed by its performance.

The drive proved to be the fastest in my most taxing test, where it performs both reading and writing at the same time with a large amount of data. The WD Black SN8100 was the first to hit the 5000MB/s milestone in this test and even surpassed it.

When performing only the read or write copy tests, the drive was also incredibly fast, sustaining over 10000MB/s. However, it was a tad behind the T705.

It’s in random access where the Sandisk WD Black SN8100 showed its prowess. Even when working with a PCIe Gen 4 M.2 slot, the drive was faster than previous PCIe Gen 5 SSDs, including the Crucial T705.

As mentioned, I tested the naked version of the Sandisk WD Black SN8100 without any add-on thermal solution. Needless to say, the drive didn’t remain cool during operation, but it never became hot enough to cause concern, and I was able to rest my finger on it for an extended period, which I couldn’t even with he heatsink version of the Crucial T700.

It’s safe to say that Sandisk has managed to keep the heat of its PCIe Gen 5 drives at a manageable level. And that’s a good thing.

Conclusion

The Sandisk WD Black SN8100 is a testament that with sound engineering, top PCIe Gen 5 performance can be had without the excessive heat. With the upcoming similarly specced SSDs, such as the Crucial T710, it’s interesting how long the WD Back SN8100 will hold its “World’s Fastest” title. But that’s simply a trivial matter. Get one today, and you can rest assured for years in the future that you have one of the fastest internal storage devices a consumer can buy.