WD Black SN8100 - M.2 PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD - 1TB

The WD Black SN8100 is WD's flagship Gen5 NVMe drive, built on the Silicon Motion SM2508 controller and Kioxia 218-layer BiCS8 TLC NAND. Sequential reads hit 14,900 MB/s across all capacities, with writes up to 14,000 MB/s on the 2TB and 4TB models. Available from 1TB to 8TB, with optional heatsink variants.

DRAM Cache

Unlike the DRAM-less SN7100 and SN770, the SN8100 includes dedicated DDR4 DRAM cache (1GB on 1TB, 2GB on 2TB and 4TB). This ensures consistent random I/O performance under sustained workloads and makes the SN8100 better suited for professional applications, large file transfers, and heavy multitasking.

Heatsink Variant

The heatsink model adds an anodized aluminum heat spreader with customizable RGB lighting and dual thermal pads. WD claims it takes over 15x longer to reach thermal throttling compared to the bare drive at 65C ambient. The heatsink adds height (11.25mm), so check motherboard clearance before buying.

Variants

Variant	Model Suffix	Heatsink	RGB
Standard	X0M	No	No
Heatsink	XHM	Yes	Yes

Reliability

Rated at 1.75 million hours MTTF with endurance scaling linearly by capacity: 600 TBW (1TB), 1,200 TBW (2TB), 2,400 TBW (4TB), 4,800 TBW (8TB). TCG Opal 2.02 hardware encryption is included. Backed by a 5-year warranty.

Best for: Enthusiast builds, content creators working with large media files, and anyone with a Gen5-capable motherboard who wants maximum throughput.

Avoid if: Your motherboard only supports Gen4 (the drive is backward compatible but you'd pay a premium for speeds you can't use).