Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 1TB SSD Review

Rating: 9.0.

Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus is the first PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD drive we've seen that uses the next generation Phison E18 controller. For the Rocket 4 Plus, Sabrent has paired the E18 with 96-layer 3D TLC NAND. Priced at £200 for the 1TB model, we put this drive though its paces to see if it is worth buying.

Phison's PS5018-E18 is the company's 2nd generation PCIe Gen 4 NVMe controller building on the success of the PS5016-E16, the world's first PCIe Gen4 controller. It supports the latest NVMe 1.4 protocol.

The Rocket 4 Plus is (at the time of writing) available in two capacities, 1TB and 2TB. A flagship 4TB drive is due sometime later in 2021. Sabrent quote Sequential read/write speeds for the 1TB drive as up to 7,000MB/s and 5,300MB/s respectively, while the 2TB drive is rated at up to 7,100MB/s for reads and up to 6,600MB/s for writes.

4K performance for the 1TB drive is quoted as up to 350,000 IOPS for reads and up to 700,000 IOPS for writes, both at QD32. The 2TB drive has the same 4K write rating as the 1TB model but has a higher read performance at 650,000 IOPS.

The endurance of the 1TB drive is rated at 700TBW and Sabrent back the drive with 1-years warranty but if you register the drive with them you get a full 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

• Usable Capacities: 1TB.
• NAND Components: Micron B27B 96-layer 3D TLC NAND.
• NAND Controller: Phison PS5018-E18.
• Cache: DDR4.
• Interface: PCI-e Gen 4 x4 NVMe 1.4.
• Form Factor: M.2 2280.
• Dimensions: 22 x 80 x 2.25mm.

Firmware Version: RKT4P1.1

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