WD Black SN770 - M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD - 1TB

The WD Black SN770 is Western Digital's mid-range Gen4 gaming SSD. It uses WD's in-house controller with Kioxia 112-layer BiCS5 TLC NAND and no dedicated DRAM (HMB instead). Sequential speeds reach up to 5,150 MB/s reads and 4,900 MB/s writes on the 2TB model. Available in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB.

DRAMless but Competitive

WD's HMB implementation on the SN770 is well-regarded. Independent reviews consistently show it competing with some DRAM-equipped Gen4 drives in real-world tests, particularly for gaming and general desktop use. The WD controller is tuned for low-latency consumer workloads, and the SN770's QD1 random read performance is among the best in the DRAMless category. Runs cool even without a heatsink.

Gaming Positioning

WD positions the Black SN770 as a gaming drive, and it earns that positioning. Game load times are constrained by decompression and asset processing, not raw sequential bandwidth, so the SN770's 5,150 MB/s reads deliver the same practical gaming experience as a 7,000 MB/s drive. The difference shows up in large file transfers and sustained writes, not game launches.

Endurance

200 TBW (250GB), 300 TBW (500GB), 600 TBW (1TB), 1,200 TBW (2TB). Five-year warranty. WD Dashboard software for monitoring and firmware updates.

Best for: Gaming builds and general-purpose desktop PCs. One of the best DRAMless Gen4 drives available, with particularly strong real-world performance relative to its spec sheet. PS5 compatible with a heatsink.

Avoid if: You need sustained random I/O under heavy mixed workloads (VMs, databases). A DRAM-equipped drive like the Samsung 990 Pro handles that better. If you're doing large file transfers regularly, the 5,150 MB/s read ceiling is noticeable versus 7,000+ MB/s drives.