Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD Review

TweakTown's Rating: 98%

The Bottom Line

Tier-1 Gen4 performance and priced right. Get one.

Buy at Amazon

Introduction & Drive Details

It seems like Sabrent is always first to market with Phison infused SSDs that shake up the industry. It's no wonder that Sabrent has a huge following and has become one of the fastest-growing purveyors of solid state-storage on the planet. Sabrent has risen to the top with a unique blend of value and exclusive offerings that consumers find irresistible.

The drive we are testing today follows the Sabrent formula for success, as it is the first of its kind retail Phison E18 powered SSD. We can't remember an SSD more anticipated than this one, and Sabrent is already selling them by the truckload. Most of the hype surrounding the Rocket 4 Plus comes from the drive's unparalleled sequential performance.

Boasting sequential speeds in excess of 7,100 MB/s read and 6,600 MB/s write, the Rocket 4 Plus is capable of the highest throughput we've seen to date from any retail SSD. Throughput is becoming increasingly important, especially as it relates to gaming, as evidenced by Microsoft's coming soon to PC DirectStorage API. A DirectStorage capable PC running a DirectStorage enabled game brings with it the promise of nearly instantaneous load times and lifelike details that blur the line between fantasy and reality.

Naturally, enthusiasts are all over this drive, but Sabrent's latest and greatest deserves a close look from prosumers and professionals as well. If you are processing write-intensive data by the terabytes, then the Rocket 4 Plus is the drive for you. It offers unparalleled write performance, class-leading endurance, and will be available in capacities of up to 4TB.

Speaking of capacity, we have for your viewing pleasure the capacity point that we consider the current sweet spot for enthusiasts/gamers - 2TB. We will have a 1TB Rocket Plus review coming soon. Also, this review marks the debut of our next Gen SSD test system based on AMD's 5900X CPU and our Gen4 only chart.

With that said, let's alleviate all this pent-up anticipation and see for ourselves what this 2TB fire-breathing monster is serving up.

Drive Details

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This drive is so hot off the presses that there are no established random numbers, so we estimated our own based on our testing.

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The Rocket 4 Plus is an attractive copper themed drive much like its predecessor. As always, Sabrent is using a copper heat spreader label on the controller side of the SSD. As always, the drive ships in the best packaging in the business.

Jon's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair Hero VIII Wi-Fi (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
• Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 (buy from Amazon)
• Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 4000 (PC4-32000) C19 (buy from Amazon)
• Video Card: GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2070 WINDFORCE 8G (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1000 (buy from Amazon)
• Case: InWin X-Frame
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (buy from Amazon)

Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD (SB-RKT4P-2TB)

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$219.99	$219.99	$219.99	$214.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 9/18/2024 at 10:07 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Free SSD Software

Sabrent Rocket Control Panel/Acronis for Sabrent

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Click here to download Sabrent Rocket Control Panel.

When you buy Sabrent, you get the whole package, including valuable free SSD management and imaging software.

Sabrent's SSD management software is free, and among the best there is. With it, you can perform numerous useful functions to maintain your Sabrent NVMe SSD. You can also get various free tools, including Sabrent's exclusive version of Acronis True Image, with just a click.

Register your SSD with Sabrent within 90 days to extend the Rocket 4 Plus warranty period from 1-year to 5-years.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM & Anvils

CrystalDiskMark

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With all that throughput on tap, we expect the Rocket 4 Plus to be a synthetic juggernaut, and it starts the day by delivering a couple of lab records. Factory sequential specs are spot on at 7,100 MB/s read and 6,600 MB/s write. Write throughput is especially impressive as it is a whopping 1,350 MB/s higher than any SSD to come through the lab. QD1 random read is the best we've seen from any Phison powered SSD to date.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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As we alluded to earlier, the Rocket 4 Plus offers unparalleled write performance, as evidenced by another two lab records served up by Sabrent's Gen4 flagship.

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1.3 million IOPS at QD64 is jaw-dropping. We would like to see better random read performance.

Synthetic Benchmarks: AS SSD & ATTO

AS SSD

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Moving along to AS SSD, the Rocket 4 Plus pulls off a hattrick by delivering another three lab records. This is not unexpected as Phison powered SSDs always excel with this test. Really impressive random performances of 769K IOPS read and 1.26 million IOPS write.

ATTO

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We are looking for full speed at 128K transfers, and that's exactly what we get from the Rocket 4 Plus. Easy win for the throughput king as it delivers over 2,300 MB/s more compressible data to the host than its nearest competitor and almost 1,200 MB/s more when programming it. More lab records. Impressive.

Real-World Testing: Transfer Rates & Gaming

Transfer Rates

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As we move into real-world testing, the Rocket 4 plus delivers the second-best performance we've witnessed when transferring our very hard to swallow 100GB data block.

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Serving data to the host is something the Rocket 4 Plus can do very well. Here the drive sets another lab record. Amazing.

Game Level Loading

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While not the fastest, the Rocket 4 Plus is doing gaming far better than any Phison powered SSD to date. It's basically just a fraction of a second slower spread across 5-level loads than our current Gen4 leader.

Real-World Testing: PCMark 10 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. The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with user experience. Of the two tests, we feel that the Quick System Drive Test most accurately replicates a typical user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

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Although the Rocket 4 Plus has the highest throughput we've seen to date, that's not translating into the best workload performance we've seen. It's still very good and the highest we've measured by a Phison powered SSD, but no victory this time.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

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In terms of bandwidth, the Rocket 4 Plus manages to edge out Samsung's 980 Pro, however in terms of scoring, the 980 Pro edges out the Rocket 4 Plus. We will call this a draw between the two. WD's Black SN850 is tough to beat, although not completely out of reach through firmware enhancements that may be coming down the pike.

Final Thoughts

Once again, Sabrent impresses. The Rocket 4 Plus is an absolute monster performer capable of the highest throughput we've seen to date. We see this drive as a go-to product for enthusiasts and prosumers alike. Its write performance is unparalleled, whether it be sequential at 6,600 MB/s or random at an earth-shattering 1.32 million IOPS.

Additionally, and because Sabrent is who they are, the Rocket 4 Plus series offers something that none of their non-Phison powered competition even has on their roadmap, and that, of course, is a coming 4TB model. This is forward-thinking, and this is what we love about Sabrent.

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By the numbers, Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus offers an overall user experience that is among the best we've seen to date and certainly within striking distance of Samsung's 980 Pro.

As we see it, the Rocket 4 Plus 2TB represents the best value for a hyper-class Gen4 SSD as it is selling for $50 less than Western Digital's WD Black SN850 2TB and $50 less than the purported price of an as of yet unreleased 2TB Samsung 980 Pro.

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Looking back at our test results, we are impressed by how many lab records were set by the Rocket 4 Plus 2TB, despite the most robust competition seen to date. If you lust for sequential performance, then Sabrent has what you need. It is available right now, and it is surprisingly affordable, all things considered.

With the highest throughput we've witnessed to date and some record-breaking performances to go along with that, Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus 2TB has earned TweakTown's highest award.

Pros

• Sequential Performance
• Gaming
• Free Software
• 1,300,000 IOPS/7,000 MB/s

Cons

• Random Read