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3D MARK STORAGE GAMING BENCHMARK
UL Solutions has created a new storage gaming benchmark that we will start to use as new SSDs come in. The 3DMark Storage Benchmark DLC extends 3DMark Advanced Edition with a dedicated component test for measuring the gaming performance of SSDs and other storage hardware. It supports all the latest storage technologies and tests practical, real-world gaming performance for activities such as loading games, saving progress, installing game files, and recording gameplay video streams.
The WD_Black SN8100 Gen5 2TB SSD topped even our 3DMark Storage Benchmark
REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
I can tell you first hand that there wasn’t a reviewer out there that had a clue the SanDisk WD_Black SN8100 was on its way and would perform consistently as one of the best SSDs ever tested worldwide…but here we are. The SN8100 topped out in both synthetic and real world test regimens, even surpassing that of the Intel Optane DC P5800x in testing. Still laughing as I am sure there were some raised eyebrows when we remarked that the WD_Black SN8100 was the Intel Optane P5800x slayer. Truth is each has their own place in the world and that Optane still has a special place in so many review Test Benches…even though it is a data center SSD.
The WD_Black SN8100 demonstrated throughput that exceeded 14GB/s for both read and write speeds for the first time ever. It topped all IOPS results with 2.26 million read and 1.89 million write and all this is done with under 7 watts active power. We can thank the SMI SM2508 for that. Not only did the SN8100 top PCMark 10, 3DMark Storage and our True Testing, but it even went so far as to return an incredibly low 5.2 sec in game load time testing. It doesn’t get any better than that.
The WD_Black SN8100 comes with a 5-year limited warranty, will be available in up to 8TB capacity and has decent pricing considering its performance. Editor’s Choice!
CHECK WD_BLACK SN8100 PRICING AT AMAZON.
Would really like to see the Intel Optane 5800x on the charts for real world data testing. Would also like to see the steady state 4K Q1T1 tests on both the Optane and the 8100 side by side.
Optane’s strength likes in low queue depth consistency from what I’ve seen, since there is no cache blowout happening like on modern SSDs. Any chance of this being an Optane killer on things like a 70% full drive?
I was never able to obtain an Optane 5800x, but my 905 is still my OS drive for the low latency program launching. I use a 4TB NVMe 4.0 SSD for bulk storage. I would love to find a solution that didn’t require me to run an m.2 -> u.2 adapter for my OS drive, but so far the low latency + program launch time “feel” of the Optane wins vs. any SSD I’ve tried yet.
As described in our article, the two SSDs serve different purposes, the first being consumer related tasks while the second is data center. For this reason, we don’t provide steady state results or comparisons in our reports, unless they are specifically directed as being an enterprise report. Thanks for writing!
James is right, the Optane 5800X should have been compared. Prosumers don’t care what the drive was “intended” for. Pricing has come down enough that I’m considering an array of P5800X vs. SN8100’s and it would have been nice to quantify the performance difference at low queue-depths, as well as both sequential and random performance once the SN8100’s cache has been saturated.
Here’s a side-by-side of the SN8100 vs Optane P5800X. The tests were done by different individuals on different systems, but at least provide a sense of comparative performnace: https://abulhassan.com/wd-black-sn8100-2tb-vs-intel-optane-p5800x-nvme-ssd/
Absolutely love this level of dedication — nothing says “storage geek” like testing SSDs at 4:30am right after a transpacific flight! Those Gen5 drives hitting 14GB/s are wild, especially seeing a DRAMless model push that performance barrier. Curious to see how thermal throttling is handled under sustained loads.
We recently benchmarked some enterprise-grade Dell SAS SSDs in a G14-series rack — obviously not Gen5, but still rock-solid for mixed-use environments where endurance and hot-swap reliability matter more than raw speed. Totally different use case, but fun to compare evolution across form factors.
Keep pushing the envelope — and enjoy that jet lag.
I hope you get as much sleep as you need because I’m hoping for a test of the new Crucial T710 that was announced at Computex as soon at its available. It will make for an interesting 3 way shootout between the WD 8100, Samsung 9100 and Crucial 710 when all 3 are readily available, hopefully all with their own heat sinks. Sleep well!
The SN8100 will be tough to beat. It is an amazing SSD. We have received the order confirmation for the T710 from Micron so hopefully sooner than later.
It would be great to see a Samsung 9100 Pro test against the Z790 now to have a real comparison.
Thanks for your interesting articles. How to download TxBench? The https://www.texim.jp/txbenchus.html link is broken.
Fixed . Enjoy.
Thanks for the quick reply, but I cannot access
https://www.texim.jp/txbenchus.html
The web browser Safari 18.5 (18621.2.5.18.1, 18621) on macOS 13.7.6 (22H625) Ventura on Mac (Intel) says:
Safari Can’t Find the Server
Safari can’t open the page “https://www.texim.jp/txbenchus.html” because Safari can’t find the server “www.texim.jp”
How to download TxBench? I think it is for Windows (not for Mac) but I would like to download it anyway. Thanks again for all.
Yes. I understand. If you click on the title, the referring link has been changed.
Thanks. Which title? What is the working link?
Great review! As I understand it, Dashboard application is not discontinued but just changed from Western Digital to SanDisk one. The new version is available on SanDisk website and not on Western Digital, here: https://support-en.sandisk.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/31759
Thanks for that.
i bought a 2tb hoping it would downgrade to PCI-e 4.0 x4, nope, unfortunately my system decided to downgrade it to 1.0 x1, had to return it. even though my amd 7945hx supports pci-e 5.0 on a technical level, it only supports nvme pci-e up to 4.0. its too bad that it couldnt just downgrade. ended up buying a different 4.0 x4 nvme. believe me, i gave it all the testing and checking before giving up. it was already apparent to me when it required 2-5 minutes to post bios each time that it wasnt going to get past this issue.
I checked extensiively and you seem to be the only instance of this issue. Sorry but I have no suggestions except maybe a fresh install.
Amazing performance in the review. I purchased a 2 GB and 4 GB to run in my setup, and performance is significantly lower. My SEQ1M score is very high (14956 Read / 14169 Write). However, SEQ12K drops to 9300 Read / 11,071 Write. RND4K drops substantially lower compared to review, at 1070 Read and 923 Write. My 3DMark SSD Storage score is also only 5,100 at best. This is on a 9950X3D system with MSI X870E Tomahawk motherboard. Appreciate any suggestions on troubleshooting.
check your heat, i had the same issue , installed 3rd party heat sink (thermalrite HR-10 pro) and no more throttling during benchmarks