Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 internal extreme performance SSD review

Can you use this in PS5? The PS5 requires SSD speeds of at least 5500MB/s and this Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus not only achieves this but exceeds it with read and write speeds of 7000MB/s and 6600MB/s respectively. This SSD heasink method uses Sabrent’s “Sandwich Design” which ensures even pressure throughout the SSD for efficient and consistent heat tranfer unlike methods used by other brands. Get details in Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 internal extreme performance SSD review.

Pros & Cons – Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 internal extreme performance SSD

Pros

• PS5 Compatibility Confirmed
• 96 Layer 3D TLC NAND Hugely Beneficial
• Sequential performance
• Large and consistent dynamic cache
• One of the Affordable 7,000MB/s Drive on the Market
• Genuinely Impressive Performance
• Decent Amount of DDR4 Memory Cache
• One of the Earliest Phison E18 SSDs

Cons

• Not quite as responsive or efficient as Samsung / WD
• Still Outperformed by the Firecuda 530
• Endurance (DWPD/TBW) has dipped noticeably since it’s predecessor
• IOPS rating is noticeably lower than most competitors

Compare Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 internal extreme performance SSD

Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 internal extreme performance SSD review

Design

The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus comes in an M.2 2280 form factor that is single-sided at 1TB and double-sided at 2TB and 4TB. With a slickly designed two-tone copper heat spreader overtop of a black PCB, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is a looker for sure. Aesthetically, we think it is very appealing.

The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus has an optional heatsink made of aluminum and copper to help dissipate heat during intense workloads to avoid throttling. It is fully compatible with single/double-sided M.2 2280 SSDs. 

Controller

The Rocket 4 Plus controller leverages Phison’s fourth-generation LDPC ECC engine, end-to-end data path protection, advanced wear-leveling, bad block management, SmartECC, and the SSD is overprovisioned by nine percent to aid in its ability to withstand years of abuse while maintaining high reliability and endurance.

Capacity

Sabrent’s Rocket 4 Plus is a PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD that currently comes in two capacities of 1TB and 2TB at street prices of $200 and $400, but a 4TB model has been spotted in the wild and will potentially be released alongside a 500GB model soon, too.

DRAM

Phison’s E18 leverages a DRAM-based architecture to deliver responsive performance. For the task, Sabrent outfit the Rocket 4 Plus with SK hynix DDR4 DRAM ICs that operate at 1,600 MHz, the 1TB model having a single 1TB chip while the 2TB model comes with a 1TB chip on each side of the PCB.   

Read and write speed

Sequential performance clocks in at up to 7.1/6.6 GBps read/write, and the SSD can deliver upwards of 650,000/700,000 random read/write IOPS. Like the Rocket NVMe 4.0, the Rocket 4 Plus comes with a large dynamic SLC cache that spans one-third of the device’s capacity. 

Transfer rate

Sabrent’s Rocket 4 Plus series of SSDs are performers with PCIe 4.0 support that unlocks transfer speeds of up to 7,100MB/s, according to the manufacturer. What this means for PC owners is rapid loading times in games and impressive performance for storing and loading large files.

Performance

ATTO Disk Benchmark had the Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD topping out at 6.64 GB/s read and 6.44 GB/s write. Again, these are some of the highest speeds that we have ever seen.

In CrystalDiskMark we topped out at 6962 MB/s read and 6902 MB/s write for sequential performance. Random 4K performance at QD1 was found to be 75.88 MB/s read and 364.18 MB/s write.

Alternate of Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 internal extreme performance SSD

Crucial MX500

SPECIFICATIONS

• Capacity: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
• Controller: Silicon Motion SM2258
• Memory: Micron TLC
• Interface: SATA 6Gbps
• Seq. read: 560 MB/s
• Seq. write: 510 MB/s

REASONS TO BUY

+Competitive price per GB

+One of the fastest SATA drives

REASONS TO AVOID

-Slow compared to any NMVe SSD

-Low endurance rating for heavy data writes

It will happily function as a boot drive on systems with no M.2 sockets, or at least no bootable M.2 sockets anyway. You will still be missing out on the zippy response of your operating system running on the SSD-specific NVMe protocol, but if that’s not an option anyway, this drive will see you right. 

It seems strange that the Crucial MX500 is the only SATA drive left on our list of the best SSDs for gaming, but when the price delta between PCIe and SATA is so small, it’s difficult to make an argument for the far slower technology. But, as there is a hard limit on the number of M.2 slots on your motherboard, there is still a place for SATA SSDs as secondary storage.

And the Crucial MX500 is one of the best. With SATA’s maximum theoretical bandwidth limit of 600MB/s, it’s nearly as quick as you’ll get, and Crucial’s drives have long been among the best-value options available too. This is the most affordable 1TB SATA drive you can pick up and make a great second home for your Steam and Epic libraries.

Editor’s recommendations

• SP 512GB SSD 3D NAND A55 review
• WD Black 1TB SN750 NVMe internal gaming SSD solid state drive – Gen3 PCIe M.2 2280 review
• Crucial MX500 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 inch internal SSD up to 560MB/s review
• WD_Black 1TB SN850 NVMe internal gaming SSD solid state drive – Gen4 PCIe review
• Crucial P5 1TB 3D NAND NVMe internal SSD up to 3400 MB/s – CT1000P5SSD8 review