Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus NVMe SSD: Fast on PCIe 4, fast on PCIe 3

The 2TB version of this SSD is nearly as fast with large files as Samsung’s 980 Pro, and considerably less expensive.

-  JON L. JACOBI

Sabrent must’ve read some of my articles and discovered my love of the color copper. The heat-spreader and the metal carrying case for the brand-spanking-new Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4 NMVe SSD feature the color in copious amounts. I like it. Even if copper leaves you flat, the drive’s stellar performance will grab your attention—it bested the Samsung 980 Pro (go.pcworld. com/s980) in many tests.

SPECS AND PRICING

The NVMe SSDs we review all use the M.2 connector, and are 22mm wide by 80mm long (2280). The Rocket 4 Plus is an x4 PCIe 4.0 device featuring a Phison PS5018-E18 controller and 96-layer, Micron TLC NAND.

Sabrent promises not to change to slower components, as has happened with a couple of SSD vendors recently (go.pcworld.com/ slcm). There’s also 2MB of DRAM cache. NAND is treated as SLC for secondary caching to the tune of 25 percent.

Beyond that, the drive is enveloped in coppery goodness (the label) and is available in two flavors: 1TB ($199.98 on Amazon; go.pcworld.com/q199) and 2TB ($400 on Amazon; go.pcworld.com/a399). A 500GB model exists but is hard to fine online, and a 4TB flavor will ship eventually.

The drives carry a 5-year warranty, and are rated for 350TBW per 500GB of capacity. TBW is the number or terabytes that may be written before the drive warranty lapses. It’s quite likely capable of writing more, but that’s the company’s cut-off point for replacement. Most users are unlikely to come close to that in a decade.