PC Gamer UK 01.2021 @InternationalPress75

Rocket 2TB Gen4

SABRENT £360

The best budget next-gen SSD

Like a lot of the drives

here the Sabrent Rocket

Gen4 SSD uses the

Phison E16 controller, which is a

decent PCIe 4.0 controller,

although it does lag behind the

more recent Samsung Elpis

controller that can be found in

the 980 Pro. That means the

peak sequential figures are

slightly off the pace, and the

randoms are a bit slower as well,

although in real terms there’s

hardly anything between them.

In fact in terms of file copying,

this Sabrent drive was

moderately quicker. When it

comes to game loads, there’s

less than a second between the

fastest and slowest as well.

They’re all pretty fast basically.

There’s a real price war going

on with these next-gen drives

and price fluctuations are

common. Sabrent seems to

stay out in front though, and

given the overall package it’s

this drive that gets the nod

from us. 2,000GB at £360

equate to 18p a gigabyte, which

is nothing to sniff at. The 1TB

version offers even great value

for money at 17p a gigabyte.

SPECS CAPACITY: 2TB / CONTROLLER: PHISON PS5016-E16 / MEMORY: TOSHIBA 3D TLC

/ INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4 / SEQ. READ: 5,000MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 4,400MB/S

2

980 Pro 500GB

SAMSUNG £135

The fastest next-gen SSD money can buy

Samsung has been
the go-to name for
SSD storage for years,
and while a long time coming,
the 980 Pro with its next-gen
Elpis controller has been well
worth the wait. If you’re looking
for the best headline
performance right now, then
nothing else can really challenge
it. With sequential read and write
speeds hitting 6,900MB/s and
5,000MB/s, incredible 800K
IOPS for random performance,
and the awesome Magician
software making managing the
drive a breeze. The 980 Pro is
the performance junkie’s drive
of choice.

The only problem is the

price, particularly on this 500GB

model. At £135 that equates to

27p a gigabyte, which is a bit

much. The 1TB drive for £230 is

slightly better value at 23p a

gigabyte, although even here

there are better deals to be

had for almost the same

performance. Real world

performance is that much better

than some of the other drives

here either, so you’re going to

need that extreme throughput.

SPECS CAPACITY: 500GB / CONTROLLER: SAMSUNG ELPIS / MEMORY: SAMSUNG 3-BIT MLC
/ INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4 / SEQ. READ: 6,900MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 5,000MB/S

1

Awesome sequential throughput

Strong random access

Samsung Magician

VERDICT

Strong performance and capacity

The best value for money

Good software suite

VERDICT

HARDWAREHARDWARE

Group Test

1