Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB NVMe SSD Review
LR took an in-depth look at the Sabrent 2TB Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4 NVMe SSD back in December 2020. The drive was unbelievably fast and was one of the first on the market to use the Phison E18 controller. When we reviewed the drive there was only 1TB and 2TB capacity options, but recently the larger 4TB drive came to market. This is great news for content creators and enthusiasts that are wanting a 4TB SSDs that is capable of reaching speeds over 7 GB/s.
There also isn’t a price premium for being the largest capacity as the price per GB for the Rocket 4 Plus series remains at around $0.20 per GB. Currently, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is priced at $802 shipped from Amazon.
| Product | Rocket 4 Plus 1TB | Rocket 4 Plus 2TB | Rocket 4 Plus 4TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $199.98 (Amazon) | $399.98 (Amazon) | $802.12 (Amazon) |
| Price Per GB | $0.20 | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Capacity | 1000GB | 2000GB | 4000GB |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface / Protocol | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 |
| Controller | Phison PS5018-E18 | Phison PS5018-E18 | Phison PS5018-E18 |
| DRAM | 1GB DDR4 | 2GB DDR4 | 4GB DDR4 |
| NAND Flash | Micron 96L TLC | Micron 96L TLC | Micron 96L TLC |
| Sequential Read | 7,000 MB/s | 7,100 MB/s | 7,100 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 5,300 MB/s | 6,600 MB/s | 6,600 MB/s |
| Random Read | 350,000 IOPS | 650,000 IOPS | 650,000 IOPS |
| Random Write | 700,000 IOPS | 700,000 IOPS | 700,000 IOPS |
| Endurance (TBW) | 700 TBW | 1400 TBW | 2800 TBW |
| Part Number | SB-RKT4P-1TB | SB-RKT4P-2TB | SB-RKT4P-4TB |
| Warranty | 5-Years | 5-Years | 5-Years |
The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB maximum performance numbers are the same as the Rocket 4 Plus 2TB drive. Sequential performance is up to 7,100 MB/s read and 6,600 MB/s write. Random 4K performance is rated at up to 650,000 IOPS read and 700,000 IOPS write. This massive 4TB NVMe SSD is backed by a 5-year warranty and has an endurance rating of 2800 TBW! To get that 5-year warranty you must register the rive within 90 days of purchase or it will be reduced to a 1-year warranty.
Sabrent has based this drive off the Phison E18 reference design. That means it is using the Phison PS5018-E18 controller paired with Micron’s B27B 96L 3D TLC NAND Flash and a dedicated DDR4 DRAM cache.
Sabrent went with a black and copper theme on this model and pictures dont really do it justice. It looks great in person and should go well with most themed PC builds. This is a dual-sided M.2 2280 drive that needs to use the PCIe Gen4 x4 interface to reach advertised speeds.
On the back of the drive is a label that shows the full model number, serial number and place of manufacture.
To fully test the Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus 4TB SSD we’ll be testing it out in our new Intel 590 test platform as a secondary drive.
CrystalDiskInfo shows that the drive was running firmware RKT4P1.2 and that the drive uses the NVM Express 1.4 standard.
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.
On the latest build of AS SSD Benchmark the Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus 4TB had an overall score of 10,765 points. One of the highest scores that we have ever seen straight out of the box on a system with stock settings.
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.
Anvil’s storage utilities scores are heavily dependent on the CPU that you are using, so keep that in mind when looking at results. On our Intel Core i7-11700K Rocket Lake processor we managed reach a score of just over 24,002 points. Our test system has the default C-state settings, so this might be why it is lower than what is seen on other review sites. Regardless, it is a very impressive score!
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
Sabrent has done a really good job at offering the highest capacity M.2 drives on the market. They have been able to offer higher capacities than their slower moving competitors that have to wait for the demand to be high enough to offer such a capacity. Sabrent has been able to capitalize on this and it has helped them build up their brand name and notoriety in the storage industry. Sabrent appears to be the storage company for enthusiasts and we are happy to see a company fill that void.
The Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus 4TB that we reviewed here today is currently $802 over at Amazon. That price point puts it out of the reach of most people, but will be of interest to those that need a drive that large. There are very few 4TB NVMe SSDs on the market today and none are faster than this model. If you want the fastest 4TB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD on the market you can stop looking!
