Sabrent Rocket 5 2TB SSD Review - Fastest of Sabrent's SSDs

TweakTown's Rating: 98%

The Bottom Line

It's the fastest of the fastest from Sabrent, and sure to get the enthusiast juices flowing!

Pros

• + Gaming
• + Throughput
• + User experience
• + PS5 compatible

Cons

• - None

Should you buy it?

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Introduction & Drive Details

For us, January 2024 started with a bang when we got our first real taste of retail ready 14,000 MB/s storage goodness via Sabrent's 4TB Rocket 5 Rocketship. That day, Sabrent's most capacious Gen5 offering instantly became the fastest and highest-performing fully retail-ready SSD we had ever encountered.

Fast forward to February 20, 2024, and we find Crucial's 2TB T705 snatching the coveted TweakTown flash-based retail performance crown from Sabrent's 4TB Rocket 5. This was fully expected, as we have known for some time now, that the 2TB capacity point is indeed the performance sweet spot for Phison E26-controlled SSDs when arrayed with 2,400 MT Micron B58R flash.

So now, one week later, the battle for PCIe Gen5 flash-based storage performance supremacy is again re-engaging as we encounter Sabrent's retail-ready 2TB Rocket 5 SSD for the first time. Sabrent's 2TB contender is, as far as the hardware itself is concerned, identically configured to Crucial's T705 2TB speed demon in that it is Phison E26 controlled and arrayed with 2TB of 2,400 MT Micron B58R flash.

However, that's where the similarities end, as Sabrent has taken a different approach to its PCIe Gen5 performance flagship offering. Its Rocket 5 Plus is sold as a bare drive only, leaving the required thermal mitigation to the end-user. Additionally, Sabrent's offering runs on conventional Phison-supplied firmware and is much less modified than what the Crucial drive is running on.

Exactly as it is with the 4TB Rocket 5, Sabrent's 2TB model is fully optimized for Microsoft's DirectStorage API, can downshift PCIe Link-State if thermal thresholds are being exceeded, and finally is fully PlayStation 5 compatible when used in conjunction with Sabrent's own ingenious PS5 heatsink.

Okay, let's see how Sabrent's 14,600 MB/s capable 2TB PCIe Gen5 Rocketship stacks up against the competition.

Drive Details

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Like all Sabrent SSDs, the Rocket 5 is supported by Sabrent's own free SSD toolbox software, Rocket Control Panel, enabling convenient features such as device registration and firmware updates directly from your desktop. Get it HERE. Additionally, Sabrent offers free Acronis cloning software to complement its Rocket 5 SSDs. Get it HERE.

Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE AORUS Z790 Xtreme X
• CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 8000 48GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

AMD Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

Because we at TweakTown like to be first at everything whenever we can, we will present our storage performance results for the test subject on both 14th Gen Intel and 7000 Series AMD platforms going forward for the foreseeable future. Because Intel still delivers the best real-world storage performance, (Look Here), our running chart will continue to be Intel-based until AMD can deliver better real-world storage performance than its rival.

Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 Internal SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$214.99	$214.99	$219.99	$219.99	Buy
	-	-	$335.99	$335.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/26/2024 at 8:17 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we include results for PS5 compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available HERE.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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6,525 MB/s is an excellent result, especially for a 2TB Phison-controlled SSD, as it is in the PS5 the slowest capacity point, exactly opposite of what we find in our PCs.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. In terms of sequential throughput, we find our test subject fully capable of meeting and exceeding quoted up to E26 controller specifications. Sabrent spec's its Rocket 5 more conservatively than Crucial spec's its T705, but make no mistake, Sabrent's flagship performer can run with the competition as evidenced by its 14,600 MB/s throughput via our AMD Zen4 platform.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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A read score of 14,950 is a new lab record for a flash-based consumer SSD. Outstanding.

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We employ Anvil's random read test as our standard for measuring max random read IOPS. This test is very accurate as it at its core is Iometer skinned over. We test at QD128. At 1.46 million RR IOPS, Sabrent's 2TB Rocket 5 exceeds its factory specs, delivering the most we've attained from any retail-ready E26-controlled SSD to date. Here, we can see that the T705 is tuned differently than the Rocket 5 in that the T705 is tuned more for low queue depth performance.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of QD4 sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. At a queue depth of four, Sabrent's 2TB Rocket 5 favors sequential transfers of 4MB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128K or larger when programming (writing) data.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data. Ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance, random or sequential, is an infrequent operation, and as such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example being how many times is a game installed vs. how many times it's played.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) is always an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. As expected, trading blows again with the T705 for supremacy.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSD's gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to most DIY consumers, especially for the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience. This is the new standard in gaming performance. And as previously mentioned, Sabrent's Rocket 5 SSDs come with Phison's exclusive I/O+ DirectStorage optimized technology baked right in. With it, a properly equipped PC can load up to 60% more gaming data with 99% less CPU utilization. Amazing. As charted, second only to the T705, in reality within margin of run-to-run variance.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This test writes 204GB data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games including Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data, which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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We consider a score of 6,800 or more here to be a milestone achievement for any 2TB E26 controlled SSD, and Sabrent's 2TB PCIe Gen5 Rocketship becomes the second SSD ever to attain said milestone. Impressive.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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This is performance that matters. A score of 9,303 here is the best we've ever attained for any flash-based SSD. Outstanding.

Final Thoughts

It's great to see the well-established storage giant has fully awakened from its slumber and is once again demonstrating that it can deliver the goods at the highest levels. Sabrent's Rocket 5 is another storage enthusiast's dream come true. The 2TB Rocket 5 managed to deliver several lab records as we put it through its paces here today, which we find especially impressive as it is going head-to-head with the world's highest-performing SSD, just crowned so one week ago.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. Currently, we consider a user experience score of 15K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. A score of 22,876 is the second-highest ever for a flash-based SSD. Being that it is a mere 32 points away from the highest ever attained, it's only reasonable to call this showdown a tie, as there is no tangible performance difference between the two contenders.

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Sabrent's Rocket 5 2TB can deliver all of what is the current pinnacle of storage performance, earning our highest award. Editor's Choice.