WD Black NVMe 3D and SanDisk Extreme PRO NVMe 3D 1TB SSD Review

By Nathan Kirsch

Final Thoughts & Conclusions

Western Digital/SanDisk are number two in the world for SSDs shipments, but it has been some time since since they came out with a competitive high-end drive. The Western Digital WD Black and SanDisk Extreme Pro NVMe drive series finally put Western Digital back in the fray. It’s not everyday a corporation creates a controller from scratch and can reach the top performance echelon with it, but we have just witnessed that here today. Western Digital is back thanks to a drive that is capable of reaching over 3400 MB/s sequential read speeds and over 2800 MB/s sequential write speeds! Overall performance of the drive was solid and we were even impressed by the 1TB models sustained write speeds. Western Digital was able to pull this off thanks vertical integration. Since they design all the major components of the drive (controller, TLC NAND Flash and the firmware), they are able to get the best performance and reliability. This new controller took several years to develop, but the results show it was worth the wait!

Western Digital Black 3D NVMe SSD Packaging

Western Digital is also being pretty aggressive with the pricing for each capacity. The launch prices are $119.99 for the 250GB drive, $229.99 for the 500GB drive and $449.99 for the 1TB model that we reviewed today. That pricing is great for the level of performance that you get and is likely going to going to cause numerous competitors to make adjustments. The 1TB model that we reviewed is backed by a 5-year warranty with up to 600TBW endurance.

Western Digital WD Black NVMe Series Pricing

  • 250GB – WDS250GX0C- $119.99 ($0.48 per GB)
  • 480GB – WDS500GX0C – $229.99 ($0.46 per GB)
  • 1000GB – WDS100T2X0C – $449.99 ($0.45 per GB)

The only bad news for our readers is that these drives won’t be available to purchase until later this month. We hate paper launches just as much as you do, but this one might be worth waiting for!WD Black 3D NVMe SSD

Seeing a new drive come to market with a new controller design performing this good is something you don’t see too often. If you are looking for one of the fastest drives around and the price is right we highly suggest taking a look at the WD Black NVMe series or the SanDisk Extreme Pro NVMe drive series. We should also mention that this new WD controller should be around for a number of years as it supports upcoming QLC NAND Flash that is expected next year.

LR Editors' Choice

Legit Bottom Line: The Western Digital WD Black NVMe 1TB SSD is one of the best performing drives that we have ever tested and it just goes to show how far TLC NAND has come in recent years.