INTRODUCTION

   If you happen to be building an ultra high-end PC (based either on the Z590 or the X570 chipsets) chances are you will equip it with a 2nd generation PCIe Gen 4x4M.2 NVMe SSD. And why not right? With numbers surpassing 7000-6000MB/s in reads and writes respectively these drives are currently dominating the consumer market in terms of performance and that’s pretty much all what people need to choose them. Durability in many cases many not be the best for extremely heavy workloads (CHIA I’m looking at you) due to TLC NAND flash being used but that aside these are the best consumer drives around today and since many of you asked today I’ll be testing the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB model.

   Sabrent is a leading American manufacturer of computer peripherals and accessories, bringing uniquely styled quality products to consumers worldwide. Sabrent’s commitment is to offer the latest technology and the highest quality consumer electronic products at an affordable cost to everyone. Since its founding, Sabrent has consistently delivered to market a full line of computer peripherals and accessories that incorporate style, quality and the latest technologies available.

   Just like the 2TB model (review here) the 4TB Rocket 4 Plus PCIe Gen 4x4 M.2 NVMe drive by Sabrent is based on the highly popular NVMe v1.4 compatible PS5018-E18 NAND flash controller by PHISON which sports a total of 8-channels together with 32-bit ARM Cortex R5 CPUs (dual-core for the E16 and tri-core for the E18) using their CoXProcessor technology. Sabrent has once again paired the Rocket 4 Plus 4TB M.2 NVMe with Micron’s 512Gb 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash and DDR4 SDRAM at 1600MHz by SKhynix (4GB for the 4TB model). Getting deeper into the PS5018-E18 NAND flash controller it features the 4th Gen LDPC engine (low-density parity check) along with end-to-end data path protection, wear levelling, thermal throttling (70 degrees Celsius limit), TRIM, bad block management, dynamic range SLC cache and SmartECC (RAID ECC) and fully supports AES-256bit hardware encryption and TCG Opal 2.0 and Pyrite. Sabrent also covers the entire Rocket 4 Plus line with a 5-year limited warranty and as for endurance numbers it reports 700TBW for the 1TB model, 1400TBW for the 2TB model and 2800TBW for the 4TB model.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Sabrent uses a small black box to ship the Rocket 4 Plus model the front of which has their logo, product picture, drive capacity and a sticker regarding the Acronis True Image software included in the bundle.

The serial number and barcode of the product are printed at the rear along with yet another product picture.

Removing the exterior reveals an aluminum box (copper color).

Just like with past Sabrent SSDs the inside is filled with black foam.

Along with the drive itself you're just getting the installation guide (you can download the Acronis True Image software from the company website).

THE ROCKET 4 PLUS 4TB

Once again in my hands I have an NVMe v1.4 M.2 Gen 4x4 SSD which follows the typical 2280 factor (22mm in width and 80mm in length).

Once you remove the top cover (thin copper heatspreader which helps dissipate a small amount of heat - meaning if you can pair the drive with a regular heatsink do so) you will see the PHISON PS5018-E18 NAND flash controller, 2GB DDR4 SDRAM 1600MHz module by SKhynix and 4 Micron 512GB 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules.

This isn't a single side M.2 SSD model so turning the drive over we see yet another sticker under which we find a 2nd 2GB DDR4 SDRAM 1600MHz module by SKhynix and 4 more 512GB 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules by Micron (removing this sticker will void your warranty).

Once again if you want the best possible performance and durability for your SSD you should grab one of the very effective (although bulky) heatsinks offered by Sabrent.

ROCKET CONTROL PANEL

The rocket control panel software (which you can download from the Sabrent support page) allows you to check the status of your SSD, see its SMART page, download the Acronis cloning software directly from Sabrent, perform a speed test (partitions are required for this) and of course check online for new firmware updates (none found at the time of this review).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   After over 12 years of testing solid state drives, i’ve concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts*. Also, as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately, due to the time required for these tests we repeat them a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people have made inquiries about our charts in the past so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also, although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 installation complete with every update up to the date of this review.

* Since November 2018 the SSD comparison charts have been divided to 2.5” and M.2 models to reduce their growing size.
** Unless stated otherwise the Ryzen 9 3950x based Test Rig used for M.2 Gen 4 SSD reviews is not located in the lab.
*** As of January 2021 for Gen 3x4 models I’ll be using the Core i9-7980XE test rig (after numerous tests the up to 6% difference in read & write performance compared to the i7-6700 system simply wasn’t enough to justify having an extra test rig around).

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS - IOMETER SNIA

CONCLUSION

   Having already reviewed the 2TB model there wasn’t much more I could expect from the 4TB one, even more so since Sabrent lists the same performance numbers (many of you asked however so here it is). Still as you can clearly see from the charts even though these two are exchanging blows, they are without doubt the fastest at what they do and that alone is reason enough for people to choose them. There’s one thing however that the 4TB model does better, durability and with a TBW of 2800 this means it should outlast the rest of your system, easily. Once again, the copper sticker at the top certainly helps reduce temperatures but if you are really serious about offering the best possible cooling to the Rocket 4 Plus 4TB you should grab one of Sabrent’s massive heatsinks (available both in black and white).

   At USD999.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 999.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the Rocket 4 Plus 4TB is without doubt not what I’d call affordable. Still it’s not meant to be that, remember, it’s aimed towards people with systems based on the AMD X570 and Intel Z590 boards and that alone says a lot. With that out of the way the Rocket 4 Plus 4TB by Sabrent offers impressive performance numbers, very good capacity, even better endurance numbers and a 5-year limited warranty and that’s why it gets the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Top of The Charts Performance (7100MB/s Read & 6600MB/s Write)
- Endurance (2800TBW / 1.6 Million Hours MTBF)
- 5 Years Warranty (After Online Registration)
- Acronis True Image Software
- Price (Compared To Similar Models)

CONS

- Thermal Throttling (During SNIA Tests)
- Endurance Numbers (Could Be Higher)