Not long ago Sabrent unleashed its 8 TB NVMe SSD, which was a world-first for storage of that size on the small, 80 mm format. But, that drive ran on the older PCI-Express 3.0 interface, and we all know that PCIe 4.0 is where the magic happens. Now, Sabrent is introducing another world-first: a 4 TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive called the Rocket Q4.
The information comes from a listing on Amazon that was spotted by Tweaktown. Therefore, technically this isn't an official announcement yet, though it might as well be.
The Rocket Q4 is said to be capable of read speeds of up to 4900 MB/s and write at up to 3500 MB/s, which are seriously impressive numbers. For comparison, PCIe 3.0 drives cap out at around 3500 MB/s read and write. In the future we'll undoubtedly be seeing even faster drives as PCIe 4.0 is capable of much more -- right now, we're limited by the bandwidth the controllers can offer, and Phison is pretty much the only manufacturer selling a PCIe 4.0 SSD controller to third-party SSD makers.
Of course, you'll only be able to leverage the fast speeds on AMD platforms as Intel doesn't have a platform capable of PCIe 4.0 on the market yet. The SSD is also based on QLC technology with 4 bits per cell, so we wouldn't use it for storing essential data without a backup. But if you're someone who needs fast storage for editing or who installs tons of games, this might be useful considering just how big games are getting nowadays.
Right now, the 4 TB Rocket Q4 is listed for $750, which is a fair jump over the 2 TB QLC variant that's listed for $320 -- but still, that's 4 TB of PCIe 4.0 goodness you'll be able to squeeze into a single M.2 slot, and that's gotta be worth something.
If you're tempted by this deal, we're happy to report that there's no wait either. The 4 TB PCIe 4.0 drive is in stock at Amazon, and ready to order.
