Western Digital skipped the first round of PCI Express 4.0 SSDs altogether, most of which offered read/write speeds in the neighborhood of 5,000 MB/sec. More recently, faster PCIe 4.0 models have emerged, such as Samsung's 980 Pro, which boasts an upgraded controller that enables even faster transfer rates. Not to be outdone, WD has also begun its maiden voyage into the PCIe 4.0 realm with the Black SN850, which offers up to 7,000MB/s read and 5,300MB/s write. The game is just beginning.

The fastest is only WD's 1TB model. The Black SN850 is also available in 500GB and 2TB capacities, both with read speeds up to 7,000MB/sec but write speeds up to 4,100MB/sec and 5,100MB/sec respectively.

Several of the new PCIe 4.0 SSDs utilize Phison's PS5018-E18 controller to achieve faster speeds than previous models were capable of. However, according to our friends at Anandtech, WD is using a second-generation version of its own controller in the Black SN850 series.

WD states that the Black SN850 is "exclusively designed to help gamers meet the higher standards of future games and gaming platforms," which is an interesting comment. Until now, the fastest NVMe SSDs have not offered significant gaming benefits compared to SATA SSDs, which can run up to about 580 MB/sec. But that may change.

Both next-generation game consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X) have adopted PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. In addition, Microsoft's new DirectStorage API should help game developers take advantage of faster storage. We will have to wait and see what happens.

As for the Black SN850, versions without heatsinks are available for pre-order now, priced at $150 for the 500GB model, $230 for the 1TB model, and $450 for the 2TB model; WD says that versions with heatsinks will be available in Q1 next year and all will come with a five-year warranty.